The cone mosaics of Urek are thought to be some of the earliest examples of mosaic art in the world. This post will cover what they are, how they were produced and why. It will culminate in a video showing you how to make your own from polymer clay. Pin this post to bookmark it…
Category: History – Ancient Mesopotamia
Curating a Mesopotamia Unit Study
For the past couple of years, I've been working on curating a unit study on Mesopotamia. It's been a bit of a labour of love. I've created a six week planner, project books for a variety of projects, as well as individual lessons and videos. I've also made notepages, science experiments and art studies. Most…
Cylinder Seals {Mesopotamia Unit Study}
Cylinder seals are one of the most fascinating artefacts to come out of Mesopotamia. In fact, Mesopotamia is known for these small, cylindrical stamps, which are considered to be its unparalleled artistic accomplishment. Read more: This lesson on Mesopotamian stamp seals gives you lots of information about the cylinder seal's earlier cousin Also, do check…
The Golden Bull {Book Review}
The Golden bull is a staple in our house, with it being read aloud (or read alone) each time we study Mesopotamia. There is very little good fiction set in Ancient Mesopotamia. And to be honest, not much has changed over the last decade or so. It's a shame because we love to learn about…
Proto-cuneiform Homeschool Lesson
Proto-cuneiform was a pictographic communication which grew from the accounting tokens we learnt about last week. The Mesopotamians began to denote certain information using, first, stamps and then accounting tokens which finally developed into proto-cuneiform tags and pictographic tablets. Pin this post to bookmark it for later! Read More: The Ubaid culture created beautiful artwork and…
Accounting Tokens Homeschool Lesson {Mesopotamia Unit Study}
Humans have been attempting to communicate their thoughts since almost the beginning of their time on earth. In fact, over 24,000 years ago, cave walls were drawn upon, leaving their mark for present day man to enjoy. It was around 20,000 years ago that tally marks began to appear...on cave walls, on sticks and on…
Murder in Mesopotamia {Book Review}
As the title suggests, Murder in Mesopotamia by Agatha Christie, is a murder mystery occurring in Mesopotamia with Christie's premier detective, Hercule Poirot at the helm. It is set during an archeological dig in Iraq, modern day Mesopotamia. Incidentally, the Royal Cemetery at Ur in Mesopotamia was where the author met her husband, Sir Max…
Mesopotamian Ziggurats Homeschool Lesson
In this homeschool lesson about Mesopotamian ziggurats we will explore what ziggurats are, where and when they were built and by whom. We will then investigate why ziggurats were built, looking into depth at the Anu Ziggurat and White Temple at Urek. Pin this post to bookmark it for later! To recap so far, the…
Ubaid Culture {Mesopotamia Unit Study}
The Ubaid culture is an immense prehistoric period of history spanning from about 6500BC to 3800BC and developed from the pottery neolithic era of the Natufians. There are three such cultures (Halaf, Samarra and Ubaid), Halaf being the oldest. The Ubaid's name came from Tell Ubaid which is a mound close to Ur in Southern…
Samarra Culture {Mesopotamia Unit}
The Samarra culture is a prehistoric period of history which developed from the pottery neolithic era of the Natufians. There are three such cultures (Halaf, Sumarra and Ubaid), Halaf being the oldest. These three cultures comprise the very beginnings of the Mesopotamian Civilisation which followed. Read More: Natufian People – the very first known settled hunters and…
Halaf Culture {Mesopotamia Unit}
The Halaf culture is a prehistoric period of history which developed from the pottery neolithic era of the Natufians. There are three such cultures (Halaf, Samarra and Ubaid), with Halaf being the oldest. Read More: Natufian People – the very first known settled hunters and gatherers, who lived in the Levant region of Mesopotamia during the…
Göbekli Tepe Art
Following my last post on Göbekli Tepe, I thought it might be fun to look at some Göbekli Tepe art and perhaps make some for ourselves. I have split this post into the three different sections: Engravings, low reliefs and high reliefs. I have made an accompanying video for each section, as well as some…
Göbekli Tepe Lesson
Göbekli Tepe ('Tepe' = mound) has fascinated archeologists since Klaus Schmidt realised its importance in 1995. In the beginning, it was thought to be a simple but impressive megalith, similar to Stone Henge. As time has gone by and Göbekli Tepe reveals her secrets, it is now known to be so much more than a…
How to Make a Neolithic Double-Headed Figurine
In this post, I will be attempting to show you how to make a Neolithic double-headed figurine. You may have seen from my last post the disaster that was my figurine debacle. The Natufian White Ware was fine, but the figurines were terrible. I tried them using both plain plaster and then the more 'true…
Natufian White Ware {Mesopotamia Unit Study}
Did you know that the Natufian people discovered a way to make clay-like vessels without the use of actual clay? In this post we will be exploring the Natufian use of lime plaster as well as demonstrating how to make your own Natufian White Ware using Plaster of Paris. Read More: Natufian People - the…