Wild and Domestic Animals. Along with agriculture, animals and animal products played a role in most households, as well as in larger, institutionally supported commercial enterprises, such as textile production and longdistance trade. Throughout Mesopotamian prehistory and history, wild animals such as fish, birds, and gazelles were hunted for food; their oils, plumage, hides, and horns were also put to use. Such animals seem also to have served as emblems for clans or tribes in southern Mesopotamia during the fourth and early third millennia B.C.E. Some exotic species, notably lions, which at one time inhabited the Syrian Desert, were symbols or emblems of gods and kings: Ishtar, goddess of love and war, was associated with the lion, and Neo-Assyrian palaces were decorated with monumental relief sculptures featuring the king engaged in a ritualized lion hunt. Evidence for early...