On a recent, bright, beautiful, Saturday in July, four Detroit residents took the time to visit the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology on the University of Michigan campus, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Three Chaldeans, including Chaldean Heritage Foundation President, Tom Alkatib, artist, author, veteran, historian, and Chaldean flag designer, Dr. Amer Hanna-Fatuhi, and Chaldean language and history enthusiast, Raed Mary, joined Let in the Light Publishing Founder, Roy Gessford, to explore the picturesque museum situated in the heart of the University of Michigan campus.
Kelsey Museum has more than 100,000 Classical, Egyptian and Mesopotamian artifacts, with approximately 1,500 artifacts on permanent display. Although the majority of objects on display in the petite museum were Classical and Egyptian, these Detroit residents were intrigued by the handful of items on display from Mesopotamia. The valuable corpus included seals, envelopes, cuneiform tablets, jewelry, a mace, and a Babylonian Kudurru (stele) replica. The time periods of the items included Neo-Babylonian (615-539 BC), Akkadian, late Sumerian, and even archaic inscriptions dating to the Sumerian, Jemdet Nasr (Uruk III) period, from about (3200-2800 BC).
Detailed historical maps of Mesopotamia were also of intrigue. The ancient city of Mari, not far from Nineveh, was located by descendant Raed Mary. Dr. Hanna-Fatuhi shared that the Mari Dynasty was the tenth dynasty after the Great Flood. Also, Tom Alkatib took a moment to share where he plans to visit on his next trip to the region.
The Detroit group enjoyed being received by Kelsey Museum Director of Education, Dr. Catherine Person. Dr. Person, her newborn, the front desk staff, and a docent, took time to listen to stories from the Chaldean visitors. As precious as the Mesopotamian artifacts within the Kelsey Museum are, the staff relished the priceless opportunity to meet with three distinguished, living Chaldean Babylonians.
For those interested in visiting the Kelsey Museum, admission is free, and donations are accepted. Hours of operation are Tuesday – Friday from 9-4 pm and Saturday and Sunday from 1-4 pm. Kelsey Museum is closed on Mondays. Visit https://lsa.umich.edu/kelsey/visit.html for more information. You can also learn about the indigenous Mesopotamians by visiting
www.ChaldeanLegacy.com and www.letinthelightpublishing.com.
