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Began 40,000 BCE, peak 30,000-12,000 BCE(most famous cave paintings and carvings in Europe, France and Spain. Decline 10,000 BCE as the ice age ended. A naturalistic art in animals , abstract and or geometric symbols made in caves. Animals (mammoths, deer, horses), human figures were rare but were made as stick figures. People of this era were hunter -gatherers. Artist are unknown but are identified by cultures or regions.
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This small female figurine emphasizes fertility and femininity, with exaggerated breast, belly and hips. Made out of limestone, painted with red ochre.
“Venus” (or Woman) of Willendorf, c. 24,000–22,000 B.C.E., limestone, 11.1 cm high (Naturhistorisches Museum, Vienna.
Dr. Bryan Zygmont. “Venus of Willendorf.” Smarthistory.org, 21 Nov. 2015. -
France, c. 15,000 BCE. Lascaux Cave. The Hall of Bulls is a large chamber decorated with vivid images of bulls, horses and stags painted with natural pigments. The Animals are shown in motion some overlapping giving a sense of movement. -
Began 10,000 BCE after the las Ice Age with the development of agriculture. Peake 8,000- 3000 BCE depending on the region. Decline around 3000 BCE as Bronze Age cultures emerged with metal tools, writing and more complex societies. Shifted from naturalistic animal imagines to abstract patterns and human centered themes. Daily life, farming, community, architecture and monuments. Pottery with paint, weaving and textiles.
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These are real human skulls that were plastered and painted to resemble living faces, often buried beneath homes and are among the earliest examples of human portraiture they are believed to represent ancestor worship or remembrance of the dead.
“The Jericho Skull – Smarthistory.” Smarthistory.org, -
The Ain Ghazal statues are some of the earliest large scale human representations. The figures are made of lime plaster, layered over a framework of reeds and other plant material. They range from 1 meter tall for the largest statues to smaller busts, with large, wide-open eyes outlined in bitumen.
Bauer, Pat. “Ain Ghazal | Description, Culture, Significance, Facts.” -
encompasses the civilizations of Mesopotamia, Anatolia, and the Levant, focusing on religious and political themes with characteristic features like monumental architecture (ziggurats), hierarchical scale, and detailed relief carvings on various materials including stone, metal, and clay. “Rethinking Approaches to the Art of the Ancient near East until C. 600 B.C.E. – Smarthistory.” Smarthistory.org.
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Began: c. 4000 BCE (urbanization / Uruk period begins).Peak: c. 3500-2300 BCE (Early Dynastic city-states; flourishing monumental temple art).Decline: c. 2300 BCE (consolidation under
Akkadian rule). Key Features: Ziggurats, votive statues, cylinder seals, narrative registers. Representative Works: Standard of Ur (c 2600-2400 BCE), Votive Statuettes of Tell Asmar (c. 2900-2600 BCE). Context: City-states, temple worship, first writing systems. -
The Warka Vase is one of the earliest known examples of narrative relief sculptures.It depict a ritual procession offering gifts to the goddess Inanna,the patron deity of Uruk.The vase is divided into registers showing different levels of society from plants and animals at the bottom to priest ands the goddess at the top.Warka (Uruk) Vase, Uruk, Late Uruk period, c.3500–3000 B.C.E.,105 cmhigh(National Museum of Iraq, Baghdad).Dr. Senta German. “Warka Vase – Smarthistory.” Smarthistory.org, 2017. -
Approx. c. 3100 BCE (regional Neolithic
Chalcolithic Naqada culture peaks in Late Predynastic,ends with political unification start of Early Dynastic ~3100 BCE)Local pottery traditions (black-topped, white-cross line ware), increasingly complex grave goods.Naturalistic animal and human representations in small-scale carved ivory, bone, and stone.Early use of pictorial motifs that later feed into hieroglyphic signs and royal iconography. -
c.2686-2181BCE(Dynasties3-6)Peak pyramid-building and canonical Old Kingdom architecture.ThirdFourth Dynasties(Djoser
Khufu Khafre).Decline into the First Intermediate Period 2181 BCE.Monumental stone step and true pyramids;complex funerary precincts.
