Release Date: February 21, 2007

MONMOUTH, Ill. — Paul Zimansky, a professor of archaeology and ancient history at Stony Brook University, will present an archaeology lecture at Monmouth College on March 2 at noon in the Whiteman-McMillan Highlander Room of the college’s Stockdale Center.

Entitled “City of the Grim Reaper: Rediscovery and Demise at Mashkan-shapir, Iraq,” the lecture is free and open to the public. It is sponsored by the Western Illinois Society of the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) and the MC Classics Department.

Located in an uninhabited part of Iraq, the ruins at Tell Abu Duwari cover an area greater than the celebrated Sumerian city at Ur. From 1986 until shortly before the Gulf War, Zimansky and his wife, Elizabeth Stone, conducted a survey and excavations at the site. They discovered cuneiform inscriptions that proved it was ancient Mashkan-shapir, a city dedicated to the Mesopotamian god of death, Nergal.

“This site offers a unique archaeological portrait of Mesopotamian city life,” said Zimansky. “It was occupied for only a short period in the early second millennium B.C. and has stood isolated in the desert ever since. Its surface is littered with hundreds of objects of art, tools, weapons, inscriptions and architectural remains – not to mention about 30 million pieces of pottery.”

NEWS AT MC

Located in the lower level of the Admission/College Relations building, the office is responsible for media relations, official college publications, the college Web site and sports information.