Recent excavations at the Shakhi Kora settlement in Iraqi Kurdistan shed new light on the origins and rejection of early centralized governance in ancient Mesopotamia. The research results ...

Two Minds. The statues uncovered at Nippur portray a cross section of Sumerian society. A priestess standing majestically with a ritual cup in one hand and a branch in the other hobnobs with an ...

We cannot yet be certain whether writing spread from Mesopotamia, or developed independently in these civilisations. As Mesopotamian society became more complex, writing allowed administrators to ...