Graduate student Kathryn Howley will be featured in the National Geographic documentary 'Rise of the Black Pharoahs' airing October 1, 2014 at 10:00PM on PBS.

An ancient token-based recording system from before the dawn of history was rendered obsolete by the birth of writing, according to popular wisdom. But now, latest excavations show that, in fact, these clay tokens were integral to administrative functions right across the Assyrian empire – millennia after this system was believed to have vanished.

During a recent visit to China to give a series of lectures Professor John Steele was awarded the honorary title of Guest Professor in the School of History and Culture of Science at Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

M. Willis Monroe, a 4th year PhD student in Ancient Western Asian Studies, has been awarded a fellowship from The American Academic Research Institute in Iraq (TAARII) for his research project "Innovation in Seleucid Astrology: Re-investigating the Micro-Zodiac".