Department of Art History

The study of ancient Near Eastern art and material culture enjoys a vibrant, diversifying practice in the present, with advances in archaeological methods, digital imaging, and scientific analysis intersecting with critical approaches that foreground the entanglements of artistic production, cultural exchange, and heritage stewardship in shaping both ancient and modern engagements with the region. At the same time, ongoing political instability and enduring global inequities continue to challenge access to sites, collections, and narratives, making the stewardship and interpretation of ancient Near Eastern objects deeply consequential. This symposium, convened at the Franke Institute and the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures Museum, brings together leading scholars from across the field—alongside University of Chicago colleagues from related disciplines—for a day of dialogue on the art, artifacts, and built environments of the ancient Near East and their resonances today.