Foundation figure of Ur-Namma holding a basket

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This solid-cast figurine shows a male figure, beardless and with a shaved head, carrying a basket filled with earth above his head. The basket may indicate that the figure is participating in ceremonial building activities, such as the ceremony for making the first brick which is recorded in texts from this period. The cuneiform inscription on the peg identifies it as one which was deposited in the foundation of a temple of Inanna restored or built by the Ur III ruler Ur-Namma.

Ancient Near Eastern Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Met's Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art cares for approximately 7,000 works ranging in date from the eighth millennium B.C. through the centuries just beyond the emergence of Islam in the seventh century A.D. Objects in the collection were created by people in the area that today comprises Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Syria, the Eastern Mediterranean coast, Yemen, and Central Asia. From the art of some of the world's first cities to that of great empires, the department's holdings illustrate the beauty and craftsmanship as well as the profound interconnections, cultural and religious diversity, and lasting legacies that characterize the ancient art of this vast region.

Metropolitan Museum of Art