Mesopotamian Artifacts Ranked Oldest to Newest
Hearken Lectures
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Instantly generate a lecture on any topic you type in, in any language, any length, and any voice (even the voice of someone you love). Search "Hearken custom lectures" on the App Store.
Skip the sandstorms and the booming voice from the sky. This documentary walks through real Mesopotamian artifacts — oldest first — as they survive in museums today.
From the Warka Vase and the Mask of Warka, through the Royal Cemetery of Ur, the Code of Hammurabi, Assyrian palace sculpture, the Ishtar Gate, and the Cyrus Cylinder: objects, dates, find places, and where you can see them now.
Runtime: 49:04
Ordered oldest to newest
Museum stills + short Creative Commons B-roll windows
Original narration
A few stills are labeled AI reconstructions of how an object may have looked in use
CHAPTERS
0:00 Introduction
1:06 Warka Vase — c. 3200–3000 BCE
2:54 Mask of Warka — c. 3100 BCE
4:37 Tell Asmar votive statues — c. 2700 BCE
6:12 Standard of Ur — c. 2600 BCE
7:53 Bull-headed lyre of Ur — c. 2600 BCE
9:34 Ram in a Thicket — c. 2600–2400 BCE
11:10 Royal Game of Ur — c. 2600–2400 BCE
12:45 Queen Puabi's headdress — c. 2600 BCE
14:23 Statue of Ebih-Il — c. 2400 BCE
16:06 Stele of the Vultures — c. 2450 BCE
18:05 Victory Stele of Naram-Sin — c. 2250 BCE
19:48 Head of an Akkadian ruler — c. 2250–2200 BCE
21:23 Statue of Gudea — c. 2120 BCE
23:01 Stele of Ur-Nammu — c. 2100 BCE
24:40 Code of Hammurabi — c. 1755 BCE
26:41 Burney Relief (Queen of the Night) — c. 1800–1750 BCE
28:27 Statue of Ashurnasirpal II — c. 883859 BCE
30:04 Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III — c. 825 BCE
31:42 Balawat Gates — c. 850 BCE
33:28 Lamassu (Khorsabad) — c. 720–705 BCE
35:08 Lachish reliefs — c. 700–681 BCE
36:56 Ashurbanipal lion hunt reliefs — c. 645–635 BCE
38:46 Ashurbanipal garden banquet relief — c. 645 BCE
40:19 Gilgamesh Flood Tablet — 7th century BCE copy
42:22 Ishtar Gate c. 575 BCE
44:18 Babylonian Map of the World — 6th century BCE
46:02 Cyrus Cylinder — c. 539 BCE
47:46 Closing
ABOUT THE MEDIA
Museum photographs and maps illustrate each beat.
Motion B-roll is short Creative Commons windows only.
AI reconstructions are labeled on screen.
If a museum or rights holder needs a credit corrected, we will update the description.
Thumbnail photos: Code of Hammurabi (Louvre) by Gil Dbd, CC BY-SA 4.0; Khorsabad lamassu (Oriental Institute) by Gary Todd, CC0; Ishtar Gate lion (Pergamonmuseum) by José Luiz Bernardes Ribeiro, CC BY-SA 4.0.
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Mesopotamian Artifacts Ranked Oldest to Newest
Hearken Lectures
202 views
Instantly generate a lecture on any topic you type in, in any language, any length, and any voice (even the voice of someone you love). Search "Hearken custom lectures" on the App Store.
Skip the sandstorms and the booming voice from the sky. This documentary walks through real Mesopotamian artifacts — oldest first — as they survive in museums today.
From the Warka Vase and the Mask of Warka, through the Royal Cemetery of Ur, the Code of Hammurabi, Assyrian palace sculpture, the Ishtar Gate, and the Cyrus Cylinder: objects, dates, find places, and where you can see them now.
Runtime: 49:04
Ordered oldest to newest
Museum stills + short Creative Commons B-roll windows
Original narration
A few stills are labeled AI reconstructions of how an object may have looked in use
CHAPTERS
0:00 Introduction
1:06 Warka Vase — c. 3200–3000 BCE
2:54 Mask of Warka — c. 3100 BCE
4:37 Tell Asmar votive statues — c. 2700 BCE
6:12 Standard of Ur — c. 2600 BCE
7:53 Bull-headed lyre of Ur — c. 2600 BCE
9:34 Ram in a Thicket — c. 2600–2400 BCE
11:10 Royal Game of Ur — c. 2600–2400 BCE
12:45 Queen Puabi's headdress — c. 2600 BCE
14:23 Statue of Ebih-Il — c. 2400 BCE
16:06 Stele of the Vultures — c. 2450 BCE
18:05 Victory Stele of Naram-Sin — c. 2250 BCE
19:48 Head of an Akkadian ruler — c. 2250–2200 BCE
21:23 Statue of Gudea — c. 2120 BCE
23:01 Stele of Ur-Nammu — c. 2100 BCE
24:40 Code of Hammurabi — c. 1755 BCE
26:41 Burney Relief (Queen of the Night) — c. 1800–1750 BCE
28:27 Statue of Ashurnasirpal II — c. 883859 BCE
30:04 Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III — c. 825 BCE
31:42 Balawat Gates — c. 850 BCE
33:28 Lamassu (Khorsabad) — c. 720–705 BCE
35:08 Lachish reliefs — c. 700–681 BCE
36:56 Ashurbanipal lion hunt reliefs — c. 645–635 BCE
38:46 Ashurbanipal garden banquet relief — c. 645 BCE
40:19 Gilgamesh Flood Tablet — 7th century BCE copy
42:22 Ishtar Gate c. 575 BCE
44:18 Babylonian Map of the World — 6th century BCE
46:02 Cyrus Cylinder — c. 539 BCE
47:46 Closing
ABOUT THE MEDIA
Museum photographs and maps illustrate each beat.
Motion B-roll is short Creative Commons windows only.
AI reconstructions are labeled on screen.
If a museum or rights holder needs a credit corrected, we will update the description.
Thumbnail photos: Code of Hammurabi (Louvre) by Gil Dbd, CC BY-SA 4.0; Khorsabad lamassu (Oriental Institute) by Gary Todd, CC0; Ishtar Gate lion (Pergamonmuseum) by José Luiz Bernardes Ribeiro, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Timestamps are in the description. Which object stopped you — the Warka Vase, Puabi’s gold, the Code of Hammurabi, or the Ishtar Gate?