Archaeologists working in northern Iraq have launched an urgent conservation effort to save unfired cuneiform tablets and clay sealings recently uncovered at the ancient site of Kurd Qaburstan, once known as Qabra. These fragile, air-dried artifacts — dating to the early second millennium BCE — began deteriorating almost immediately after exposure during excavation.
The tablets, made from unfired clay, are especially vulnerable. Without immediate intervention, researchers warned that many of the inscriptions could have been lost.
The project, led by Tiffany Earley-Spadoni of the University of Central Florida and supported by the American Society of Overseas Research (ASOR), focused on the lower-town palace complex where the discoveries were made during the 2024 and 2025 summer seasons.
Funding from ASOR’s Shepard Urgent Action Grant allowed the team to act swiftly. Conservator Carmen Gütschow, recognized as one of Iraq’s leading experts in artifact preservation, joined the team in Erbil.
She used precision tools—including scalpels, brushes, and magnification equipment—to clean the objects and applied climate-appropriate adhesives to stabilize their surfaces. More than 80 sealings and several tablets were treated, many of which had broken into fragments.
Revealing ancient inscriptions through restoration
The project team explained that the results were significant. In multiple cases, reassembling broken pieces made previously unreadable inscriptions visible once again.
The artifacts are now being examined by Paul Delnero, the project’s lead epigrapher, and Marian Feldman, an art historian, both from Johns Hopkins University.
In addition to preservation, the team emphasized local training. With continued ASOR support, the Kurd Qaburstan Project organized a two-day workshop at the Iraqi Institute for the Conservation of Antiquities and Heritage. There, Gütschow shared her conservation methods with local museum staff.
One moment that stood out during the workshop involved a child who accompanied her parent and was invited to try a basic restoration technique on a practice tablet. The child’s focused effort, project leaders said, captured the hands-on spirit of archaeological conservation.
The team credited ASOR’s grant as critical to preserving cultural heritage and enabling knowledge transfer. They also acknowledged additional support from the University of Central Florida’s College of Arts and Humanities, which co-funded the conservation initiative, and the National Science Foundation, which contributed to broader research at the site.
The discovery and preservation efforts at Kurd Qaburstan have brought renewed attention to the challenges archaeologists face as they work to save unfired cuneiform tablets in extreme conditions.
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