Images

This fine decorated pottery takes its name from the modern name of Tell Atchana, Alalakh. It was defined by the excavator Sir L. Woolley as a locally produced variant of the so-called "Nuzi ware", a similarly fine and elaborated decorated...

This head belongs to a well-known statue, identified as Meleager, the ancient Greek hero who took part in the hunt for the Caledonian boar. Full length versions which survive show the hero standing with his hunting dog, spear, and the boar's...

This ecstatic procession features 2 satyrs and a female follower of Dionysos (Bacchus), god of wine. The satyr and maenad at the front play pipes (aulos) and a small drum. The other satyr carries a thyrsos, Dionysos' staff, and is accompanied...

Chests of this sort were used to contain the bones of individuals in secondary burials. These were burials in which the body had been exposed and allowed to decay before the bones were gathered. At Azor, on the coast of Israel, a rock-cut...

During the late 3rd millenniumCE, the area of the middle Euphrates developed a distinctive regional culture. Between 1963-1973 CE, an international rescue mission excavated a large number of sites in this region which were threatened by flooding...

During the late 3rd millennium BCE, the area of the middle Euphrates developed a distinctive regional culture. Between 1963-1973 CE, an international rescue mission excavated a large number of sites in this region which were threatened by...

Mummy of a child, wrapped in a shroud depicting a boy wearing a tunic, mantle, and slippers, and holding a spring of myrtle. A wreath of rosebuds is worn on the head. The child was around the age of 7 to 10 years at the time of death. From...

Tell Halaf is situated on the headwaters of the river Habur in modern-day north-eastern Syria. It was excavated between 1911-1921 by a German expedition under the direction of Baron Max von Oppenheim. Large areas of the early Iron Age city...

This is the latest datable clay tablet in the British Museum. It gives the monthly positions of the planets in the zodiac signs and the dates of their characteristic phenomena. Dates of solstices, equinoxes, and eclipses are also given. The...

The cuneiform inscription on this polished diorite weight states "I Darius, the great king, the son of Hystaspes, an Achaemenian". This is an abbreviated version of a standard inscription on a series of stone weights of Darius, which can...