ScienceNot yet confirmed elsewhere1 publisher2 min readPublished
Letters from dealer Ibrahim Gejou trace Kish tablets to Iraqi diggers before the French arrived
Letters from dealer Ibrahim Elias Gejou show Kish tablets from Iraqi digs on offer to the British Museum in 1909, a UCL study reports. The date sits three years before the French dig of 1912, so the letters reach about 9% of a 32-year gap in official digging.
The Scientist · Science desk
Key figures: in 1909 Gejou offered the British Museum 124 tablets from a new site, Kish. Gejou left more than 900 letters. The gap in official digging at Kish was 32 years.
| Figure | Value | Note | Claim |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kish tablets Gejou offered the British Museum in 1909 | 124 tablets | 5 | |
| Gejou letters, more than | 900 letters | 4 | |
| Gap in official digging at Kish | 32 years | 17 |
What happened
- The 1909 offer was for 124 tablets from a "new site" that the study identifies as Kish.
- Over the next few years the letters record Gejou handling hundreds of Kish tablets dug by Iraqis in excavations later labeled "clandestine".
- In 1912 France sent Henri de Genouillac to dig at Kish; he had no export permits and turned to Baghdad dealers Messayeh, Samhiry and Khayat, and to Gejou in Paris.
- Genouillac picked the pieces he liked and sent them to Messayeh in Baghdad, who smuggled them on to Gejou in Paris.
- Less than three months later, according to the study, the excavation ended after Genouillac whipped an inspector's mule driver.
Why it matters
- contradiction Older Kish histories split digs into lawful French ones and illicit local ones, but Genouillac's export route ran through Gejou, who was already handling tablets from the digs labeled clandestine.
- decision Curators with Kish tablets acquired around 1909 to 1912 now have four names to check against provenance files: Gejou, Messayeh, Samhiry and Khayat.
- constraint The 124-tablet figure is a dealer's offer, so how much reached the British Museum is a question for the museum's own acquisition records.
The earliest mention of Kish in Gejou's letters is from 1909 [5]. Official digging stopped in 1880 [1] and resumed in 1912 [7], a gap of 32 years [17]. The letters document the last three of them [18], about 9% of the span [19].
The write-up says Iraqis had been digging at Kish years before the official work resumed [16], and that museums in London, Paris and New York were acquiring brand-new tablets throughout the gap [2]. Both fit the letters, but the letters cannot show digging before 1909. The thing this doesn't tell you is how big the Kish share of the archive is: the coverage does not say how many of the 900-plus letters mention the site.
On the French dig, the evidence is a dealer's account of a dealer's arrangement. In one letter, Messayeh wrote that Genouillac could make almost everything good disappear, and that the Ottoman officials were none the wiser [9]. Smuggling of Kish artifacts persisted after Genouillac returned to Paris, and the study treats that as a sign Iraqi excavations continued [20].
Nadia Ait Said-Ghanem, a postdoctoral research associate at University College London, wrote the study in the journal Iraq [3]. Archives "give proof which has been conveniently left out to build a history where foreigners are heroes and local people are thieves," she said [11]. Histories have typically labeled local excavations illicit and foreign ones lawful [12]. She said all excavations happened under foreign colonial Ottoman or British rule [13].
Some dealers, Messayeh among them, were put in charge of running foreign missions and their funds [14]. "Imagine the access to artifacts it gave him to run his own business! And he's not the only one," Ait Said-Ghanem said [15].
What to watch
- Acquisition records at the British Museum, the Louvre and Yale for Kish tablets of 1909 to 1912, and whether they match the quantities in Gejou's letters.
- The full paper in Iraq, for how many of the 900-plus letters mention Kish and what survives of the trade before 1909.
Clarity's read
What the record supports and how the coverage leans. The claims behind it follow.
Reality
- Evidence55
- Adoption
- Insufficient
- Hype gap+15
- Incentives
- Insufficient
- Confidence60
Claim ledger
Ranked by verification strength, evidence, and original report placement.
- [1]
Between 1880 and 1912, no official excavations took place at Kish.
- [2]
During that period, museums from London and Paris to New York were acquiring brand-new tablets from Kish.
- [3]
Nadia Ait Said-Ghanem, a postdoctoral research associate at University College London, is the author of the study published in the journal Iraq, which examines the letters of Iraqi-born antiquities dealer Ibrahim Elias Gejou.
- [4]
Gejou, born in Baghdad in 1868, left more than 900 letters, which record a long history of trade and smuggling of artifacts from Kish to the British Museum, the Louvre and Yale University.
- [5]
According to the study, the earliest mentions of Kish come from correspondence written by Gejou in 1909, in which he offered the British Museum 124 tablets from a 'new site': Kish.
- [6]
Over the next few years, the letters record Gejou handling hundreds of Kish tablets unearthed during Iraqi excavations that would be labeled 'clandestine'.
- [7]
In 1912, France sent Henri de Genouillac to Iraq, where he began excavating at Kish without permits to export his finds, so he turned to Baghdad dealers Alexander Messayeh, Antone Samhiry and George Khayat, and to Gejou in Paris, to help smuggle his finds out of the country.
- [8]
Genouillac would choose the pieces he liked and send them to Messayeh in Baghdad, who smuggled them to Gejou in Paris.
- [9]
In one letter, Messayeh wrote that Genouillac could make almost everything good disappear and that the Ottoman officials were none the wiser.
- [10]
According to the study, less than three months later, excavations came to an abrupt end after Genouillac whipped an inspector's mule driver.
- [11]
Archives "give proof which has been conveniently left out to build a history where foreigners are heroes and local people are thieves," Ait Said-Ghanem said.
- [12]
Histories have typically labeled local excavations as illicit and foreign ones as lawful, the study reported.
- [13]
Ait Said-Ghanem said labels make little sense in context, since all excavations happened under foreign colonial Ottoman or British rule.
- [14]
Some dealers, including Messayeh, were put in charge of running foreign missions and their funds.
- [15]
"Imagine the access to artifacts it gave him to run his own business! And he's not the only one," Ait Said-Ghanem said.
- [16]
The phys.org write-up says local Iraqis had been excavating the site years before the 'official' excavations at Kish resumed.
- [17]
The gap in official digging at Kish was 32 years.
- [18]
Gejou's earliest Kish mention falls three years before the French dig began.
- [19]
The three years from 1909 to 1912 are about 9% of the 32-year gap.
- [20]
Even after Genouillac returned to Paris, smuggling of Kish artifacts persisted, suggesting Iraqi excavations continued after he left.
Sources
1 independent publisher whose own reporting we read for this story.
- phys.orgLetters reveal forgotten role of Baghdad antiquities dealers in early 20th-century Kish excavations
1 article · October 12, 2026
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