Introduction 

View of the excavation site at Tell al-Muqayyar (ancient Ur) in 1931-2, looking to the north east 

From Leonard Woolley (referenced below, 1934b, Plate 3)  

My additions in blue, showing the locations of 3 of the ‘royal graves’ (PG 777, 779 and 789) discussed below  

The redoubtable Leonard Woolley, who began his excavation at Ur in November 1922, soon became aware of the existence of a vast cemetery here.  However, he delayed his detailed excavation of it until 1926-7 and continued for 3 or 4 years before publishing his final report (see Leonard Woolley, referenced below, 1934 a and b).  As we shall see, almost all of our knowledge of Ur in the ED period derives from this work.  

As Peter Moorey (referenced below, at pp. 24-5) observed: 

1. “Woolley’s digging showed that the graveyard had lain in an area of waste land used to dump rubbish just below the city walls, as was common practice in Sumer.  Already by the time of the [earliest burials here], long occupation at Ur had created a mound of settlement debris ( a tell) upon which the contemporary city stood. Its rubbish, sloping away from the walls over which it had been tipped, provided ample room for a burial ground.”  
   

As William Hafford (referenced below, at p. 198) observed, Woolley’s famous ‘Royal Cemetery of Ur’:  

1. “... is only one part of [this] large and very deep burial ground in the middle of the ancient city.  The site’s initial excavators divided [it] ... into three primary layers or periods of burial that might be considered discrete cemeteries within it.” 
   

He pointed out that: 

1. ✴burial in the lowest (= earliest) layer probably ended in the ED I-II period; and 
   

2. ✴burial in the upper layer started the Akkadian period.
   

However, we are concerned here with the middle layer, which, as Hafford pointed out, contained some 750 burials.   More specifically, we are primarily concerned with the 16 of these that Woolley designated ‘royal graves’ (see below).  This middle layer:

1. ✴was established on a layer of debris that varied in thickness from 1 to 3 meters and had been thrown down on it from the city wall at the end of the first phase of burials; and 
   

2. ✴was subsequently itself covered by a similar layer of debris that had been created by a similar process of ‘waste management’. 
   

As Richard Zettler (referenced below, 1998, at p. 21) observed:

1. “Woolley dubbed the debris layers in the cemetery ‘Seal Impression Strata’ (SIS) because of the large number of clay sealings recovered from them: 
   

2. ✴archaic tablets and seal impressions from the earlier strata (SIS 8-5), dated to the [ED I-II period], provided a terminus post quem for the [burials of interest here]; and 
   

3. ✴a lapis lazuli cylinder seal belonging to Nintur, the queen and wife of Mesanepada and impressions of seals naming Mesanepada king of Kish and Nintur the queen were found in the [later strata, SIS 1-2 potentially] provided a terminus ante quem, [as discussed below].
   

In other words, the  private and royal graves that Woolley excavated between  SIS 5-8  and SIS 1-2 can be dated to the ED III period:

1. ✴after ED I-II, the date of the tablets and seal impressions recovered in SIS 5-8; and
   

2. ✴before the time that the seal/ seal impressions of Mesanepada and his queen, Nintur were consigned to SIS 1-2 (see the discussion below), which sealed the “Royal Cemetery’ and subsequently provided a platform for the burials of the Akkadian period. 
   

So-called ‘Royal Graves‘  

Locations of Leonard Woolley’s 16 ‘Royal Graves‘  

Plan from Leonard Woolley (referenced below, 1934b, Plate 273)  

My addition in blue: PG 779 (which contained the so-called Standard of Ur) and

PG 1237 (the so-called ‘Great Death Pit)  

My additions in red: graves with one or more ‘royal inscriptions’ 

(as defined by Douglas Frayne, referenced below, 2008, at pp. 377-408)  

Location of PG 755 (not one of Woolley’s 16) from Paul Zimmerman (referenced below, 1998a, Fig. 40, at p. 93)  

As Peter Moorey (referenced below, at p. 26) observed, the great majority of the graves excavated on this site:

1. “... consisted of a shaft, from four to twelve feet deep, with the body rolled in matting or placed in a simple coffin of wood, basketry or baked clay. The body was provided with simple household vessels, tools, weapons and personal ornaments.” 
   

However, Leonard Woolley (referenced below, 1934a, at p. 33) identified 16 burials that: 

1. “.. stand out from all the rest, not simply because of their richness (and, indeed, most of them have been plundered and their wealth must be taken on credit), ... but for peculiarities of structure and ritual.”
   

He explained that, while most of the  graves, ‘whether rich or poor’ were, in structural terms, relatively the simple, his 16 ‘royal graves’ all;

1. “... include a building of one or more [burial] chambers constructed in stone or brick, and the burial [process seems to have involved] ... ceremonies in which a great part was played by human sacrifices.  ... [Although] we find almost as many variants [among them] as there are tombs, ... in all those that are well preserved, the outstanding features of:
   

2. ✴a built [burial] chamber; and
   

3. ✴a number of human [bodies in addition to that of the main occupant of the grave];
   

4. are present.”  
   

Aubrey Baadsgaard et al. (referenced below, 2011,  at p. 28) observed that, in these ‘royal’ burials;

1. “The [built] chamber was reserved for ‘the principal royal burial’ [= the person for whom the grave had been prepared,  who was] sometimes entombed with personal attendants.  The bodies of other retainers were found on the floor of a pit outside the chamber or in a subsidiary pit adjacent to it.  Woolley called these ‘death pits’, the largest of which, [PG 1237], contained the remains of 74 retainers.” 
   

On the basis of their scientific examination of two skulls  (one of  a young female from grave PG 1237 and the other of a young, mature male from PG 789, both of which are now in the Penn Museum), these authors established (see pp 38-9) that these two:

1. “... court retainers were violently killed by means of blunt force trauma.  Since the two [skulls] ... come from two different ‘royal tombs’, it is reasonable to assume a similar cause of death for the majority of attendants buried in other graves.”
   

