The "Fertile Crescent" truly is the birthplace of the modern conception of the world, of the rules of social living, of the expression of thoughts in writing.
As archaeology unveils more and more fragments of homes and temples, pottery and tablets from the past, we begin to decode the patterns of our cultural imprinting.
Since 1973, IIMAS - The International Institute for Mesopotamian Area Studies has been actively involved in the research on the birth and early growth of civilization, supporting innovative projects in the fields of archaeology, history and epigraphy. With its archaeological excavations in the Near East, it has uncovered new data, and while doing so it has also introduced new methods of analysis. IIMAS has developed an extensive series of publications, contributed to several exhibits, and produced a number of education programs.
Our work at Urkesh as AVASA is supported by IIMAS, and fully integrated within IIMAS' values and operational methods. While we focus on one specific archaeological site in Syria, IIMAS encompasses a broader range of activities and thus provide to our projects an even broader horizon.
The IIMAS logo stems from a seal impression found on a tablet excavated in Terqa.
It depicts two divine figures holding a stick together in an upright position.
It is a symbol of intercultural cooperation: it invites us to come closer to each other
and to support culture together.