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Neolithic Clay Figurine from West Iran
Neolithic clay goddess from Tappah Sarab, Kermanshah, 7000-6100 BCE. Clay figurines of female bodies with exaggerated reproductive organs are among the most common features of prehistoric sculpted art. With famous examples from Venus of...
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Neolithic Clay Altar Figurine of a Mother Goddess
Neolithic clay altar figurine of a mother goddess from Tumba Madzari, North Macedonia, the second half of the 6th millennium BCE. Archaeological Museum of the Republic of Macedonia, Skopje. Tumba Madzari (lit. hill of the tomb) is a Neolithic...
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Clay Stove from Central Europe
Replica of a 16th-century earthenware stove with decorative tiles from around Šenkvice. Slovak National Museum, Bratislava. Central European clay stoves emerged in the late medieval period as an evolution of the traditional dome-shaped...
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Mesopotamian Beer Rations Tablet
The temples issued workers with daily rations of barley beer, the staple drink of Mesopotamia. The tablet was impressed with five different types of numerical symbol. From Mesopotamia, Iraq. Late Uruk Period, 3100-3000 BCE. (The British Museum...
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Babylonian Clay Map from Nippur
A Babylonian cuneiform tablet with a map of the fields, towns and palaces around Nippur. Kassite Period, 1550-1450 BCE. Nippur, Iraq.
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Mesopotamian Tablet on Marduk
Babylonian tablet, a scholar speculating on how powerful, independent Mesopotamian gods can be seen as aspects of the god Marduk. From Babylon, Southern Mesopotamia, Iraq. Neo-Babylonian Period, reign of Nebuchadnezzar II, 605-562 BCE. The...
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E-sagil Tablet & Building the Tower of Babel
This tablet states the dimensions of each of the seven levels of Etemenanki, the ziggurat of Marduk at Babylon. This building is the Tower of Babel in the Book of Genesis. From Babylon, Southern Mesopotamia, Iraq. Circa 600-400 BCE. (The...
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Tablet with Hellenistic King List
Written in Babylonian in the cuneiform inscription, this tablet lists the names and dates of several Seleucid kings. After Alexander's death, the Persian Empire fractured. Mesopotamia and Syria became part of the Seleucid Empire, with their...
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Tablet Describing Parthian Conquest of Babylonia
This tablet is written in cuneiform inscription and refers to the defeat of the Seleucid king Demetrius II Nicator by the Parthian ruler Mithradates I in 141 BCE. The Parthian ruler is referred to as Arshaka. The text also refers to market...
Definition
Pottery in Antiquity
Pottery is the first synthetic material ever created by humans. The term refers to objects made of clay that have been fashioned into the desired shape, dried, and either fired or baked to fix their form. Due to its abundance and durability...