Philology Finkel spent three years as a Research Fellow at the
University of Chicago Oriental Institute. In 1976 he returned to the UK, and was appointed Assistant Keeper in the Department of Western Asiatic Antiquities at the British Museum, where he was (and remains) responsible for curating, reading and translating the museum's collection of around 130,000
cuneiform tablets. similar to that of the story of
Noah's Ark, described in his book
The Ark Before Noah, was widely reported in the news media. The ark described in the tablet was circular, essentially a very large
coracle or
kuphar and made of rope on a wooden frame. The tablet included sufficient details of its dimensions and construction to enable a
copy of the ark to be made at about 1/3 scale, as documented in a 2014 TV documentary ''Secrets of Noah's Ark'' that aired as an episode of
PBS's
NOVA series. The reconstructed ark was floated with partial success given that the
bitumen used as sealant for the vessel walls immediately succumbed to leaks and a petrol powered pump had to continuously be used to pump out water.
Board games Finkel studies the
history of board games, and is on the editorial board of
Board Game Studies. Among his breakthrough works is the determination of the rules of the
Royal Game of Ur.
Great Diary Project Finkel founded the Great Diary Project, a project to preserve the diaries of ordinary people. In association with the
Bishopsgate Institute, Finkel has helped to archive over 2,000 personal diaries. In 2014, the
V&A Museum of Childhood held an exhibition of the diaries of children written between 1813 and 1996.
Literary Finkel has written a number of works of fiction for children. He appeared in the 2014 memoir
The Boy in the Book by
Nathan Penlington. ==Personal life==