French diplomat Victor Place, who spent the last years of his life in Romania, discovered at Khorsabad (1851–54) 14 inscribed barrels like this one. All but four were lost in the Shatt el-Arab waterway in April 1855. According to a letter written by a son of Victor Place, his father had received this barrel from the French government as a reward for his archaeological activity. The text records Sargon II’s founding of a new capital at Khorsabad.

One of the massive guardian figures found by Layard, which were floated down the Tigris. They weigh several tons each.

Between 1882 and 1894 Eduard Glaser made four expeditions to Yemen, home to the legendary Queen of Sheba. Among the objects brought back by him to Vienna is this 3–4th century AD South-Arabian frieze of ram heads.

Another object brought back by Glaser was this sculpture of a male head.

The construction of railways made archaeological sites more accessible to both archaeologists and tourists. Digging the ground brought to light antiquities, which the Ottoman Sultan ‘Abd al-Hamid II, used as diplomatic gifts in exchange for assistance in building railways.

In 1806, Ulrich Seetzen visited the Roman city of Gadara, which then as it is now was covered by the deserted late Ottoman village of Umm Qays (Jordan). Founded during the 3rd century BC, the city fell to the Seleucids, the Hasmoneans and then the Romans. From the 4th to the 7th century, it was a bishopric seat. After the Battle of Yarmuk in 636, Gadara became part of the Islamic state.

The Roman city at Jerash (Jordan) was identified as the Decapolis town of Gerasa by German explorer Ulrich Jasper Seetzen on his journey from Damascus to Jerusalem in 1806. It is one of the better-preserved Greco-Roman provincial towns from the Roman/Byzantine period. The western part of the town was completely preserved and protected. It shows the layout of the city in detail.

The ancient Nabataean city of Petra (Jordan) had remained forgotten until re-discovered by Johann Ludwig Burckhardt (also known as John Lewis Burckhardt) in 1812. Burckhardt was Swiss-born, but educated in the UK (Oriental Studies at the University of Cambridge). His father had been imprisoned by Napoleon, intensifying Burckhardt’s dislike of France and his desire to work for Britain.

The Temple of Bacchus at Baalbek (Lebanon) as drawn by William Henry Bartlett in the 1830s as part of a two-volume set, Syria, The Holy Land, Asia Minor, &c. The dramatic ruins of Baalbek had attracted European travellers since the 18th century. The architectural and artistic details they recorded subsequently inspired European neoclassical architects and artists.

People wondered how Austen Henry Layard transported the massive Assyrian winged bulls from Assyria. This watercolour by Frederick Charles Cooper (based on his having witnessed similar events) shows their journey on a raft down the Tigris. Rafts were made in the traditional way of using hundreds of inflated goat- and sheep-skins supporting a wooden superstructure. Layard recruited the crew locally, as he had done with his workforce. From Basra, the British Navy took them the next 12,000 miles to England.

Petra became one of the romantic fascinations of European Orientalist artists and writers.

The famous “Necropolis” was drawn by David Roberts, the result being published in his The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt and Nubia. This image, by Louis Haghe, is a lithograph from it. The so-called “Obelisk Tomb” (centre) and the Triclinium (lower right) still exist today, even if much eroded since Roberts visited Petra in early March 1839.

The Western Wall of the Haram al-Sharif in Jerusalem, as depicted for readers of the Illustrated London News, by pioneer war correspondent William “Crimea” Simpson. Simpson’s sketches were turned into engravings for publication in the ILN, which, being among the most important graphic depictions, helped to introduce Western readers to the present-day appearance of Jerusalem and Jerusalemites.

Foundations of the south-eastern corner of the Haram al-Sharif, as revealed for the first time by Charles Warren. This tunnel was some 85 feet below ground. Warren’s team were experienced mining engineers, and were assisted – as shown in several of this sequence of watercolours by William “Crimea” Simpson, sent to record the expedition for the Illustrated London News – by extremely courageous local Jerusalem residents.

Sgt. Birtles, Charles Warren’s chief assistant during the work in Jerusalem, climbing down into the destruction debris of Herod’s Temple in the Tyropoean Valley.

Heinrich Schliemann (1822–90) was a German businessman who acquired a passion for archaeology while on his travels. In 1870, he used his considerable wealth to begin excavations in Turkey at the supposed site of ancient Troy. His spectacular success – finding “Priam’s Treasure” (actually much earlier) – was marred by improper removal of objects and, ironically, the destruction of the very levels he sought.

In addition to being a pioneer photographer, Petrie was a pioneer of archaeological photography, even though at the time the technique of half-toning had not been developed, so that his photographs had to be turned into woodcuts for publication. He was a great believer in the importance of photography and, at least at this time, took all of his archaeological photographs as stereo pairs, another of his pioneering works.

In 1890, Petrie excavated at Tell el-Hesi, which he identified, wrongly, as the ancient city of Lachish. This was the first proper archaeological excavation ever carried out in Palestine. He advocated controlled excavations, prompt publication, and an interest in small objects, not just large monuments. His workforce comprised men, women and children all working together. After World War II, only men would participate.

In the course of a single season at Tell el-Hesi, Petrie established the principle of dating strata by the pottery they contained. Objects could be arranged chronologically by comparing the changes in styles. He established the outlines of the archaeological sequence, a method that continues to be refined to this day. This section drawing was made by Frederick Jones Bliss, who continued Petrie’s excavations from 1892–94. Bliss was born and raised in Lebanon and learned his skills under Petrie.