Clay: Did you mean...?

These clay tokens represent the first form of counting, before the invention of writing. They date back to the Neolithic period, 8000-7000 BCE and were found in Tapa Raza, south-east of modern Sulaimaniya Governorate, Iraq. (The Sulaimaniya...

This is a fired clay cover of the sun god (Shamash) tablet. Its purpose was to protect the obverse side (face) of the tablet. It has retained the impression of the carved panel of the tablet. The Babylonian king Nabu-apla-iddina (reigned...

This clay tablet narrates the building works of the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III (reigned 858-824 BCE). From Ashur (Assur), Iraq. (The Iraq Museum, Baghdad).

Clay head from Mesopotamia, modern-day Iraq. Old Babylonian period, 2003-1959 BCE. The Sulaymaniyah Museum, Iraq.

This cutting tool witnessed the beginning of agriculture. Ubaid period, 5th millennium BCE, Mesopotamia, Iraq. (The Sulaimaniya Museum, Iraq).

Such molds appeared for the very first time during the late Chalcolithic period. Their use indicates a trend towards mass production and consumption of copper goods. Late Chalcolithic period, 4000-3600 BCE. From Hujayrat al-Ghuzlan, north...

Cay tablet narrating the building works of the Assyrian king Adad-Nirari II (r. 911-891 BCE), from Ashur (Assur), modern-day Iraq. The Iraq Museum, Baghdad.

Agreement for annual dues of gold and sheep to be paid to the King, either Idirimi or his son Niqmepa, who often used his father's seal. The seal's inscription reads "Idrimi, servant of the god Adad". 1500-1450 BCE. From Level IV Palace at...

Urban Archaeology and the Museum of Rome in the Middle Ages The contexts of the Crypta are integrated by coeval finds coming from the historical collections of the Roman museums and by the contexts unearthed during the urban excavations...

Henry Clay, toward the end of his long congressional career, photo by Julian Vannerson or Montgomery P. Simons, 1848.