It certainly seems that, during  a (possibly short) period of time in the ED III period, some (presumably rich and powerful) men and women at Ur went to their respective graves with a number of attendants who, as Aubrey Baadsgaard et al. (referenced below, 2011, at p. 38) argued, had been:

1. “... killed, preserved and dressed, and their bodies purposefully arranged in a tableau mort in the [allegedly] royal tomb, to continue [in the service of their erstwhile master or mistress] in the netherworld.”  
   

Since the analysis that follows is focussed on the political history of Ur in this period, I will concentrate mainly on the five of these ‘royal tombs  (all highlighted in red in the plan above) that are associated with one or more ‘royal inscriptions’ (as defined by Douglas Frayne, referenced below, 2008, at pp. 377-408).  However, I have also included:

1. ✴PG 779, which, although  contained no epigraphic evidence, did contain an important ‘roya; atrefact knon as the ‘Standard of Ur’; and 
   

2. ✴PG 755, which Woolley catalogued as a private (= non-royal) grave because, although it was of ‘simple construction’ and seems to have housed only a single corpse, despite the fact that: 
   

3. •the corpse in question was that of  a young warrior who (as we shall see) was probably called Meskalamdug (a known ‘royal’ name at Ur); and
   

4. •he had been buried with one of the richest collections of objectsfound in a single grave in the cemetery. 
   

PG 779: Find Spot of the So-called ‘Standard of Ur’ 

Plan of PG 779: from Leonard Woolley (referenced below, 1934b, Plate 24) 

My additions in red  (S = Standard of Ur)  

PG 799 is one of the two largest of Woolley’s ‘royal tombs, (the other being the nearby PG 1236 - see below).  Interestingly, these two graves share another characteristic: in each case:

1. ✴an outer door to the stone structure leads into a long narrow chamber (Chamber A) running along its whole width;
   

2. ✴a second door in this chamber leads into two adjoining square chambers (Chambers B and C) that each occupied about half the building's width; and
   

3. ✴ta second door in Chamber B leads into another long  chamber (Chamber D) that took up the whole back part of the building. 
   

Leonard Woolley (referenced below, 1934a, at p. 59) recorded that:

1. “On the slope below the steps [that led down to Chamber A], there were ten copper spears in a row ... and below them (but so decayed as to be scarcely recognisable) were the bones of the soldiers of the guard; there seemed to be five bodies, but it was impossible to be sure.”
   

The chambers within had been looted, but Woolley noted that enough survived in Chamber A to suggest that it had:

1. “... apparently [been] a burial chamber, and an important one.” 
   

Chambers B and C were also  essentially destroyed, although Woolley guessed that a human skull in the latter had belonged to a female attendant.  However:

1. “In Chamber D, there were the remains of at least four human bodies, [although] they were represented by very scanty fragments and even the skulls of two were lacking.  Beads were, as usual scattered over the floor, [along with a number of precious objects, including] a gaming-board of engraved shell plaques with lapis-lazuli borders, set in silver ... At the south-west end, there were remains of two more bodies, one very fragmentary; the better preserved had its head in the corner of the chamber, close to the south-west wall ... Above the man's head and slightly to the right of it, against the stones of the tomb wall, [were the remains of] the so-called 'Standard' of Ur’, marked ;S’ in the plan above].”
   

It seems that, although looters had effectively cleared almost all of the tomb, this   corner of Chamber D had fortuitously escaped their depredations. 

‘Standard of Ur’

So-called Standard of Ur (U. 11164) from Chamber D, PG 779  (as reconstructed in 1973)  

Now in the British Museum (BM 121201): images from the museum website    

This object had originally been a wooden box with a rectangular base and two narrow trapezoidal sides separating a pair of wide, rectangular panels.  As Dorota Ławecka (referenced below, at p. 337) observed, in its original state, each of the four faces of the box was:

1. “... covered with geometric and figurative mosaics made of pieces of shell, red limestone and lapis lazuli set in bitumen [in three horizontal registers].” 
   

Leonard Woolley (referenced below, 1934a, at p. 61) recorded that:

1. “The wood which had been its core had vanished (traces of its grain could be distinguished on the bitumen afterwards) and the bitumen in which the tesserae were set had gone to powder, so that the tesserae were loose and kept in place only by the soil.  With the decay of the wood, the main panels had been telescoped together, with the result that the triangular ends had been pushed out and broken ...” 
   

He named the precious object the ‘Standard or Ur’ because it had apparently been located near the shoulder of the dead man, suggesting that he had carried it on his shoulder like a battle standard.  Having described the intricate way in which the excavators had preserved the mosaic designs that had once decorated the four sides of the box, he observed (at p. 62) that:

1. “Taken as a whole, the standard is unusually authentic and, considering how peculiarly liable to destruction it was, wonderfully perfect.”
   

The original decorated box was reconstructed in the British Museum, where it was first exhibited in 1928.  However, it subsequently deteriorated and was completely dismantled and reassembled on a new mount in 1973. 

As Dorota Ławecka (referenced below, at pp. 337-8) summarised: 

1. “One of the long sides (the ‘war’ side, [visible in the illustration above] shows a victorious battle of chariots and infantry (most probably belonging to an army of the city-state of Ur) and, in the upper row, conquered enemy warriors as they are brought before the king.  The other long side (the ‘peace’ side) shows men bringing animals and large bundles of various shapes [presumably to Ur].   In the topmost row, we see a banquet scene typical for art [of this period]: the king himself and other participants, each holding a cup in hand, are entertained by a singer and a lyre player. Both trapezoid end sides were decorated in the same technique, showing fantastic scenes not directly related with the main narrative.  Following Woolley’s original usage, the object is still customarily labeled [the ‘Standard of Ur’], even though there are no clues as to its actual function.” 
   

PG 779: Find Spot of the So-called ‘Standard of Ur’: Conclusions

Details from the  war and peace sides of the Standard of Ur: original images from British Museum (BM 121201) 

I discuss the imagery of the Standard of Ur in detail on my page of the ‘First Dynasty of Ur’.  For the moment, I will simply observe that, although PG 779 was almost completely plundered long before its excavation, the survival of this extremely valuable and prestigious object makes it certain that it was the grave of a very important person.   In my view, the person in question was almost certainly the man who was portrayed on each of the images above:

1. ✴on the war of the standard, he stands at the centre of the upper register, having emerged from a war chariot in order to deal with a queue of recently-taken prisoners of war; and 
   

2. ✴on the peace side, he is the only seated figure facing right (and also distinguished by his flounced skirt )as he presides over what is almost certainly a banquet in celebration of  this recent victory.
   

