The former DAI Baghdad Department, which was founded in 1955, constitutes the nucleus of the Orient Department.  It not only was named after the Iraqi capital, but also had its headquarters there. It was there that earlier plans for a permanent German archaeological research centre in Baghdad had been finalised after negotiations going on since the 1930s.

In 1996, the German Archaeological Institute merged all its current research projects in the Middle East under the new Orient Department. It was thus became a research unit in its own right, which, in addition to the Baghdad Department now also was in charge of the branch offices at Sanaa (active since 1978) and Damaskus (active since 1980) inside its structural organisation. The Orient Department is located in Berlin, close to the DAI headquarters, whereas the branch offices are based in the above-mentioned cities whilst holding offices in Berlin. The Damascus branch office has been maintaining a research unit at the German Protestant Institute of Ancient Studies in the Holy Land (Deutsches Evangelisches Institut für Altertumswissenschaft des Heiligen Landes, DEI) in Amman since 2007.

Today, the Orient Department is dedicated to research covering the regions south of Türkiye and west of Iran (Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan) as well as the entire Arabian Peninsula (Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Qatar, United Arab Emirates). Projects closely linked to the topics studied in this latter region are also being carried out in East Africa (Ethiopia). The Orient Department moreover closely cooperates with the DAI's Istanbul Department in its investigations at Göbekli Tepe in South-eastern Türkiye.

Long-lasting projects at large and historically relevant sites have at all times been a main aspect of the different study areas, as exemplified by the archaeological fieldwork at Baalbek, Babylon, Gadara-Umm Qays, Marib, Palmyra, Sirwah, Uruk, and Yeha. Today, work at both these large as well as hosts of smaller sites is being carried out in more succinct and topic-related research units. On the other hand, overarching approaches aim at addressing the  general issues related to the historical, economic, social, and environmental changes throughout the region concerned.