Saturday Morning Cartoons in Ancient Persia – Part 6/7 (ca. 3,000 BC)

By: The Scribe on May, 2007

The earliest animation

An animated piece, considered to be the ‘first animation in the world’, was found on an earthen goblet from the “Burnt City” in Iran, dating around 5,000 years old. The sequence depicted on this goblet is that of a goat who jumps toward a tree and eats its leaves.

The goblet itself is 10 centimeters high, with an 8 centimeter diameter. The images show movement in a manner unprecedented in ancient art, because although other earthenware vessels recovered from the Burnt City show repetitive images, none of them indicate any movement.

Iranian archaeologist Mansour Sajjadi, who has worked at the Burnt City excavations for several seasons, commented on the context of the goblet: “while excavating the grave in which the cream-colored goblet has been found, we came across a skeleton that probably belongs to the creator of this piece.”

The archaeologists of the site also put together a 20-second animated piece based on the images from the goblet. This video may be downloaded and viewed here.

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