The Stele of the Vultures is a monument from the Early Dynastic IIIb period (2600–2350 BC) in Mesopotamia celebrating a victory of the city-state of Lagash over its neighbour Umma.

The first three fragments were found during excavations in the early 1880s by the French archaeologist Ernest de Sarzec at the archaeological site of Tello, ancient Girsu, in what is today southern Iraq.

A seventh fragment, which was later determined to be part of the Stele of the Vultures and thought to have come from Tello, was acquired on the antiquities market by the British Museum in 1898.

[6] The stele can be placed in a tradition of mid- to late-third millennium BC southern Mesopotamia in which military victories are celebrated on stone monuments.

Behind Ningirsu stands a smaller female figure wearing a horned headband and with maces protruding from her shoulders.

The upper register shows Eannatum, the ensi or ruler of Lagash (his name appears inscribed around his head), leading a phalanx of soldiers into battle, with their defeated enemies trampled below their feet.

In front of him, a cow is tethered to a pole while a naked priest standing on a pile of dead animal bodies performs a libation ritual on two plants spouting from vases.

Only a small part of the fourth register has been preserved, showing a hand holding a spear that touches the head of an enemy.