On both images, he is the the tallest figure depicted (as emphasised by the fact that, in each case, his head interrupts the upper decorative border), which strongly suggests that:

1. ✴this had been  a very important victory; and
   

2. ✴he had commanded the victorious  army of Ur, presumably as its king. 
   

PG 1236: Grave of A’Anzu ?

Leonard Woolley (referenced below, 1934a, at p. 111) referred to tPG 1236 as the tomb of [A’Anzu], on the basis f a seal that he found here (discussed  below].  He observed that it is:

1. “..., somewhat [larger] than PG 779 (see above], which, in most respects, it closely resembles.  Robbers had broken into it through the roof of the outer chamber [= ‘Chamber A’] ... and had thoroughly plundered the contents.”
   

As illustrated in the plan above, this burial (like that of PG 779) was made up of four interconnecting chambers that (like those of PG 779) had been thoroughly looted.      

Grave Goods from Chamber A 

Reconstructed sceptre (?)  from Chamber A, PG 1236  

Now in the British Museum (exhibit BM 122201); image from the museum website  

Leonard Woolley (referenced below, 1934a, at p. 113)  recorded that:  

1. “In [Chamber A], there very few fragments of human bone, remains of an ostrich-shell with encrusted ornament in mother of pearl and lapis-lazuli, and a copper libation-vase. ... Scattered about the floor there were beads of gold and lapis-lazuli ... and parts of a wreath with gold leaves and gold rosettes, ... [together with the cylinder seal of A’Anzu - see below].  The most interesting object [in this chamber] was found in fragments, but these fortunately lay together, many of them in position, and it was possible to reconstruct it [see the illustration above].   Small triangles of shell and lapis lazuli inlay, shell and pink limestone rings, and small curved lapis pieces making rings of the same diameter, and bands of very thin gold leaf with impressed designs together made up the decoration of a sceptre (or handle of a fly- whisk?); one end had a mushroom-shaped cap of white shell inlaid with a rosette in red and blue, the other end was plain.”
   

Seal of A’Anzu

Seal of A’Anzu (excavation number U. 12461), from  PG 1236: inscription (RIME 1.13.1.1. CDLI, P418046)   

Now in the British Museum (exhibit BM 121544); image from the museum website  

Sketch by  D. Collon of the seal impression above, from Juliane Reade (referenced below, 2001, Figure 3, at p. 19) 

(See also Laerke Recht, referenced below, Figure 6:1, at p. 167)     

Leonard Woolley (referenced below, 1934a, at p. 113) recorded that this seal was discovered in Chamber A of the tomb, although this might have been an error: later in this volume, both Eric Burrows (at p. 316) and Léon Legrain (in entry 54, at p, 340) recorded the find spot as Chamber D.  As the parting shot in his account of this grave, Leonard Woolley (as above) observed that this seal: 

1. “... is a very unusual [one], with a scene of soldiers and a chariot [in the lower register[. ... It bears the inscription [A’Anzu], which may be the name of a king.” 
   

Gianni Marchesi (referenced below, 2004, at p. 182) similarly remarked on this: 

1. “... very unusual design in two registers: 
   

2. ✴[in the upper register], there are:
   

3. •a contest scene (a nude hero between two rampant lions); and
   

4. • a whirligig of lions which resembles the whirligig of dagger-armed men that is found on the cylinder seal of King Mesanepada [see below]; and  
   

5. ✴in the lower register, a man is trampling an enemy with his [chariot] while some foot soldiers escort a naked prisoner, [in a] scene immediately reminds us of the so-called ‘war side’ of the [so-called Standard of Ur - see above].”  
   

He also noted (at pp. 182-3) that the images in these seal reliefs are redolent of images associated with at least two other broadly contemporary kings:

1. ✴the reliefs on what were then two recently-discovered seal impressions of King Ishqui-Mari from Mari  (RIME 1.10. 17.2, CDLI, P418042 and RIME 1.10. 17.3, CDLI, P431184); and
   

2. ✴those on the ‘Stele of the Vultures’ of King Eanatum of Lagash. 
   

In other words, there is a body of iconographic evidence to support Woolley’s contention (see above) that ‘A.Anzu’:

1. “... may be the name of a king.
   

To take this further, we should first look at the inscription on the seal , which contains only a personal name: ‘a-{an}anzu2{muszen}’ (A’Anzu, followed by the ideogram ‘MUSHEN’, which indicates that Anzu is the name of a bird).  Interestingly, this was almost certainly the name given to a lion-headed eagle that was depicted on Eanatum’s  ‘Stele of the Vultures’ as the emblem of Ningirsu, the patron god  of Lagash/Girsu.  Gianni Marchesi (referenced below, 2004, note 73, at p. 183) translated it as:

1. “The father is (as mighty as) the thunderbird [=Anzu/ Indugud].”
   

Furthermore, a man called Enna-il, who was probably a king of Kish, described himself as the son of A-Anzu (see RIME 1.8.1=3.1; CDLI, P462184) and, while there is no reason to think that this A-Anzu and the owner of the seal from PG 1236 were one and the same person, this coincidence does suggest that A-Anzu could be a royal name (or nickname ?). 

However, Gianni Marchesi (referenced below, 2004, at p. 183 ) argued that the owner of the seal was unlikely to have been a king: although he acknowledged that the iconography of the relief pointed to a royal owner, he argued that the lower part of the original inscription is lost, which:  

1. “... means that the name [A’Anzu in this inscription] was likely followed by a title, written in the second case of the inscription, and that the title in question could not be lugal (king).”  
   

As he explained (in note 172): 

1. “LUGAL is a very long sign; if [it had been] there, its initial part would still be visible in the preserved upper part of the second case of the inscription.”  
   

