Visit Chicago's Oriental Institute. Using the 360-degree panoramas of Near Eastern exhibition areas, pick out one object that you recognize from your book and describe your reaction to the scale of the object. Is it larger than you thought? Smaller? Why do you think you may have misjudged the size of the object? (Note: you will need the QuickTime movie player plug-in to see the panoramas; the plugin is available free via a link from the Oriental Institute page).

Study the detailed explanation of materials and creation methods of statues from Ain Ghazal in the Freer/Sackler Gallery virtual exhibit Preserving Ancient Statues From Jordan (). How have scholars been able to reconstruct the creation technique from the surviving fragments of sculpture? Does the explanation of the preservation technique convince you that the results are valid reconstructions of the statues? Explain.

Go to the image of the spinner on the Saraswati web site where you read that "The language spoken by this lady on an Elamite sculpture in bitumen is Indic." Do you find the argument convincing? Whether you do or not, what does the article suggest about the movement of influences in the ancient world?