British Museum Department of the Middle East group of stone reliefs from the excavations of Max von Oppenheim at Tell Halaf that was purchased in 1920. More material followed from the excavations of Max Mallowan at Chagar Bazar and Tell Brak in 1935–1938 and from Woolley at Alalakh in the years just before and after the Second World War. Mallowan returned with his wife Agatha Christie to carry out further digs at Nimrud in the postwar period which secured many important artefacts for the museum. The collection of Palestinian material was strengthened by the work of Kathleen Kenyon at Jericho in the 1950s and the acquisition in
Old Assyrian Empire fathers are known"), often interpreted as a list of Shamshi-Adad's ancestors. Hildegard Levy, writing in the Cambridge Ancient History, rejects this interpretation and sees Puzur-Ashur I as part of a longer dynasty started by one of his predecessors, Sulili. Inscriptions link Puzur-Ashur I to his immediate successors, who, according to the Assyrian King List, are related to the following kings down to Erishum II. Shalim-ahum (c. 2025 BC – c. 1995 BC), son and successor of Puzur-Ashur I, is the earliest independent ruler to be attested in a contemporary inscription. Carved in curious archaic character mirror-writing in old Assyrian on