Wall relief from Ashurnasirpal II palace Nimrud

After Assyria fell in 612 BC, the palace became overgrown and eventually completely buried, in which state it remained for nearly 2,500 years until rediscovered by the British born Austen Henry Layard in 1845. Layard oversaw the excavation of the palace during which time the reliefs that dominated the walls of the structure were removed from the site and sent to collections throughout Europe and North America, with the British Museum receiving the majority of these Nimrud reliefs. Despite excavating and removing many of these reliefs, a great number remained within the palace and were eventually reburied with time. In 1949 M.E.L. Mallowan re-excavated the site, which lasted until 1957, at which time the project was taken over by the Iraq Department of Antiques which still remains in control of the site.