New research uncovers how ancient tides shaped the rise of Sumer. A newly released study questions established beliefs about how urban civilization first emerged in ancient Mesopotamia, proposing that ...

The story of how the first cities rose from southern Mesopotamia has long fascinated scientists and historians. Many explanations point to fertile soil, farming, and trade networks as the engines of ...

An ancient civilization that ruled Mesopotamia nearly 4,000 years ago was likely wiped out because of disastrous dust storms, a new study suggests. The Akkadian Empire, which ruled what is now Iraq ...

Exploring the ancient Ziggurat of Dur-Kurigalzu in Iraq! Discover its incredible structure from the 14th century BC and its ...

The Great Ziggurat of Ur dedicated to the Moon god. Ziggurats were massive structure typical for Mesopotamia. Sumerians believed that the gods lived in the temple at the top of the ziggurats. Woods ...

Out of the many incredible artifacts that have been recovered from sites in Iraq where flourishing Sumerian cities once stood, few have been more intriguing than the Sumerian King List. An ancient ...

To reopen Wednesday after a yearlong closure during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Getty Villa has at last unveiled “Mesopotamia: Civilization Begins.” The show, originally scheduled to open in March 2020 ...

On the bitter plains of modern Iraq there remain large piles of baked bricks covered with much sand. They have sat there in silent witness to a lost religion for 4,000 years. Only in the 19th century ...

Inscriptions on a set of four clay tablets from the ancient Near Eastern civilization of Babylonia have finally been completely deciphered, thousands of years after they were produced, a study reports ...