He therefore concluded that: 

1. “No doubt the possessor of this seal had been a high-ranking personage, but he was probably neither a sovereign nor the principal occupant of PG 1236.”   
   

Woolley’s Graves and Death Pits PG 789 and PG 800  

Reconstruction of tombs PG 789 and PG 800, with the respective death pits  as designated by Leonard Woolley:

the possible location of  a third death pit shown in dashed lines behind PG 789 

Image from William Hafford and Richard Zettler (referenced below, 1998, Figure 3:6, at p. at p. 93)  

My additions in white (see the section below of the death pit PG 800a)      

This section deals with the complicated matter of the spacial and chronological relationships between the graves and death pits illustrated in the 3D graphic above.  As Leonard Woolley (referenced below, 1934a, at p. 72) observed: 

1. “The relative position of these two important graves is very curious. Each is complete in itself, with stone-built chamber and death-pit, but, whereas  [PG 789] may be considered perfectly normal in that all is contained within one shaft and at one level;
   

2. ✴... [the] death-pit [PG 800] is immediately above that of [PG 789]; while
   

3. ✴... [the] tomb-chamber [of PG 800 is] at a lower level [than that of [PG 789 and] actually abuts [it] for most of its length ...”
   

He obviously recognised that this would usually mean that:

1. ✴the burial chamber PG 800 pre-dated the burial chamber and death pit PG 789; while
   

2. ✴the death pit PG 800 post-dated both of them. 
   

However, Woolley was formulating his ideas about these burials in a fast-moving situation: as Richard Zettler (referenced below, 1998, at p. 35) pointed out, it is clear from Woolley’s monthly reports that he first discovered PG 800’s death pit and it was while he was excavating it that he discovered the burial chamber and death pit of PG 789. Importantly, it was while he was still in the process of excavating the burial chamber of PG 789 that he uncovered the contiguous and fabulously wealthy burial chamber of Queen Pu-abum  (see PG 800b below).  As Paul Zimmerman (referenced below, 1998b) observed: 

1. “Based on their architectural similarity and their spacial juxtaposition, we can assume, as Woolley had, that these two [burial chambers are close in time and might belong to a king and [his] queen.” 
   

Woolley famously explained this hypothesis (at pp. 72-3) as follows

1. “The facts then present themselves thus: a king had been buried, and some years after his death a queen has to be buried in her turn.  The shaft of the king's tomb is opened and re-excavated down to the lowest level to which work can go ,,, [The] diggers stop only when the roof of the [putative] king's chamber comes into view: with this to guide them, the men dig down behind the chamber and, in a pit at the far end of their main shaft, [they]  build a stone tomb for the queen right against the side of the ‘king's’ chamber.  Naturally it was not foreseen that the workmen would yield to the temptation [to steal] the old tomb treasures, [but] they did not dare to dig into the death-pit (although there was gold there too) because that meant disturbance of the soil on a scale which could not be hid ... The obvious explanation [for the fact that they they had been ordered to go as close to the ‘king's’ grave as possible is [that the queen] was the widow of the king and wished to be buried next to him for that reason.”
   

Unfortunately for Woolley’s romantic hypothesis, the evidence that the burial chamber PG 789 had been built for a king is purely circumstantial: as Peter Moorey (referenced below, at p. 31) observed:  

1. “Without either a primary body or an inscribed seal, we shall never know whose burial this was.  Nor may we be absolutely certain that this was a male primary burial ... ” 
   

Furthermore, as Paul Zimmerman (referenced below, 1998b) pointed out: 

1. ✴the floor of the burial chamber PG 800b was 40 cm lower than that of the burial chamber and death pit of PG 789; and 
   

2. ✴the doorway in PG 800b (which Woolley failed to recognise as such): 
   

3. •could not have been opened without disturbing the bodies in the death pit of PG 789;  and 
   

4. •would not have provided access to the death pit PG 800, which was 1.7 meters above it. 
   

He therefore reasonably concluded that the burial chamber of Queen Pu-abum (now labelled PG 800b): 

1. ✴must have predated PG 789; and
   

2. ✴had nothing to do with the death pit that Woolley had labelled PG 800. 
   

In other words, if there is a death pit associated with PG 800b, it has yet to be excavated.   

A number of other scholars have made similar observations.  For example, William Hafford (referenced below, at p. 210) pointed out that: 

1. “Having discovered the built chamber of PG 800b, a queen’s tomb, while excavating the neighbouring PG 789, [Woolley] interpreted the proximity of the two tombs as suggesting a close relationship between their occupants.  Unfortunately, [his] romantic story of the queen who outlived her husband (presumably buried in PG 789) but so loved him that she demanded to be buried next to him when she died ... has little basis in fact.”
   

He argued (at p 211) that:

1. “Woolley’s poignant story of the loving couple that occupied tombs PG 789 and PG 800B is intriguing and perhaps still possible, but only if it was the occupant of PG 789 who wished to be buried near Pu-abum, who had already been placed in PG 800b.” 
   

As we have seen, William Hafford and Richard Zettler (referenced below, 1998, at p. 94) also discounted the possibility that that the burial chamber PG 800b and the ‘death pit’ PG 800 were associated in any way.  They suggested that:

1. “The doorway [in PG 800b] would most likely have linked [this burial chamber] to an as yet undiscovered death pit that lay at least partially beneath PG 789, in an area that Woolley did not excavate.”  
   

Golden Lyre from the Death Pit PG 800a  

Reconstruction of the music box of a lyre (U. 10412) from PG 800b. now in the British Museum (BM 121198) 

Images rom the museum website  

The remains from the death pit PG 800a, which  had decorated the narrow front of the wooden sound box of a lyre, were the first significant remains that Woolley discovered when he began the excavation of this death pit (at the location marked with an asterisk in the illustration in the previous section).  The wooden parts of the instrument had decayed, although its outline could still be recognised.  The surviving elements were made up of: 

1. ✴a bull’s head that was made of gold sheet over a wooden core (with the beard and hair made of lapis lazuli), which had been attached to one of the two narrow faces of the sound box; and 
   

2. ✴four plaques made of lapis lazuli, shell and red limestone mosaic set in bitumen, which were arranged  in four registers below the bull’s head. 
   

