[3] Finkel was born in 1951 to a dentist father and teacher mother, one of five children, and grew up at Palmers Green, North London.

He earned a PhD in Assyriology from the University of Birmingham under the supervision of Wilfred G. Lambert with a dissertation on Babylonian exorcistic spells against demons.

[6] Finkel spent three years as a Research Fellow at the University of Chicago Oriental Institute.

[9][10] The ark described in the tablet was circular, essentially a very large coracle or kuphar and made of rope on a wooden frame.

[7] He also owns a replica set of the Lewis chessmen which were used as props in the first Harry Potter film.