Axe head
Unknown Artist
ca. 4000 BCE
Medium
Ceramic
Dimensions
3.86 x 1.89 x 5.39 in. (9.8 x 4.8 x 13.69 cm)
Classification
Ceramics-Implements
Culture & Period
Ubaid · Ubaid
Department
Ancient Near Eastern Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Rogers Fund, 1959
Accession Number
59.41.71
Art Historical Context
This remarkably preserved ceramic axe head, dating to around 4000 BCE, hails from the Ubaid culture in ancient Mesopotamia—one of the earliest known civilizations in the Ancient Near East. The Ubaid period (c. 6500–3800 BCE) marked a shift toward settled farming communities along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, where innovations in pottery and tool-making laid the groundwork for later Sumerian society. Measuring just under 6 inches long, this compact implement exemplifies the era's practical craftsmanship, likely used for woodworking or agricultural tasks in daily village life. Crafted from ...