The original object is often referred to as ‘the  queen’s lyre’, presumably because (as discussed above) Woolley associated this death pit with the burial chamber (PG 800b) of Queent Pu-abum).

The object A-B as illustrated above is the result of a reconstruction in 1971/2 and the bull’s horns (which were never found) date to that time.  As now reconstructed, the four plaques depict (from the uppermost register); 

1. ✴a lion-headed eagle between a pair of gazelles (which is difficult to photograph - see the larger image C above);
   

2. ✴a pair of gazelles eating the leaves of trees in a mountain setting;
   

3. ✴a bull-man holding a pair of leopards by their tails; and
   

4. ✴and a lion grasping a bull by its neck and biting the back of its head. 
   

The presence of a lion-headed eagle in the uppermost mosaic plaque is intriguing, particularly since (as already mentioned) this creature. was depicted on Eanatum’s  ‘Stele of the Vultures’ as the emblem of Ningirsu, the patron god  of Lagash/Girsu.  Furthermore, it was almost certainly known as the Anzu bird, and the owner of a seal that was found in PG 1236 was named as ‘A’Anzu’, which Gianni Marchesi (referenced below, 2004, note 73, at p. 183) translated as: 

1. “The father is (as mighty as) the thunderbird [=Anzu/ Indugud].”  
   

PG 789: King’s Burial Chamber and Associated Death Pit 

Plan of the burial chamber and death pit PG 789; from Leonard Woolley (referenced below, 1934b, Plate 29)   

Unfortunately, the he burial chamber of PG 789 had been thoroughly looted (and, in particular, that it contained no significant human remains).  However, its death pit, which was still undisturbed, contained a number of luxurious grave goods and the corpses of no fewer than 63 men and women:

1. ✴six of these corpses, which Leonard Woolley (referenced below, 1934a, at p. 64) identified as the king’s bodyguard, were found in the dromus leading to the pit; and
   

2. ✴another six, which he described  (at p. 65) as leaning against the southwest wall of the burial chamber, were those of women which he described as:
   

3. ... the most important, (or at least the most richly adorned) of all [the corpses that were found in the pit].”
   

Reconstruction of the music box of a lyre (U. 10556) from PG 789, now in the Penn Museum 

Left: Front view, showing the head of a bearded bull made of gold sheet and lapis lazuli (B17694B)  

Right: enlarged view of the reconstructed shell plaque on the front panel (B17694A)    

Image from the website of the Morgan Library and Museum 

These remains from PG 789, which were found at location F (close to the female corpses and marked on the plan above), had decorated the narrow front of the wooden sound box of a lyre that would have been similar in appearance the that which was found in the (later) death pit PG 800a (see above).  The wooden parts of the instrument had decayed, although its outline could still be recognised.  The surviving elements were made up of: 

1. ✴a bull’s head that was made of gold sheet over a wooden core (with the beard and hair made of lapis lazuli), which had been attached to one of the two narrow faces of the sound box; and 
   

2. ✴four shell plaques that had been set in bitumen in four registers to decorate the side under the bull’s head (which was apparently the only side of the box that was decorated). 
   

According to Donald Hansen (referenced below, at pp. 105-7), the top register depicts a  naked hero who grasps a pair of human-headed bulls and the three lower registers probably depict the preparations for his funerary banquet, either prior to or following his arrival in the netherworld:

1. ✴a canine with human hands who acts as a butcher carries a table stacked with raw meat, followed by a lion carrying a large jar and a pouring vessel;
   

2. ✴a seated ass plays a bull-headed lyre which is supported by a bear, and a smaller animal that sits of the bear’s foot holds a sistrum; and
   

3. ✴a scorpion man:
   

4. •walks ahead of a gazelle that has the upper body of a human and carries two beakers; and
   

5. •carries a cylindrical object (a scroll ?) that probably came from the large vessel behind the gazelle. 
   

PG 800b: Queen Pu-abum 

Plan of the burial chamber of Queen Pu-abum (PG 800b); from Leonard Woolley (referenced below, 1934b, Plate 36)   

The burial chamber PG 800b is the only one of Woolley’s 16 ‘royal’ tombs that had completely escaped the attentions of looters before its excavation (albeit that its roof had largely collapsed).  The queen’s body remained in situ, According to William Hafford and Richard Zettler (referenced below, 1998, at p. 95), it was: 

1. “... laid out on a bier that sat diagonally across the northwestern end of the chamber.  She lay on her back with her hands over her abdomen.  Just under five feet tall, she was roughly forty years of age at the time of her death.” 
   

They also noted (at p. 94) that three attendants had been buried with her (two near her head and one at her feet).  

Seal of Queen Pu-abum (excavation number U. 10939), 

from grave PG 800b: inscription (RIME 1.13.3.3: CDLI, P247683)   

Now in the British Museum (exhibit BM 121544); image from the website of the Morgan Library & Museum   

Pu-abum can be securely identified from the inscription on the seal illustrated above: this was one of three seals that she was wearing when she was buried (see below) but, although all three were clearly hers, this one is the only one that actually identifies her by inscription (as the otherwise-unknown Queen Pu-abum - see Gianni Marchesi, referenced below, 2004, at pp. 175-8).   All three seals depict an important lady (presumably Pu-abum herself) in the context of a banquet scene. 

Reconstruction of the clothing of Pu-abum at the time of her burial  

Image from the website of the Morgan Library and Museum  

Pu-abum’s corpse was famously dressed for burial in a manner that underlines her royal status.  As William Hafford and Richard Zettler (referenced below, 1998, at p. 95) observed:  

1. “The whole of her upper body was covered with beads of gold, lapis lazuli, carnelian, and agate, [which] Woolley took to be the remains of a beaded cloak.”  
   

Leonard Woolley (referenced below, 1934a, at p. 88) recorded that: 

1. “Against [her] right upper arm ... were found three gold pins ... [that] probably secured the cloak, made open on this side, as was the usual fashion.  With the pins were [a number of precious objects ... [that included] three lapis-lazuli cylinder seals, ... [one of which bears the name of Pu-abum - see above].  The cylinders were perhaps tied to the pins to make toggles for securing the cloak.” 
   

