While accompanying Mallowan on countless archaeological trips ( spending up to 3 – 4 months at a time in Syria and Iraq at excavation sites at Ur, Ninevah, Tell Arpachiyah, Chagar Bazar, Tell Brak, and Nimrud ), Christie not only wrote novels and short stories, but also contributed work to the archaeological sites, more specifically to the archaeological restoration and labeling of ancient exhibits which includes tasks such as cleaning and conserving delicate ivory pieces, reconstructing pottery, developing photos from early excavations which later led to taking photographs of the site and its findings, and taking field notes.

The ruins of Ur, Babylon, and other ancient cities are situated in Iraq, as is the legendary location of the Garden of Eden.

In the ancient Near East, each city had a local patron deity, such as Shamash at Larsa or Sin at Ur.

In ancient Mesopotamia, lapis artifacts can be found in great abundance, with many notable examples having been excavated at the Royal Cemetery of Ur ( 2600-2450 BC ).

Early string instruments have been excavated in ancient Mesopotamia, like the lyres of Ur, which date to 2500 BC.

The Royal Game of Ur, played in ancient Mesopotamia, is another member of the family.

A new examination of skulls from the royal cemetery at Ur, discovered in Iraq almost a century ago, appears to support a more grisly interpretation of human sacrifices associated with elite burials in ancient Mesopotamia than had previously been recognized, say archaeologists.

The lyres of Ur, excavated in ancient Mesopotamia ( modern Iraq ), date to 2500 BC.

Inscriptions of Lugal-Zage-Si and Lugal-kigub-nidudu, kings of Uruk and Ur respectively, and of other early pre-Semitic rulers, on door-sockets and stone vases, show the veneration in which the ancient shrine was then held, and the importance attached to its possession, as giving a certain stamp of legitimacy.

* Royal Game of Ur, an ancient Mesopotamian game

Historical examples include the oldest known Sumerian cities of Mesopotamia and Ur, the Phoenician cities of Canaan ( such as Tyre and Sidon ), the Berber city-states of the Garamantes, the city-states of ancient Greece ( the poleis such as Athens, Sparta, Thebes, and Corinth ), the Roman Republic which grew from a city-state into a great power, the Maya of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica ( including sites such as Chichen Itza, Tikal, Palenque and El Mirador ), the central Asian cities along the Silk Road, Venice, Croatian city-state of Ragusa ( Dubrovnik ) and many others.

Equids were used in ancient Sumer to pull wagons circa 2600 BC, and then chariots on the Standard of Ur, circa 2000 BC.

The Najaf area is located 30 km south of the ancient city of Babylon and 400 km north of the ancient Biblical city of Ur.

Dhi Qar was the heartland of the ancient Iraqi civilization of Sumer and the ruins of Ur, Eridu, Lagash, Larsa, Girsu, Umma, and Bad-tibira are located here.

Other ancient Jewish sources, particularly the Book of Jubilees, point to Arpachshad as the immediate progenitor of Ura and Kesed, who allegedly founded the city of Ur Kesdim ( Ur of the Chaldees ) on the west bank of the Euphrates ( Jub.

Lament elements figure in Beowulf, in the Hindu Vedas, and in ancient Near Eastern religious texts, including the Mesopotamian city laments such as the Lament for Ur and the Jewish Tanakh, ( which would later become the Christian Old Testament ).

* Ur, an ancient city-state in southern Mesopotamia, modern day Iraq

** Royal Game of Ur, two ancient game boards found in the Royal Tombs of Ur

The games 2038, set in the future, and Poseidon and Ur, 1830 BC, both set in ancient history, are also regarded as 18XX titles as their game mechanics and titling nomenclature are similar despite variance from the common railroad / stock-market theme.

For example, 2038 involves space exploration of the asteroid belt, while Ur, 1830 BC involves building dams and canals in ancient Mesopotamia ( in the latter game, " corporations ", " presidents " and stock " shares " are represented by kingdoms, rulers and parcels of land ).

The ancient Royal Game of Ur also uses 4-sided dice made out of rock.

Boats were used between 4000 BCE and 3000 BCE in Sumer, ancient Egypt and in the Indian Ocean.

Originally money was a form of receipt, representing grain stored in temple granaries in Sumer in ancient Mesopotamia, then Ancient Egypt.

Castration as a means of subjugation, enslavement or other punishment has a very long pedigree, dating back to ancient Sumer ( see also Eunuch ).

Enlil was the god of air in ancient Sumer.

The Debate between sheep and grain is an example of an even earlier form of ex nihilo creation myth from ancient Sumer.

The world's earliest civilizations in Mesopotamia ( beginning with Sumer ), ancient Egypt, and the Indian subcontinent ( beginning with the Indus Valley civilization ), which began along the valleys of the Tigris-Euphrates, Nile and Indus rivers respectively, all developed around the Indian Ocean.

Historically, letters exist from the time of ancient India, ancient Egypt and Sumer, through Rome, Greece and China, up to the present day.

They in turn took it from ancient Sumer so long ago that if the connection between cubits and degrees was known in either Babylonia or Ionia it did not survive.

Slavery was known in almost every ancient civilization, and society, including Sumer, Ancient Egypt, Ancient China, the Akkadian Empire, Assyria, Ancient India, Ancient Greece, the Roman Empire, the Islamic Caliphate, the Hebrews in Palestine, and the pre-Columbian civilizations of the Americas.

The Greek form of the name Babylon is from the native Akkadian Bāb-ilim, which means " Gate of the god ", which summarizes the religious purpose of the great temple towers ( the ziggurats ) of ancient Sumer ( Biblical Shinar ).

Concerning the earlier centuries, the Sumerian King List provides a tentative political history of ancient Sumer.

These seals contain a set of proto-cuneiform signs which appear to be writings or symbols of the name of city-states in ancient Sumer.

* Boats were used between 4000BCE-3000BCE in Sumer, ancient Egypt and in the Indian Ocean.

* A less common name for Sumer, the region of city-states in ancient Mesopotamia ( Iraq ).

The technique of imprinting multiple copies of symbols or glyphs with a master type punch made of hard metal first developed around 3000 BC in ancient Sumer.

During these periods, Canaanites profited from their intermediary position between the ancient civilisations of the Middle East — Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia ( Sumer, Akkad, Assyria, Babylonia ), the Hittites, and Minoan Crete — to become city states of merchant princes along the coast, with small kingdoms specializing in agricultural products in the interior.

The term " Sumerian " is the common name given to the ancient non-Semitic inhabitants of southern Mesopotamia, Sumer, by the Semitic Akkadians.

The Sumerian King List is an ancient manuscript originally recorded in the Sumerian language, listing kings of Sumer ( ancient southern Iraq ) from Sumerian and neighboring dynasties, their supposed reign lengths, and the locations of " official " kingship.

Sumerian ( " native tongue ") is the language of ancient Sumer, which was spoken in southern Mesopotamia ( modern Iraq ) from at least the 4th millennium BC.

** Nimrod, son of Cush, also identified as a mighty hunter before God, and the founder of ancient Babel, Akkad, Sumer, and possibly cities in Assyria.

The Sumerian king list is an ancient text in the Sumerian language listing kings of Sumer from Sumerian and foreign dynasties.

An example of a simple ziggurat is the White Temple of Uruk, in ancient Sumer.