About This Project

The story of ancient Mesopotamia is the story of humankind, and it is in this spirit that we developed the online resource, Ancient Mesopotamia: This History, Our History. The Mesopotamian collection of the Oriental Institute Museum was unearthed in archaeological excavations conducted by the University of Chicago over the past century. The purpose of this website is to disseminate knowledge and awareness of this ancient civilization that will lead to a better understanding of ourselves, others, and of current events for the K-12 community, hence the project's title, Ancient Mesopotamia: This History, Our History.

Ancient Mesopotamia: This History, Our History was developed in collaboration with a team of Chicago Public School teachers. They selected key artifacts from the Oriental Institute Museum’s Mesopotamian collection to create a Learning Collection for this project. These artifacts shed light on many aspects of the everyday lives of the people who lived long ago in the area now called Iraq.

With this resource teachers and students are able to examine artifacts up close and use the teacher-developed questions to drive individual research or classroom discussions. Students can also go on a virtual archaeological dig in Iraq and examine an online collection of significant artifacts from the Oriental Institute Museum with the interactive Dig Into History.

This website was made possible by funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services and was produced by the Oriental Institute in collaboration with Chicago Web Docent and eCUIP, The Digital Library. The Life in Mesopotamia section was made possible by the generous support of the Lloyd A. Fry Foundation.

The content on this website was written by faculty and staff at the University of Chicago in consulation with teachers from the Chicago Public Schools. It was launched in 2007.

Take a brief tour of the Mesopotamian Gallery of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. more 

Get a bird's eye view of the website with links to features and content in each section. more