Assyriology is an interdisciplinary research subject, dealing with all cultures during the first half of human history ca 3000 BC-AD 100 writing cuneiform on clay tablets. The several hundred of thousands of preserved cuneiform texts give a unique possibility to conduct an intensive study of the ancient society from many diverse aspects by means of a combination of texts and archaeological material.

Main research projects at Uppsala University have on the one hand studied the larger categories in the Ancient Near East in the form of archives and libraries found in different ancient cities, on the other hand during the last years got a focus on the city of Babylon from different historical, social, linguistic, and archaeological aspects in order to understand the function of the city. More or less associated to the projects, doctoral students have developed their own projects.

Collaboration has been within the department essentially within the research group of Semitic languages, within the Uppsala University with the research project Urban Mind, and internationally with Freie Universität and Vorderasiatisches Museum in Berlin.