Stone Sculpture of a Sumerian Priest

This elegant figure pertains to the Sumerian civilisation, an extremely advanced and complex society situated in modern day Iraq. Lasting for some four thousand years, the Sumerians were among the first cultures to develop most of what we now take for granted, from complex economies to advanced record keeping, literature, international trade and recorded mythologies. In terms of date, we know that it comes from a period known as the Late Uruk to the late Early Dynastic, which is roughly contemporary with the European Bronze Age. However, we also have a great deal more information to add context. Thanks to the Sumerian habit of recording everything on clay tablets using cuneiform – one of the first complex writing systems – we can infer a great deal about the society, and postulate further on the significance of this figure. We know that Sumer was characterised by various city-- states, running in competition with one another for wealth and conquest, while sharing similar characteristics and material goods