The Ashmolean's Ancient Near Eastern collections are among the finest in the world. They range in date from the earliest farming communities of the tenth millennium BC to the spread of Islam in the seventh century AD, and include significant groups of excavated material from sites such as Jericho, Jerusalem, Abu Hurerya, Kish, Nimrud, Alalakh and Al Mina, among others. The Museum holds the second largest collection of cuneiform tablets in the UK, including examples of some of the world's earliest writing.
Buchanan, B. Catalogue of Ancient Near-Eastern Seals in the Ashmolean Museum. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1966).
Moorey, P.R.S. Catalogue of the Ancient Persian Bronzes in the Ashmolean Museum. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971)