As Hafford and Zettler (as above) observed: 

1. “Most spectacular [in the regalia] was the headdress that the queen wore in death.  At its base were twelve meters of gold ribbon still coiled in ovals as if resting on or wrapping a large wig that had long since decayed.  Various strings of lapis, gold and carnelian beads sat atop, along with four wreaths of gold leaves.  Triple willow leaves with inlaid flowers and pear-shaped pendants intermingled with broader leaves,  ... [which were] later identified as poplar.”  
   

They also noted (at p. 94 and Figure 3:7) that more than 100 other (often precious) objects had been piled up in a number of heaps around the chamber floor.  

Shell plaque (U. 10917), now in the British Museum (BM 121529): image from the museum website   

Leonard Woolley (referenced below, 1934a, at p, 91)recorded that the shell plaque (U. 10917) illustrated above was found, together with a silver bull’s head (U. 10916) at location 51 (i.e. outside but close to the indent left by the coffin of Pu-abum), which lead him to suggest that both had come from the decoration of a lyre:

1. ✴the mound of rocks in which the tree is rooted indicate a mountain, suggesting that these are specifically mountain goats; and
   

2. ✴the rosette at the top of the tree might be a reference to the goddess Inanna.
   

(Note that this iconography is similar to that used for two statues fond near ‘body 61’ in PG 1237 - see below), as well as on a number of plaques from the sound boxes of lyres. 

PG 1050c: Grave of Queen Ashusikilam (?)  

Plan of PG 1050; from Leonard Woolley (referenced below, 1934a, Figure 14, at p. 95)   

My additions in red: separate burials identified by Paul Zimmerman (referenced below, 1998a, at pp.19-20)  

As shown in the plan above, Leonard Woolley conceived of this grave as a single structure as a more or less square structure split by cross-walls into four chambers.   However, Paul Zimmerman (referenced below, 1998a, at pp.19-20) argued convincingly that there were four separate burials here at different levels, which he labelled:

1. ✴1050a (the uppermost structure);
   

2. ✴1050b (the reed coffin);
   

3. ✴1050c (the thick floor and its associated walls and burials, considered by Woolley to be PG 1050’s principal burial); and
   

4. ✴1050d (the ‘death pit’). 
   

He observed (at p. 20) that:

1. “... divorcing [his 1050c] from the rest of [Woolley’s PG 1050] solves the riddle of how this level was plundered without disturbing the upper levels.  Woolley puts the reader through a tortured explanation of how thieves, in antiquity, could have gained access to this part of PG 1050 by tunnelling in from the side, [but he] never found the thieves’ purported shaft.  I find it much easier to believe that the thieves gained access [to 1050c] from directly above, and they did not disturb the upper level of the grave because it had not yet been built.” 
   

Plundered tomb chamber (Zimmerman’s PG 1050c - see below) 

From Leonard Woolley (referenced below, 1934b. Plate 48)  

My red ‘X’ indicates the distorted ‘copper cauldron’ under which seal of Queen Ashusikilam (see below) was found  

On this basis, we need only discuss here Zimmerman’s PG 1050c, which Leonard Woolley (referenced below, 1934a, at p. 94) described as follows:

1. “At the bottom of of a layer of filling] there was a floor of mud brick 0.50 m. thick extending unbroken over the space between the walls; on it had been the main burial ,,, Against the south-west side were the remains of a wooden coffin ... [that] had been broken open and the bones inside it were in hopeless confusion ... On the body, which lay with the head north-west, there were some beads of gold, lapis lazuli and carnelian, and traces of silver.  By the foot of the coffin were [two vases, along with] the broken skull of a second person, presumably one of the attendants.  In the middle of the floor lay [two more vases] and to the north-east of this was a copper cauldron, ... completely crushed and broken; below it were found a little clay vase in the form of a nut as well as the large lapis lazuli cylinder seal inscribed with the name Akalamdu [U. 11825].  By the head of the coffin there were heaped together many clay pots ... [and], ranged along the north-west side of the pit were more clay vessels, all broken .... Also by the head of the coffin was the white calcite vase ... The whole of the centre of the pit was empty except for the few scattered objects already described.”  
   

Seal of Queen Ashusikilam

Seal of Queen Ashusikilam (excavation number U. 11825): 

from grave PG 1050 c: inscription (RIME 1.13.4.1; CDLI, P247682)  

Now in the Penn Museum (CBS 17720) image from Leonard Woolley (referenced below,1934b, Plate 198, number 65)  

The lapis lazuli seal from grave PG 1050c that made the impression illustrated above, which is now in the Penn Museum (CBS 17720), carries the following inscription (RIME 1.13.4.1; CDLI, P247682):

‘Akalamdu, king of Ur: Ashusikilam (is) his wife’

According to Léon Legrain (in Leonard Woolley, referenced below, 1934a, entry 65, at p. 341), the image created by the seal depicts: 

1. “Three crossed lions of royal style [attacking] an upturned ibex [on the left] and a bull.” 
   

As noted above, it was found under a battered ‘copper cauldron’ in the northeastern corner of the burial chamber (marked with a red ‘X’ in the illustration above).  Gianni Marchesi (referenced below, 2004, at p. 178) argued that, although:

1. “... the seal was found [in this grave] without an associated body’, ... the inscription clearly states the identity of the person to whom [it] had belonged.”
   

He assumed that this person was Ashusikilam, the wife of King Akalamdu of Ur, who:

1. “... was probably a queen, even if she did not bear the title of ‘queen’ (eres) on her seal.”
   

Marchesi (as above) argued (at p. 178)  that Queen Ashusikilam was probably buried in PG 1050c.  However, as Peter Moorey (referenced below, at p. 33) had previously observed:

1. “It is very much to be regretted that ... [PG 1050c] was so badly plundered ... [and] so ravaged that it was not [even] clear what the sex of the primary burial had been.”
   

