Beneath the Euphrates Sediments: Magnetic Traces of the Mesopotamian Megacity Uruk-Warka
The southern Mesopotamian city of Uruk is approximately five kilometers in diameter. Even after a century of work, excavations have barely scratched the surface. But new techniques
Concepts and Metaphors in Sumerian
The Sumerian language is unrelated to any other language past or present. While it can be read, making sense of things requires understanding how Sumerians used metaphors. Some are
What Sorts of Rituals Really Went on Inside Late Babylonian Temples?
From Aristotle to John Adams, great minds of government have revered Carthaginian democracy as the purest expression of a people’s will. What impact did it have in the developmen
Salt in Mesopotamia: A Blessing and A Curse
Salt was common in Mesopotamia; Assyriologists tend to ignore it. A closer look shows Mesopotamian writers were concerned with salinization and that salt was an integral part of di
Marvel Meets Mesopotamia: How Modern Comics Preserve Ancient Myths
Superheroes fight the battles the rest of us never could, but that idea is surprisingly ancient. So it’s not surprising that the original superhero, Gilgamesh, has teamed up with
Sunlight and Shade in the First Cities – A Sensory Archaeology of Early Iraq
There are two periods of about five days each, in the Spring and in the Autumn, when the weather in southern Iraq is quite nice. Otherwise it’s cold, windy and rainy, or roasting
Trash and Toilets in Mesopotamia: Sanitation and Early Urbanism
For much of the world sanitary disposal of human and other waste remains a critical issue. What do the first cities of ancient Mesopotamia have something to teach us about this ver
Music in Ancient Mesopotamia
Music is a universal language. In ancient Mesopotamia that language was spoken with familiar instruments like lyres, flutes and cymbals. But what did it really sound like?