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Curatorial Sections

Babylonian Section

The Babylonian Section houses a collection of almost 30,000 clay tablets inscribed in Sumerian and Akkadian cuneiform, making it one of the ten largest collections in the world.

Ancient map tablet with cuneiform writing.

Collection History

The vast majority of the texts derive from the Museum's excavations at Nippur in the latter part of the 19th Century along with smaller excavated groups of tablets from Ur, Billa, Malyan and Fara. The collection contains the largest number of Sumerian school tablets and literary compositions of any of the world's museums, as well as important administrative archives ranging from 2900 to 500 BCE.

Section Artifacts