Canonical,highly formalized figural art:rigid frontal poses for rulers,strict proportions,hierarchical scale.High technical skill in stone carving (granite, diorite,limestone)Reliefs and tomb painting(daily life,offerings,hunting,agriculture) -
The standard of Ur is a rectangular box like object with two main panels the " war side" and the " peace side" the war side shows the chariots and soldiers in the battle, while the peace side depicts a victory banquet with musicians and offerings.
The Standard of Ur, 2600–2400 B.C.E., shell, limestone, lapis lazuli, and bitumen, 21.59 x 49.53 x 12 cm, The Trustees of the British Museum, London.
German, Senta. “Standard of Ur – Smarthistory.” Smarthistory.org, 26 July 2023. -
Began:c.2334 BCE(Sargon of Akkad - traditional founding).Peak: c.2300-2150 BCE(imperial consolidation under Sargon, Naram-Sin).Decline: c. 2150 BCE (collapse / Gutian incursions; later political fragmentation). Monumental stone sculpture and bronze casting (hollow-cast bronze portraiture), naturalistic yet idealized royal portraiture, victory stelae with hierarchical composition, increased use of narrative heroic imagery. Stylized beards and braided hair in royal portraiture.
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sculpture depicting King Naram-Sin's victory over the Lullubi mountain people in the Zagros Mountains, showing Naram-Sin leading his army up a mountain, towering over his defeated enemies who are shown falling. Carved from pink limestone.
Victory Stele of Naram-Sin, 2254-2218 B.C.E., pink limestone, Akkadian (Musée du Louvre, Paris).
Harris, Dr. Beth, and Dr. Steven Zucker. “Victory Stele of Naram-Sin – Smarthistory". -
The Head of an Akkadian Ruler is a life sized, hollow-cast bronze sculpture. A powerful, somber face with locks of hair and a wrinkled brow, though its exact subject whether the first Akkadian emperor, Sargon of Akkad remains debated.
Head of an Akkadian ruler, 2250–2200 B.C.E., bronze.
“Akkad, an Introduction – Smarthistory.” Smarthistory.org. -
Began: c. 2112 BCE (Ur-Nammu establishes Ur
Peak: c. 2100-2000 BCE (administrative consolidation, monumental building).
Decline: c. 2004 BCE (collapse under Amorite pressures).
Key features / techniques Monumental ziggurat construction (massive mudbrick cores with faced brick), detailed votive and dedicatory inscriptions, renewed emphasis on Sumerian language cultic forms. Stylistically conservative but highly refined architecture and temple arts. -
This massive stepped temple platform was built to honor the moon god Nanna (Sin). The structures terraced form elevated the shrine closer to the heavens. Mud brick with baked brick facing.
Ziggurat of Ur c. 2100 B.C.E., mud brick and baked brick, Tell el-Mukayyar, Iraq.
Dr. Senta German. “Ziggurat of Ur.” Smarthistory.org, 8 Aug. 2015. -
It is significant as an early example of a law code and for its detailed relief carvings showing the king in ritualistic interactions with gods and overseeing the building of the ziggurat of Ur. Commemorating King Ur-Nammu of the Third Dynasty of Ur.
