This section is dedicated to the earliest traces of childhood history and culture in the vast land of Iran. Exhibits include images of children depicted in ancient rock reliefs, clay writing tablets used for practice, early play objects, and the oldest surviving work associated with childhood culture in Iran, the tale of Asurik Tree.

Writing Tablets

Examples of ancient writing tablets have been discovered in the region of Susa, in present-day Khuzestan Province, dating back approximately three thousand years. Made of clay and small enough to fit in the palm of a hand, these tablets were inscribed with wooden styluses. They provide valuable evidence of the importance of education and literacy in ancient Iran.

Play Objects

These objects can be considered the ancient predecessors of modern toys. The earliest examples were made of clay and appeared in various forms, including ceramic whistles shaped like animals and miniature carts. Figurines, or dolls, constituted another category of play objects; most were crafted from clay and often represented animals.

Childhood Artifacts

Among the childhood-related artifacts discovered by archaeologists are ancient feeding vessels known as shirmaks. The oldest known example, dating back about four thousand years, was unearthed in the Qeytarieh Hills of Tehran. These ceramic vessels were used for feeding milk to infants. Typically delicate and spherical in shape, they featured a hollow tube extending from the body of the vessel, allowing milk to be delivered directly to the infant’s mouth.

The Burnt City Pottery Bowl

This pottery vessel, discovered at the archaeological site of the Burnt City (Shahr-e Sukhteh) in Sistan and Baluchestan Province, dates back approximately 5,200 years. The bowl is decorated with a sequence of images depicting a goat leaping toward a tree and eating its leaves. Scholars have described this remarkable artifact as the world's earliest known example of animation or moving imagery.

Asurik Tree

Asurik Tree (The Tale of the Date Palm and the Goat) is regarded as the oldest surviving literary text for children in Iran, with a history spanning nearly three thousand years. This poetic tale offers compelling evidence of the deep roots of children's literature and its connection to education in Iranian culture.

At the heart of the story is a spirited debate between a date palm tree and a goat, each boasting of the benefits it provides to humankind. The date palm’s pride and ambition are matched by the goat’s wit and cleverness, creating an engaging and lively contest that has captivated audiences for centuries.

Over time, Asurik Tree inspired parallel adaptations such as The Tale of the Rose and the Sheep and Hair and the Sheep. These adaptations provide some of the clearest evidence of the text’s role in children's education. For long periods, they were taught in traditional schools throughout the foothills of the Zagros Mountains. The substitution of the date palm with more familiar local elements, such as grapevines or sheep, reflected the geography of the region, where date palms were scarce while these other features were abundant.