Early Dynastic: Did you mean...?

This is a cylinder pottery jar (Type 50 B, pinkware). The name of King KA (and contents) was brushed on the jar using a black ink. King KA ruled just before the 1st Dynasty in Egypt. In general, few vessels from this period bore the name...

Today, Marseille is known more for its modern history – World War II, North African immigration, and, of course, the rousing choruses of France's national anthem, La Marseillaise. Yet it is also one of France's most ancient cities...

Provenance unknown, Mesopotamia Early Dynastic III period, about 2500-2200 BC A votive offering This gypsum statute was deposited in a temple to pray on behalf of the donor. It may have been set up in his lifetime or possibly as a...

A votive plaque of white marble. The lower part shows two men carrying a large jar (probably filled with beer) and another man in front of them seems to steer an animal from behind, perhaps a cow or horse. At the upper part there are two...

The woman wears a garment which was probably made of a sheep skin. The garment was wrapped over the left shoulder only. There are long strands of wool hanging below the lower thighs. The women's eyes might well have been inlaid with stone...

The upper register shows a naked priest followed by three worshippers. The priest pours an unknown liquid offering from a spouted vessel into a stemmed dish or stand, in front of a horned god figure. In the lower register, there are three...

This scene is part of a long one depicting Sumerians milking cows and preparing dairy products. The scene once decorated a frieze on the facade of the Temple of Ninhursag at Tell al-'Ubaid, in modern-day Dhi Qar Governorate, Iraq. Early Dynastic...

This frieze was excavated at the base of the temple of the goddess Ninhursag at Tell Al-Ubaid. The lion-headed eagle monster, or Imdugud, grasps a pair of deer. Imdugud represents the Sumerian god Ningirsu, and it is unknown why it was placed...

These rings were found on the fingers of a woman named Puabi, inside her grave. Puabi was a Semitic Akkadian woman from Ur, c. 2600 BCE, possibly a queen or priestess. Two rings were made of gold wire that was twisted before being wound...

Gold vessel with a long spout that would probably have been used as a drinking straw, from the Royal Cemetery at Ur, Southern Mesopotamia, modern-day Iraq, Early Dynastic Period, c. 2600 BCE. The British Museum, London.