Two copies of the Ancient Mesopotamia kit are available for checkout. This kit is one complete unit, adaptable for grades 3 to 8. Included in the kit are integrated lessons outlined in the teacher's guide, art reproductions, and artifacts that have been carefully selected to acquaint students with primary sources. Below are some images and labels about some of the artifacts in this kit.
King's Signature Seal Pendant
Seals of this type were used for marking property by making imprints in clay. These seals were usually worn on bracelets or necklaces. They were first made of stone or faience and later of glass or semi-precious stones.
Cuneiform Tablet
This is from the Akkadian Period, 2000 B.C. It is an adaptations from the collection of the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago. Cuneiform tablets represent the earliest form of writing and were originally made out of clay. This tablet records the receipt of wool by three individuals. They used a seagesimal (Base Sixty) number system, the same system we use today when working with circles and time (clocks).
Ram's Head
During the 1930-31 joint expedititon of the British Museum and the University Museum, this small sculpture was excavated in a public chapel in the residential quarter of Ur in ancient Sumeria. It dates to the Ur III or Isin-Larsa period (2112-1763 B.C.) and may have been used to decorate the head of a ceremonial staff.
The Royal Game of Ur
This game was palyed over 4,500 years ago in the Sumerian city of Ur. The game was lost for thousands of years until it was discovered in the 1920s by the British arcaheologist Sir Leonard Wooley when he unearthed an incredible hoard of ancient art there. Among the treatures excavated in a series of mass graves, the tobs of either royal personages or of priests who had been scrificed ot the gods, were a number of elaborately inlaid game boards. This Game of Ur is modeled after the most elaborate of the games discovered by Sir Leonard. The game was apparently a favorite with the royal and wealthy inhabitants of Mesopotamia as the game boards were only found in the graves of the rich and royals.
