Images

The Venus of Brassempouy is one of the earliest known realistic representations of a human face. It belongs to the Gravettian culture of Upper Palaeolithic Europe and was probably carved between c. 26,000 and c. 24,000 years ago. It was made...

This is a baked clay foundation peg, which was dedicated by Entemena, king of Lagash. It refers to a treaty with the king of Uruk. The political bond between Lagash and Uruk mentioned in this text is the earliest formal interstate relationship...

This detail is part of a mosaic column, which may have stood at the side of the entrance into the temple. The whole column originally had a core of palm-wood (now perished). A layer of bitumen coated that wood. The mosaic inlay pieces (mother-of-pearl...

Gypsum wall panel relief depicting huntsmen with hounds under palm trees. Panel 13, Room E of the North Palace at Nineveh (Kouyunjik), Northern Mesopotamia, modern-day Iraq. Neo-Assyrian period, reign of Ashurbanipal II, 645-635 BCE...

Alabaster vase in the shape of a standing woman with ample proportions. She has a sweeping hair and holds flowers. Late Babylonian Period, 700-600 BCE. From Sippar (modern-day Tell Abu Habbah), Mesopotamia, modern-day Iraq. (The British Museum...

This gypsum wall relief depicts a Lahmu; a human figure representing a minor deity. This Lahmu, holding a long and bladed lance guards gates. He has a striking long curly beard and hair. He is bare-footed and wears a short kilt with tassels...

This gypsum wall relief depicts a standing lion-headed man holding a dagger, looking to the right. This is "the Great Lion" or "Ugallu". Layard found it in two fragments, among the so-called "Gallery XLIX (O); the long gallery" at the South-West...

This kudduru (boundary stone) is a document which records the services of Ritti-Marduk, commander of the chariots, in a royal military campaign against Elam in southern Iran. As a reward, his ancestral territory was made exempt from taxation...

On this clay tablet, the author has listed the titles of cuneiform omen collections drawn from celestial and terrestrial phenomena. Rather unusually, he explains that the validity of an individual omen depends on the particular month and...

This gypsum wall relief was part of a corner panel. It depicts Assyrian soldiers with horses crossing a mountainous area. The wavy lines and spirals at the bottom of the scene represent a river. The cuneiform inscriptions on the reverse refer...