We have some exciting news updates for you from the Department of Nestorian Studies.

 

First we are pleased that Drs. Mark Dickens and Steven Ortiz from Tandy Archeological Society are coming to Almaty for Syriac script analysis from the Ilyn Balik excavations of 2016 and 2017, which were graciously co-sponsored by the Eurasian Exploration Society, headed by Dr. Christoph Baumer.

 

We are also pleased to announce that the Department of Nestorian Studies will be hosting its first academic seminar at the Academy of Sciences on Friday, February 23. Please see the events page for more info. 

 

I was privileged to attend some outstanding seminars at the University of Salzburg in November and December, where, as you are aware, I'm in a PhD program under the supervision of Dr. Dietmar Winkler. Following these very productive seminars and consultations, I was able to meet with some colleagues in London. 

We are very pleased to announce that Drs. Sebastian Brock and David G K Taylor of the Faculty of Oriental Studies of the University of Oxford have agreed to serve as consultants for the Department of Nestorian Studies. Additionally we are very pleased to announce the addition of Drs. Erica Hunter, Li Tang, Pier Giorgio Borbone, and Anthony Watson as Research Fellows. 

The Kazakhstan and Central Asia scientific community is so thankful for the involvement of all members and associates of the Department and we want to stress on our side, that we will do everything we can to help facilitate research interests. On this side, the doors are wide open for exploration, research and discovery. Let us know what we can do to help further research in this area.

 

Finally we are excited to announce the completion of our newly created website, by Phil Thomson who has joined the Academy as Director of IT Services. Our new website can be found at NestorianStudies.org. Unfortunately we are politically bound to the term Nestorian Studies for the time being. We hope in time to advance the proper terminology of Church of the East or Eastern Syriac Christianity in the future. 

In other developments, we will soon be joined by Zachary Marsh, who will serve as an assistant. Zhuldyz Tashmanbetova, who is in her graduate program and the top student in her class, is being mentored by Dr. Charles Stewart along with Dr. Daniel Scarborough of Nazarbayev University. 

This summer's excavations are still being planned. Dr. Christoph Baumer, along with the Kazakhstan Archeological Expertise Company headed by Dr. Dima Voyakin, are tentatively planning a continuation of Ilyn Balik. We are very open to any groups who would like to come to Kazakhstan and investigate any other Nestorian sites such as Kayaliq, Merkit, Taraz, etc. We will do all we can to assist you in your research efforts.  If this interests you or if you could supply a team, or funding for a dig, please contact us.