The Al-Hiba Publication Project exists to analyze and publish the results of The Al-Hiba Expedition, directed by Dr. Donald P. Hansen and Dr. Vaughn Crawford. Over the course of six seasons, a joint-project of the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University and the Metropolitan Museum of Art exposed archaeological remains from the third and second millennia BCE at the site of Tell al-Hiba (ancient Lagash), located in southern Iraq. These remains were published in a series of preliminary reports, but no final reports were produced.
In 2007, Dr. Hansen tragically passed away. Dr. Holly Pittman of the University of Pennsylvania took over responsibility for the final publication of the expedition’s results and created the Al-Hiba Publication Project to achieve this goal. Phase 1 of the project consisted of the digitization of the expedition’s physical records and the development of a relational database and GIS resources to facilitate the analysis of the remains.
The project is now in Phase 2, the analysis and publication of the archaeological remains. The expedition completed excavations in four areas of the site: Area A, Area B, Area C, and Area G. Rather than publish a single volume, the project has chosen to publish each area individually. The first volume will be on Area G, which contained an ED I architectural complex. The anticipated completion for the volume is Spring 2017.