Mesopotamian archaeology. Group of archaeologists in the 1930s among ancient ruins in the deserts of Mesopotamia in what is now Iraq. They are on the slopes of a ziggurat, a type of stepped pyramid in the region of the ancient city of Ur which dates from the 21st century BC. Its Great Ziggurat was restored by the Chaldean neo-Babylonian Empire in the 6th century BC, before crumbling to ruins again. This view looks to the south. This photograph was taken in 1932 by the American Colony Photo Department of Jerusalem. This was the period when the Kingdom of Iraq was established. Previously, the area had been a League of Nations mandate under British control.