Images

This piece of limestone was roughly cut into an unusual stele depicting a standing Aramaean King. One of the king's hand holds a long spear or staff while the other hand holds a tulip. 11th century BCE. From Tell- es-Salihiyeh, modern-day...

Female figurine of a seated woman. Fired clay. Halaf Period, 6000-5000 BCE. From Chagar Bazar, modern-day Al-Hasakah Governorate, Syria. (The British Museum, London)

This Samarran pottery bowl was handmade and painted with a stylized design of a round pond. The Samarran Period (6500-6000) is known for its finely made pottery decorated with animals, birds, and geometric designs. Samarran pottery probably...

This pottery bowl was handmade and decorated with geometric designs in dark glossy paint. Potters of the Halaf Period produced some of the finest handmade pottery known from the ancient word. Halaf vessels are fired at high temperatures and...

Pottery bowl decorated with geometric designs in dark paint. Complete and handmade. 5200-4200 BCE. From Ur (city-Archaic), Southern Mesopotamia, modern-day Iraq. (The British Museum, London)

The Uruk Trough, one of the earliest examples of formal religious art from Mesopotamia. It was probably a cult object in the temple of Inanna (Ishtar); it cannot be used as a trough or basin. The carving shows sheep approaching a reed hut...

This horn is filled with bitumen and would originally have been attached to a bull's head. On the Temple's facade, there was probably extensive use of gold, bu this is the only piece to survive. Early Dynastic Period, 2500 BCE. From the Temple...

It was a Sumerian tradition to deposit or bury objects bearing inscriptions within temples and important public buildings. These recorded the names of the persons who were responsible for the building and also ensured divine protection. The...

Denisova Cave in the Altai Mountains in Siberia, Russia. It is well known for human occupation stretching back as far as 280,000 years ago and shows signs of occupation by Neanderthals, Homo sapiens and Denisovans. All currently known Denisovan...

Map showing a possible scenario of the spread and evolution of Denisovans. On the right, it shows that Homo sapiens shares a common ancestor with the Neanderthals and Denisovans, who are sister species. There is evidence of interbreeding...