IV. LATER BRONZE AGE:
Kassite, Middle Babylonian, and Early Assyrian periods; c. 1800-
1000 B.C.

Characteristics. Stabilization of Babylonian art; typical 'Kassite'
cylinder-seals with straight sides (XIV, Fig. 6); disappearance of
old non-cuneiform character with gradual disuse of Sumerian; early
stone-cut inscriptions in cuneiform (see XV, Fig. 16; an Elamite
inscription). Occasional and rare appearance of glazed pottery
(imitation of Egyptian), and multi-coloured glass; early Assyrian
sculpture (those unversed in minutiae of Mesopotamian art will only
be able to tell this earlier work from the later by the earlier style
of the accompanying inscriptions). Not many mounds of this period
have been dug.


V. EARLY IRON AGE:
1. Late Babylonian and Assyrian periods; c. 1000-540 B.C.

Characteristics. Flourishing period of Assyrian art and writing (for
details see the archaeological books, which are very full on this
period). Mounds may be known by the occurrence of fragments of
granite or basalt bowl-querns, often with feet; pieces or whole vases
of the multi-coloured opaque glass usually called 'Phoenician' (which
are already found in the preceding period); alabaster pots; straight-
sided cylinder seals (see XIV, Fig. 6); Syrian conical seals of
steatite (XIV, Fig. 7); small and rude clay figures of deities, such
as Ishtar or Papsukal (the guardian of buildings), and animals, such