In other words, we cannot be sure that the ravaged corpse in the wooden coffin was that of Queen Ashusikilam.   

PG 1054b: Grave of a Queen ?   

Plan of PG 1054: from Leonard Woolley (referenced below, 1934a, Figure 16, at p. 103)   

My additions in red  

As Paul Zimmerman (referenced below, 1998a, at p.20) observed, the grave that Leonard Woolley labelled ‘PG 1054’ is made up of two distinct structures, which he labelled:

1. ✴1054a (the uppermost structure), the top of which was some six ‘burial layers’ below modern ground level); and
   

2. ✴1054b, (the primary burial chamber).
   

He argued that:

1. “... there is [actually] no evident architectural interrelationship between the two structures.  Woolley seems to have considered them to be part of the same grave simply on their relative positions: the upper structure was directly above the lower.  Even this relationship, however, was not noted until after the excavation.”
   

In other words, it is possible that PG 1054a was built in the shaft of an earlier and unrelated burial in PG 1054b. 

Upper Structure (PG 1054a) 

In his preamble to his account of his discovery of PG 1054b (below), Leonard Woolley (referenced below, 1954, at p. 75) recorded that this discovery followed that of a ‘stout mud-brick wall’ in the burial shaft of a ‘commoner’s grave’.  This led to his discovery of the complicated structure that Paul Zimmerman (above)  labelled PG 1054a.  Woolley identified four burial sites within it at different depths (his ‘burials a-d’ - see the plan above).  Only one of these is relevant to our present discussion, his ‘burial c’, which was in its own walled off area, 

As Woolley recorded (again at p. 75) he discovered the ‘footprint; of a wooden box on the floor of this area, next to:

1. “... a wooden coffin containing the body of a man, but the furniture with it was by no means of the type which one would expect with a royal person,”
   

Beneath was a succession of clay floors with offerings in clay vessels and simple subsidiary burials, which Woolley associated directly with the stone-vaulted primary burial (PG 1054b) beneath them. 

Objects in the Rotted Wooden Box in PG 1054a  

One of two golden daggers found alongside the seal illustrated above: now in the Penn Museum (30-12-550)  

Seal  of King Meskalamdu (excavation number U. 11781), with an inscription (RIME 1.13.3.1, CDLI, P247679)  

From PG 1054a   : now in the British Museum  (exhibit BM 122536) 

Image from Julian Reade (referenced below, 2003, figure 55a, at p. 103) 

As Woolley recorded (still at p, 75), the wooden box mentioned above, which had left a ‘footprint’ of 65 x 60 cm on the floor of ‘burial c’, contained:

1. “... lying side by side:
   

2. ✴two daggers, the blades of which were of gold and the hilts decorated with gold studs;  and
   

3. ✴between them, a white shell cylinder seal inscribed with the name of ‘Meskalamdu, the king’.” 
   

This seal and one of the daggers are illustrated above.   (See Andreas Hauptmann and Sabine Klein (referenced below, at p. 87 and Figure 3) for the metallurgy of the metals used for the manufacture and decoration of the two daggers.) 

The inscription (RIME 1. 13.3.1, CDLI, P247679) on the seal simply reads:

1. ‘Mes-kalam-du10 lugal’, (Meskalamdu, the king).  
   

Given its find spot, we might reasonably assume that Meskalamdu was, more specifically, the king of Ur.  The seal is actually made of shell on a core of lapis lazuli, and, according to Léon Legrain (in Leonard Woolley, referenced below, 1934a, entry 55, at p. 340), the impression that it creates depicts:

1. “Two crossed lions [attacking] two bulls.  [A figure that Legrain identified as] Enkidu and a nude hunter in profile take part in the fight. Both are probably armed with daggers.  There is a small nude hunter, full face with wild locks, below the cartouche [at the edges in the impression as illustrated above].”   
   

It is usually assumed that‘Meskalamdu, the king’, the owner of this seal, was the king of this name who was the father of King Mesanapada (see below).

Primary Burial Chamber (PG 1054b) 

Left: ‘Gold’ seal from the primary burial chamber of PG 1054b, location now unknown ? 

Image from Leonard Woolley (referenced below, 1934b, Plate 142) 

Right: Sketch of seal impression:

Image adapted from Leonard Woolley (referenced below, 1934a, Figure 23, at p. 127)   

Gianni Marchesi (referenced below, 2004, at p. 162) described this structure as:

1. “... [a] stone-built sepulchral chamber, [the main occupant of which] was a high-ranking woman [who had been] buried together with four male attendants].” 
   

Leonard Woolley (referenced below, 1954, at p. 76) gave a vivid account of his discovery of this chamber, and his delight in finding it unviolated: 

1. “The stone blocking of the door was pulled away, and inside, beneath the remains of rotten wood fallen from the ceiling, lay five bodies, four of them those of men (servants, judging from their poor equipment) and the fifth was that of a woman; she had:
   

2. ✴the golden headdress of one of high rank;
   

3. ✴a long curved golden pin such as we had not seen before, [which] fastened her cloak;
   

4. ✴... a fluted and engraved tumbler of gold [in her hands]; and
   

5. ✴... a golden cylinder seal, the first we have ever found, [by her side].
   

6. This clearly was a queen.” 
   

The  seal that was found by the side of this lady is illustrated above: according to Julian Reade (referenced below, 2001, at p. 21), it is only 4 cm high and is made of gold foils with ‘shell’ caps over a core of some other material (which other authors assume to be bitumen).  The impression that it makes depicts a banqueting scene in two registers: 

1. ✴in the upper register, a man and a woman, each of whom is seated, cup in hand, and attended by a servant, are seated close to a table laden with two jars (presumably of beer) and three loaves; and
   

2. ✴in the lower register, a musical quartet made up of:
   

3. •two female cymbalists flanking a female singer who seems to be clapping her hands; and
   

4. •a seated man who is playing a bull-shaped lyre;
   

5. is presumably entertaining them.
   

