Dedication Nail, Sumer, circa 2100 BC (Neo-Sumerian period (2200...

Dedication Nail, Sumer, circa 2100 BC (Neo-Sumerian period (2200 BC–2004 BC)), made of baked clay.

Clay nails such as this one inscribed with the name of King Gudea of Lagash were embedded in the upper parts of walls, sometimes with the head protruding. They may have developed from the custom of hammering a peg into a wall to signal ownership. This example bears a dedication to a deity and would have symbolically marked a temple as divine property.

Courtesy & currently located at the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, USA.