Paul Collins is the Jaleh Hearn Curator for Ancient Near East at the Ashmolean Museum, and a Fellow of Jesus College and Wolfson College, Oxford University

Reviews
Reclining cow, Jemdet Nasr period, 3300–3000 BC, Uruk, Iraq. Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin, Photo: Olaf M. Tessmer; © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Vorderasiatisches Museen

The Mesopotamian city that can claim to be the cradle of civilisation

Uruk may not be as well known as Babylon or Ninevah, but layers of complex, urban life have been uncovered there over the course of the 20th century

7 Feb 2020
Features
’Ram caught in thicket’, from the Royal Cemetery of Ur, (c. 2500–2400 BC), Sumerian, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia.

Mythical beasts in Mesopotamia

What do sculpted animals in Mesopotamian art tell us about the relationship between gods and men?

3 Jun 2017
Previews

First Look: ‘Discovering Tutankhamun’ at the Ashmolean Museum

The Ashmolean Museum will offer a new perspective on a famous archaeological find this summer

20 Jul 2014
Apollo December 2024

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Masterpiece [Re]discovery 2022. Photo: Ben Fisher Photography, courtesy of Masterpiece London

The Masterpiece podcast: episode three

This episode explores an ancient funeral stele, Marie Antoinette’s breast bowl, and how digital technologies are helping to preserve Egyptian heritage sites

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UK signs cultural deals with Saudi Arabia

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Slovak National Gallery’s department heads resign – with 177 staff threatening to follow

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