Dance. Dancing was depicted in Mesopotamian artworks before circa 3000 B.C.E., but most images of dancers date from circa 2000 - circa 1000 B.C.E., and few occur after circa 1000 B.C.E. Dancers performed in religious rituals and on occasions such as weddings and harvest festivals. Dancers performed alone, in pairs, and in groups. Men and women did not dance together. Instead they took turns. Sometimes one group sang while the other danced. Dance steps included jumping and leaping, kneeling and bending, and dancing on one's toes. Line dancers and circle dancers were usually women. Men performed a squat dance (something like the well-known folk dance performed by Russian cossacks), a foot-clutch dance in which the dancer hopped on one leg while holding up the other leg in front or behind his body, and a whirling dance similar to that of...