In 1911, the explorer Gertrude Bell visited the German excavations at Ashur, the founding capital of the Assyrian empire. Emerging from communities on the banks of the Tigris, in present-day Iraq, the ...

A ground-penetrating eye in the sky has helped to rehydrate an ancient southern Mesopotamian city, tagging it as what amounted to a Venice of the Fertile Crescent. Identifying the watery nature of ...

A little-known Mesopotamian poet and priestess, Enheduanna, is the subject of a new exhibition in New York. Diane Cole explores her influence – and looks at how she helped create a common system of ...

Chair of Ancient Near Eastern Literatures, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich Throughout the twentieth century, only the fragmentary version of the prologue of the epic was known. Generations of ...

Mesopotamian clay maps, dating back 5,000 years, provide a fascinating glimpse into the ancient world’s perception of geography, particularly its rivers. These clay tablets not only depict the ...

After analyzing millions of words in ancient Akkadian, researchers believe ancient humans may have felt emotions in the different parts of the body compared to modern-day humans. In all great writings ...

As Iraq fitfully rebuilds, a groundbreaking exhibition is showcasing that nation’s rich roots in Mesopotamia, the region that gave birth to the world’s first urban civilization some 5,000 years ago.

Leonard Woolley waxing a skeleton for removal, in Ur (1929-1930) (courtesy of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology) After excavation, ancient artifacts embark on an ...

About 3,000 years ago in ancient Mesopotamia, brickmakers imprinted the names of their kings into clay bricks. Now, an analysis of the metal grains in those bricks has confirmed a mysterious anomaly ...