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The Queens of Nimrud’s Northwest Palace: Beauty, Power, and Presence in the Neo-Assyrian World, c. 865–705 BCE

Friends of ASOR present the next webinar of the 2024-2025 season on May 14, 2025, at 7:00 pm EDT, presented by Dr. Amy Gansell. This webinar will be free and open to the public. Registration through Zoom (with a valid email address) is required. This webinar will be recorded and all registrants will be sent a recording link in the days following the webinar.

Nearly three thousand years ago, at the ancient site of Nimrud (near modern Mosul, Iraq), a succession of ten Neo-Assyrian kings reigned in collaboration with their queens from the magnificence of the Northwest Palace, the seat of the empire and center of their world. Too often overshadowed by the well documented legacy of Neo-Assyrian kings, this presentation illuminates the queens who reigned with them. Dr. Gansell focuses on the queens of Nimrud’s Northwest Palace (c. 865–705 BCE) because it is here, in the late 1980s, that Iraqi archaeologists uncovered their partially intact royal tombs. The tombs contained heaps of precious jewelry and regalia, along with cuneiform inscriptions, and even some skeletal remains. Putting together these artifacts of death and connecting them to the art, architecture, and written record of the palace, we can learn about the names, lives, appearance, royal duties, and religious roles of the queens. Piece by piece, and layer by layer, across about 150 years of evidence, we discover the beauty, power, and presence of Nimrud’s Northwest Palace queens in life, death, and for eternity.

Although research into the deep past inevitably reveals gaps in our knowledge and raises unanswerable questions, what we don’t know can also stimulate curiosity and creativity, which Dr. Gansell applies in offering a virtually rendered snapshot of the world of the queens of Nimrud’s Northwest Palace. If we just said “we don’t know” to all our questions about the queens, soon we’d be left just talking about the kings, and the story of the Neo-Assyrian empire would remain a conventional history of a man’s world.

Dr. Amy Gansell is Associate Professor of Art History in the Department of Art & Design at St. John’s University, where she serves as the Assistant Department Chair and Coordinator for the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Interdisciplinary Minor. She received her PhD in the History of Art and Architecture from Harvard University in 2008. From 2008 to 2010, Dr. Gansell held a full-time position with the US Department of State as the Associate Coordinator for Afghan and Iraqi Cultural Heritage. In this capacity, she worked on diplomatic projects to restore and build professional capacity at the Afghan National Museum, the National Museum of Iraq, and the site of Babylon. Dr. Gansell returned to academic life in 2010 as a postdoctoral fellow at Emory University’s Bill and Carol Fox Center for Humanistic Inquiry, after which she taught art history to art and design students at Pratt Institute and the State University of New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT).

Dr. Gansell’s current research focuses on the architecture, art, and artifacts that help to tell the stories of ancient Mesopotamia’s Neo-Assyrian queens (c. 865–612 BCE). Her monograph on this subject is forthcoming with Oxford University Press. Dr. Gansell has co-edited CyberResearch on the Ancient Near East and Neighboring Regions (Brill, 2018) and Testing the Canon of Ancient Near Eastern Art and Archaeology (Oxford University Press, 2020), and her scholarly essays have appeared in prestigious international journals including the American Journal of Archaeology, Cambridge Archaeological Journal, and the Journal of Archaeological Science. Dr. Gansell’s research and publications have been supported through two National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) grants as well as a grant from The American Academic Research Institute in Iraq (TAARI).

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BROWSE THE NEWS ARCHIVE

  • 2025 Fieldwork Updates
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  • Thank You Fiscal Year 2025 Donors
  • DC Day of Archaeology 2025

Latest Posts from @ASORResearch

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Initiating and supporting research of the history and cultures of the Near East and wider Mediterranean world.


ASOR is pleased to offer 10 grants of $250 each to
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The “Heritage Advocacy in North Africa” projec
The “Heritage Advocacy in North Africa” project ran from August 2021 to September 2023 with the aim of promoting cultural and religious freedom through heritage protection and advocacy in Morocco and Tunisia. This goal was grounded in the belief that involving people of all backgrounds in the active protection of ethnic and religious minority heritage could help strengthen relationships between communities and contribute to building more resilient societies. See our latest blog post (https://www.asor.org/chi/updates/2025/07/asor-north-africa-heritage) for the outcomes of this Cultural Heritage Initiatives project.


Lonnie Reid, a 2024 Fieldwork Scholarship recipien
Lonnie Reid, a 2024 Fieldwork Scholarship recipient, excavated at Qach Rresh in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Using magnetometry, Lonnie surveyed the Neo-Assyrian fields with a unique and precise method. Click the link (https://www.asor.org/news/2025/06/fieldwork-report-reid) in our bio to read about his experience!
#asorfieldwork #asordigs


The #ObjectoftheWeek from this week's ANE Today: P
The #ObjectoftheWeek from this week's ANE Today: Part of a model chariot, with an impression of the sun god Shamash rising over the mountains. Ceramic, ca. 2000 – 1600 BCE. Metropolitan Museum of Art 48.131. Photo courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/324049


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📸 ©2021 GrandPalaisRmn (Musée du Louvre) / Stéphane Maréchalle.


ASOR is turning 125—and we want you to be part o
ASOR is turning 125—and we want you to be part of the celebration! Our special anniversary dinner will take place during this year's Annual Meeting in Boston, and we hope you'll join us for this unforgettable evening of community, celebration, and reflection on ASOR's history. 

We'll be kicking off the festive occasion at 6:45 p.m. on Saturday, November 22, 2025, at the Hilton Boston Park Plaza. Enjoy an evening of exceptional dining, entertainment, and ASOR-themed activities, featuring speakers who have been integral to ASOR's mission. Your presence will help make this milestone truly meaningful. Register for the event by clicking the link in our bio.


Summer is in full swing, but it’s not too early
Summer is in full swing, but it’s not too early to think about your fall calendar. The Annual Meeting Program-at-a-Glance, as well as information about business meetings and special events, can be found on the 2025 ASOR Annual Meeting Schedules Page. Make sure to include the plenary address by Timothy P. Harrison and ASOR’s 125th Anniversary Celebration when you plan your ASOR 2025 itinerary. Check it out by clicking the link (https://www.asor.org/am/2025/schedules-2025) in our bio.


We did it (once again)! The 2025 fiscal year has o
We did it (once again)! The 2025 fiscal year has officially come to a close, and ASOR has set a record member participation rate for gifts this year thanks to our generous donors. It is truly gratifying to see our members and friends choosing to invest in ASOR and helping us make our work possible. Thank you again for your support!


ASOR was delighted to participate in the DC Day of
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To start off our new series of #ObjectoftheWeek: F
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What is a god? While the question is simple enough
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Make sure to join ASOR this Saturday, June 28, for
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This spring, McKinley Tech High School students ex
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Check out the special June issue of NEA 88.2 on on
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ASOR CHI was delighted to participate in this year
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ASOR has turned 125—and you’re invited to join
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As you embark on fieldwork and research this summe
As you embark on fieldwork and research this summer, ASOR invites you to make submissions to our Virtual Archaeology Initiative. The Virtual Archaeology Initiative is a growing collection of digital resources that illustrate or teach various steps involved in the archaeological process. Read more about the initiative by clicking the link (https://www.asor.org/news/2025/06/virtual-archaeology-initiative-submissions) in our bio. Submissions can be sent to info@asor.org.



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