Stela of Ur-Nammu, King of Ur, circa 2120 B.C. The King worshipping the gods of Ur before the building of the tower
“Museum Bulletin | the Third Dynasty of Ur. The Stela of Ur – Nammu.” -
c.2030(principal period:Dynasties11-13; the12th Dynasty is often seen as the peak).Declinec.1650 BCE.A revival and reworking of older conventions with more psychological realism in royal portraiture.Balance between monumentality and more intimate,detailed sculpture and private devotional objects.Increased production of rock-cut tombs,stelae,inscribed reliefs,and finer wood stone statuary. Literate culture and literary works flourish (official inscriptions, personal funerary texts)
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Babylon becomes important from c.1894 BCE(First Babylonian Dynasty/Hammurabi).Peak(Neo-Babylonian):c.626-539 BCE
(Nebuchadnezzarprominent 604-562 BCE).Decline:539 BCE (conquest by Cyrus the Great;later Hellenistic period).Key features/techniques Glazed brick and polychrome reliefs(especially Neo-Babylonian),monumental gate architecture,extensive use of animal processional motifs(lions, bulls,dragons),narrative stelae and royal inscriptions. Decorative use of vivid glazes(lapis-blue imitation). -
A high relief plaque made with fired clay(terracotta) showing a winged goddess possibly Ishtar, Lilith or Ereshkingal standing on lions and flanked by owls. She wears a honored headdress and holds rods and rings of power.
The "Queen of the Night" Relief, 1800-1750 B.C.E., Old Babylonian, baked straw-tempered clay, 49 x 37 x 4.8 cm, Southern Iraq
“The ‘Queen of the Night’ Relief (Article).” Khan Academy. -
Hammurabi's Stele is an approximately 7-foot-tall basalt carving. The stele portrays Hammurabi receiving laws from Shamash, the sun god of justice, and contains the longest surviving text from the Old Babylonian period, providing insight into Mesopotamian society, law, and the concept of a king's divinely ordained authority.
Law Code Stele of King Hammurabi, basalt, Babylonian, 1792–1750 B.C.E.(Musée du Louvre, Paris). -
Beganc.912-612 BCE (Neo-Assyrian Empire traditionally 911-612 BCE).Peak:c.745-627 BCE (power under Tiglath-Pileser Ill, Sargon I|,Sennacherib, Ashurbanipal).Decline:collapse c. 612 BCE(coalition sacked
Nineveh empire falls)Large-scale alabaster(gypsum)palace reliets with lowrelief narrative panels depicting royal hunts, sieges, and tribute scenes monumental guardian figures at gateways; highly detailed figural carving, emphasis on power,control,and imperial ideology. -
The Assyrian "winged genie" is a protective supernatural being, known as an apkallu or lamassu, depicted as a bearded, winged male figure made of alabaster that symbolized divine power and provided protection against evil. These figures were carved on palace walls and served as guardians, often associated with royal authority and acts of fertilizing sacred trees.
A human-headed and winged Genie. Neo-Assyrian period, ca. eighth century BCE. National Museum of Iraq, Baghdad. -
A lamassu is an apotropaic or protective hybrid monster with the bearded head of a mature mane, crown of a god, and the winged body of either a bull or lion. They are massive, up to 20 feet tall and weigh as much as 30–50 tons. Remarkably, each is carved from a single slab of limestone, gypsum alabaster, or breccia. 721–705 B.C.E. (reign of Sargon II, Neo-Assyrian Period, Khorsabad, ancient Dur Sharrukin, Assyria, Iraq), gypseous alabaster -
The Cyrus Cylinder is an ancient clay inscription detailing Cyrus the Great's conquest of Babylon in 539 BCE and his policies of religious freedom and the return of deported peoples to their homes. Baked clay inscribed in cuneiform. Located found in Babylon modern Iraq (British Museum, London. -
The tomb is shaped like a cross with relief showing Darius standing on a platform supported by figures representing subject nations with the god Ahura Mazda above him. Rock cut tomb carved into a cliff face.
Located Naqsh-e Rustam, near Persepolis, Iran. -
Began:c.550BCE (Cyrus Il"the Great"defeat.Media;Achaemenid foundation).Peak:c.522-330BCE (Darius I and Xerxes — extensive building and imperial administration).Decline:330 BCE(conquest by Alexander the Great)Imperial monumental architecture(Persepolis),finely carved reliefs of processions and delegations, stone columns with animal capitals,polychrome and inlaid decorative schemes,combined motifs drawn fromMedian,Elamite,Mesopotamian,Egyptian and Greek traditions(cosmopolitan imperial style).