University of Pennsylvania Museum, Philadlephia

A man of fastidious tastes with a fondness for high society, Hilprecht (shown at far right, holding a riding crop) had little interest in fieldwork. He spent most of the 12 years in which he was associated with the Nippur expedition living in Constantinople, where he oversaw the expedition’s negotiations with the Ottoman government, studied the tablets unearthed at Nippur and learned new excavation techniques. Hilprecht did, however, return to Nippur for a brief stint in 1900—when this photo was taken. During his six-week stay at the site, he tried to teach some of his colleagues the latest excavation techniques being developed by German archaeologists at ancient Babylon. He also belittled the work of the dig’s untrained field director (and former site photographer), John Henry Haynes, and bickered constantly with Haynes’s wife, Cassandria (shown at center, holding a bike.)