Archaeological Museum of the American University of Beirut

Archaeology Museum of the American University of Beirut

Location within Beirut
Established	1868 (1868)
Location	Beirut, Lebanon
Coordinates	33°53′58″N 35°29′01″E / 33.899458°N 35.483642°E / 33.899458; 35.483642
Type	Archaeological
Director	Leila Badre
Curator	Reine Mady (Research Assistant) Lorine Mouawad (Research Assistant) Amale Feghali (Museum Assistant)
Website	Museum website

The Archaeology Museum of the American University of Beirut in Beirut, Lebanon is the third oldest museum in the Near East after Cairo and Constantinople.

The Archaeological Museum of the American University of Beirut (AUB Archaeological Museum) was formed in 1868, after Luigi Palma di Cesnola gifted a collection of Cypriot pottery to the newly formed American University of Beirut. Georges Post was the first curator of this collection and Morris Jesup donated the funds for construction of Post Hall (pictured) which opened in 1902. There was much archaeological plundering in Lebanon due to weak governmental control, and people arrived daily at the museum with suggested artefacts plundered from clandestine excavations. Between 1902 and 1938 the Museum acquired collections from all around the Middle East. The museum remained closed during World War II and re-opened in 1948. It expanded in the 1950s and doubled its floor space with a refurbishment under curator D.C. Baramki, which opened to the public in 1964. The museum remained open during the years of crisis in Lebanon between 1975 and 1990 and underwent another complete renovation in 2006 under the present director, Leila Badre. A mezzanine level was added that increased the space by one fifth using funds secured from the Joukowsky Family Foundation. The AUB Archaeological Museum is the third oldest museum in the Near East, after Cairo and Constantinople

The collections are organized by chronology and themes, with displays along the sides of the gallery displaying the evolution of pottery. Other displays include the Cesnola Collection, showing pottery from Cyprus from the Bronze Age to the Roman era. The prehistoric collection includes Paleolithic and Neolithic eras. The Ksar Akil collection was donated by the University of Boston team who excavated this archaeological site in 1948. The display shows a 23 metres (75 ft) stratigraphic sequence of thirty seven layers and flint tools belonging to several cultures. The sequence is radiocarbon dated between 50,000–18,000 BP, and contained a human jaw dated to 40,000 BP and a complete skull dated to 35,000 BP.