[1] Dumbrill has studied the archaeomusicology of the Ancient Near East, especially the interpretation of cuneiform texts of Music Theory written in Sumerian, Babylonian and Hurrian.

Dumbrill offers another interpretation of the Hurrian songs, the oldest music ever written, which was found in northwest Syria at the site of Ugarit.

He reconstructed the Silver lyre of Ur (at the British Museum), from Woolley's notes, with Myriam Marcetteau.

Drumbill is the founder, with Irving Finkel of the International Council of Near Eastern Archaeomusicology [2] (ICONEA) at the Institute of Musical Research, School of Advanced Studies, University of London.

[3] Dumbrill has lectured at Harvard and Yale and in Iraq, Beirut, Damascus, Leiden, Rotterdam, Corpus Christi (Cambridge), and Paris.