Introduction / William R. Polk
The illicit trade in looted antiquities / Angela H.M. Schuster
Smuggling and looting in Iraq / Micah Garen and Marie-Hélène Carleton
A short history of the Iraq National Museum Usam / Ghaidan and Anna Paolini
A museum is born / Lamia al-Gailani Werr
Shanidar, Iraq in the beginning / Ralph and Rose Soleki, Anagnostis Agelarakis
Dawn of civilization / Harriet Crawford
The small treasures of the Iraq Museum / Fiorella Ippolitoni Strika
The lion hunt stele / Diana McDonald
The Warka vase / Diana McDonald
From village to empire: the rise of Sumer and Akkad / Paul Collins
Akkadian victory stele / Diana McDonald
Akkadian head of a king / Diana McDonald
The birth of writing, the dawn of literature / Robert D. Biggs
Cylinder seal impression / Diana McDonald
Babylonians and Assyrians / Julian Reade
Assyrian ivory lioness from Nimrud / Diana McDonald
Decoration from the Kassite temple of Karaindash from Uruk / Diana McDonald
In the wake of Alexander: Parthians and Sassanians /Elisabetta Valtz Fino
Alexander coin /Diana McDonald
The coming of Islam / Alastair E. Northedge
Baghdad through the ages / Vincenzo Strika
The ravages of war and the challenge of reconstruction / Selma al-Radi
The recovery of the Nimrud gold / Diana McDonald
Epilogue / Angela M.H. Schuster and Milbry Polk
The gods and goddesses of ancient Mesopotamia
References and resources / Barbara A. Porter
About the authors.