Simple relief sculpture is known from much earlier periods, from the site of Göbekli Tepe, dating to circa 9000 BC.

The trough was found at Uruk, an ancient city of Sumer and later Babylonia situated east of the Euphrates in southern Iraq.

For a long time power seems to have been concentrated in the temples or religious organisations but eventually King Gilgamesh took over, building new structures and a massive city wall.

The Uruk Trough was probably a venerated object in one of the temples in the city, perhaps devoted to the deity Inanna.

The trough was purchased by the British Museum with the support of the National Art Collections Fund in 1928, just before the German Oriental Society carried out excavations at the site.