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
David Oates (archaeologist) he took part in the excavations led by David Talbot Rice of the Great Palace of Constantinople in Istanbul, Turkey. In 1954, he was sent to Iraq by the British Academy to review the work of Sir Aurel Stein. This work led to the publication of a monograph, "Studies in the Ancient History of Northern Iraq", in 1968. From 1955 to 1962, he worked on Max Mallowan's excavation of Nimrud; Oates was director of the excavation from 1958. In addition to his fellowship at Trinity College, he was also a lecturer in archaeology at the University of Cambridge from 1957