Agatha Christie: A passionate of archaeology

We probably all know Agatha Christie as a great writer of mystery novels, but not much will be known about her facet as an archaeologist since she catalogued, cleaned and photographed great archaeological artefacts. Some of them can be found nowadays  in the British Museum of Art in London. 

After separating and divorcing her first husband, Agatha Christie decided to get away from everything that reminded her of Archibald by taking a trip to Jamaica. After planning the trip, the fascinating stories about the romantic Baghdad and about the recent archaeological finds arouse Agatha Christie's interest in the culture and history of Iraq. With two days left on her trip to Jamaica, she decided to cancel her plans and buy a ticket on the Orient Express destiny Baghdad.

Thanks to her fame as a writer, she was invited to join the British colony where she spent several days. Everything still reminded her of London and her husband Archibald, so she decided to take a trip on her own to Ur to immerse herself completely in the culture and history of Iraq, where she met the archaeologist Leonard Woolley. They became good friends and she decided to accompany him on his next archaeological expedition to Ancient Sumeria, where she met her future husband, the archaeologist Max Mallowan.

The archaeological dig at Chagar Bazaar

Since then, Agatha Christie has accompanied Max Mallowan in all his archaeological excavations. In the Syrian excavation, Agatha Christie was not only a mere observer, but worked on restoring pieces of pottery, cataloguing and taking photos of them. Another of her trips took her on the Nimrud expedition where she spent so much time that she came to consider it her second home. Nimrud turned out to be a rich source of archaeological finds where Max Mallowan's team, of which Agatha Christie was also a member, found incredible ivory statues that Christie helped clean and document.

Nimrud ivory statues cleaned by Agatha Christie

Agatha Christie's travels through Baghdad, Syria and Nimrud, and her passion for archaeology are reflected in some of her famous novels such as Murder on the Orient Express, Murder in Mesopotamia and Death on the Nile.