Open Research in Failaka: processing archives of the French Mission in Kuwait (1983- 2009) for open access dissemination and final publication of Al-Qusur monastery excavations (1988-1989 & 2007-2009)

The island of Failaka is a foremost site for archaeologists because of the density of major settlements documenting the history of the Middle East during various periods. Many of these settlements were excavated by the French Mission in Kuwait. Between 1983 and 2009, the team dug five key areas in Kuwait, unearthing temples and churches, fortifications, and dwellings: Bronze Age Tell F6, Achemenid Tell Khazneh, Hellenistic Fortress of Tell F5, Early Islamic al‑Qusur and diachronic Akkaz. Since then, preliminary results have been published but most of the data is unpublished and inaccessible. During the Gulf War (1990‑1991), all the archives of the Kuwait National Museum were lost and numerous artifacts disappeared, were mixed, or destroyed.

The White Levy Grant will allow us to carry out data curation and proper digitization to make all the archives of this Mission freely and publicly available online (under Creative Commons license CC-BY-NC) on a dedicated website linked to a database. It will also be the first step before completing the final publication of al‑Qusur settlement. This Christian monastery, dating at least as far back as the Umayyad period and located in the middle of the island, was excavated during five campaigns (1988-1989, 2007-2009) by the French Mission in Kuwait.

The publication project is directed by Dr. Julie Bonnéric in collaboration with Florent Gelsomino.