The Semitic Museum is one of the Harvard University Museums, housing collections of archaeological materials from the Ancient Near East. We currently have three exhibits open to the public, one from Old Kingdom Egypt, the second from ancient Cyprus, and the third from a 2nd millennium BC Hurrian city named Nuzi, located in modern-day Iraq. You will find links to them above, as well as other information on the Museum, our activities, and helpful visitors' information. We are working on putting more of our collections on line, so we hope that you will check back often.

About the Museum
Information about the history of the Semitic Museum, its current goals and foci, exhibits, research, and publication.

Planning Your Visit: Helpful Information
The location of the Museum, hours of operation, and contact information.

Exhibits:
Giza & the Pyramids:
100 Years of American Archaeology at Giza
This exhibition opened to the public in 1997, and remains one of the favorite exhibits of school groups. It addresses the work early this century of Prof. George Reisner, who excavated the Third Pyramid at Giza, and the ongoing work of Prof. Mark Lehner, also at Giza.

The Cesnola Collection from Ancient Cyprus
In 1995, the Semitic Museum received approximately 1350 items from Stanford University as part of an exchange. These items are from the collection of General Luigi Palma di Cesnola, American Consul to Cyprus in the mid-1800's. A selection was placed on display in 1997; the majority of the collection is now coming on-line, as the Semitic Museum's Cesnola On-line Publication.

Nuzi & the Hurrians: Fragments from a Forgotten Past
The ancient city of Nuzi, in West-Central Mesopotamia, was excavated in the 1920's-1930's by a team from Harvard. A Hurrian provincial town, it gives us a unique insight to life in that region in the later Second Millenium BC; one of the highlights are the thousands of cuneiform tablets from all genres, reporting details of daily events and activities. This exhibit opened in April 1998, and focuses on the historical development of the region and the lives of Nuzi's inhabitants.

The Cesnola On-line Publication
The Semitic Museum is in the process of putting on-line its collection of Cypriot antiquities from the Cesnola Collection. This area also contains information about Cypriot archaeology and chronology, as well as material culture in ancient Cyprus from the Early Bronze Age to the Byzantine period.

Ashkelon, Israel : The Leon Levy Expedition
The Leon Levy Expedition to Ashkelon began in 1985, and continues each summer. This link will take you to information on how to participate on the excavation, as well as other details of their finds of recent years.

The White-Levy Publication Project at the Semitic Museum
The White-Levy Publication Project is dedicated to providing funds to publish the results of excavations which were completed in the field more than 5 years ago, yet which remain unpublished and therefore unavailable to the archaeological community. These pages have information and links for those wishing to apply to undertake publication of a site.

The Dept. Of Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations (NELC)
The Department of Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations at Harvard University is a division of the College of Arts and Sciences. They offer a wide range of courses in Ancient History, Languages, Archaeology, Cultures, and other related areas. Programs are available for both undergraduate and graduate degrees, as well as post-doctoral study opportunities.