When rolled on a moist clay tablet, these engravings left low-relief markings, signifying that the object’s owner authorized ...

When it was made: The Neo-Assyrian period, circa 900 to 600 B.C. This small, bronze figurine is the best-known depiction of the Mesopotamian god Pazuzu, who was the inspiration for modern demons ...

The oldest religious text in the world date back thousands of years, though many religions were initially passed on through spoken word. These religious texts are some of the oldest in human history.

Archaeologist and scholar Giorgio Buccellati’s book At the Origins of Politics describes how Mesopotamia’s urban revolution in the late fourth millennium BC shaped a new mentality. The segmentation ...

Research shows that ancient tides shaped the rise of Sumer, the world’s first civilization. Shifting deltas and tidal rhythms ...