The fact that his seal did not carry an inscription does not preclude the possibility that the lady who owned it was a queen: after all, as we have seen:

1. ✴the three seals of Pu-abum that were found in her grave all depict banqueting scenes in two registers:
   

2. ✴all of them feature a similar banqueting table and one of them (B16728 in the Penn Museum) also features  a musical performance; but
   

3. ✴only one of them carries an inscription.  
   

PG 1237: the So-called ‘Great Death Pit’ 

Plan of PG 1237: from Leonard Woolley (referenced below, 1934a, Figure 55, at p. 157)   

My additions in red (objects mentioned in the text below) 

Leonard Woolley (referenced below, 1934a0 at p. 113) observed that:

1. “The name ‘The Great Death Pit' was given to PG 1237 for the very good reason that it consisted of a death pit and little else.”
   

He presumably assigned adjective ‘great’ to it because it contained the remains of 74 human bodies:

1. ✴six near the northeastern wall, which he assumed were male; and
   

2. ✴another 68 which he assumed (on the basis of the personal possessions found throughout this area) were those of women who lay close to each other across the rest of the pit.
   

Woolley listed the surviving possessions associated with each of these corpses at pp. 116-120.  One of these lists stands out from the rest by virtue of their number and value: the possessions that were found near the remains of a lady who is now known only as‘Body 61’ (marked on the plan above} are listed as follows: 

1. “Gold hair-ribbon, gold leaf pendant wreath, wreath of gold triple willow-leaves, wreath of gold rings set with lapis disks silver comb with inlaid flowers, gold ear-rings, two gold hair-rings, three gold flower rosettes on silver stems, 'dog-collar' of gold and lapis, necklace of gold and lapis tubular beads and carnelian rings, necklace of large gold and lapis fluted balls and carnelian rings, necklace of gold and carnelian and gold double conoids and carnelian rings, necklace of gold balls, lapis double conoids, and carnelian rings, six gold finger rings, bracelet of gold and lapis diamonds and carnelian rings, bead cuff, gold pin  ... with lapis ball head, silver pin ... with lapis head, lapis cylinder seal (U. 12380) [and]  silver tumbler (U. 12380).”
   

Richard Zettler (referenced below, 2020, at pp. 27-8) reasonably argued that PG 1237, which was apparently aid out as a tableau mort of a banquet: 

1. “... may, in fact, be an intact royal burial of a type that  Woolley did not originally recognise, in which the principle (royal) figure and his/her attendants were buried together in an open pit.  Body 61, [which was the corpse of] a female holding ... a silver cup to her mouth, ... [and was found ] near the two ... [famous goat statues- (see below)] may be [the corpse of] the principle royal burial [in this so-called death pit.  This corpse]: 
   

2. •is more elaborately dressed than any of the other females in PG 1237; and
   

3. •her jewellery closely resembles that worn by [Queen Pu-adum - see above],  For example, she] wore a three-tiered headdress ... that included a frontlet and two wreaths, one with willow leaves and one with poplar leaves.  [Furthermore], the wreath with willow leaves is the only example of the type other than the one [that Pu-abum] wore ...
   

4. Moreover, ‘Body 61’, like ]the body of Pu-abum], had:
   

5. ✴a higher frequency of carnelian beads and fewer lapis lazuli beads ... [than] the other royal attendants:
   

6. ✴six gold rings, three on each hand, all of the cable pattern between plain rims; and
   

7. ✴a lapis lazuli cylinder seal {see below].
   

8. [However, like two of the seals of Pu-abum], this seal had no inscription, so the] identity of Body 61 remains to be determined.” 
   

Seal of ‘Body 61’

Lapis lazuli seal (U. 12380) of ‘Body 61’ in PG 1237, now in the Penn Museum (object 30-12-3);

image from the museum website   

According to Holly Pittman (referenced below, at p. 83: 

1. “This double-register cylinder seal shows a summarily carved composition:
   

2. ✴in the top register, an unusual version of the banquet scene is depicted, showing:
   

3. •two seated female celebrants, both facing left, each raising a vessel; [and]
   

4. •a servant [who] stands behind a table holding breads; and 
   

5. ✴In the lower register, an animal combat is shown.
   

6. The combination of banquet and combat scenes is unusual but not unique on cylinder seals and other artefacts, [albeit that the ] significance of the association is unknown.” 
   

‘Goat Statues’ from PG 1237  

Two reconstructed statues of a male goat in a flowering tree, found near ‘body 61‘     

Left: U. 12357B, from the Penn Museum (30-12-702)         Right: U. 12357A, from the British Museum (BM 122200) 

Image adapted from images from the respective museums  

As noted above, these two statues were reconstructed from their crushed remains, which were found very close to ‘body 61’.  Each had been constructed on a wooden core that had rotted away, but Woolley was able to reconstruct them from the indentation in the surrounding soil and surviving remains of gold foil, lapis, shell, copper, silver and red limestone.  As Naomi Miller et al. (referenced below, at p. 28) observed: 

1. “Though not identical, the goat and tree representations are very similar to one another, as are the bases, ... [and] primary iconography is the same in both objects.”
   

These authors also pointed out (at p. 32) that the rosette motif used for the flowers of the trees is sometimes a symbol of the goddess Inanna.  The protrusion behind each of the heads suggested that these objects served as supports of some kind.  (Note that this iconography of these statues is similar to that used for a shell plaque found in the grave of Queen Pu-bum (PG 800b - discussed above).

Left: Reconstruction of the sound box of the gold  lyre (U. 12353) from the southeast side of PG  1237,

Image  A: Reproduction of the bull’s head, from the British Museum (C. 285: not displayed)  

Image B: Reproduction proposed by Leonard Woolley (referenced below, 1934b, Plate 115) 

Image C: Modern reproduction of the shell reliefs (from Carole Rawcliffe, referenced below, at p. 71) 

Right: : Reconstruction of the sound box of the silver  lyre (U. 12353) from the southeast side of PG  1237 

now in the British Museum  (BM 121199); image from the museum website    

The remains illustrated on the are from two of the lyres (respectively, the golden lyre and the silver lyre) that were found near the southeastern wall of the pit>

1. ✴The remains of the golden lyre (U. 12353) were exhibited in the Iraq Museum (IM 8694), at least until 2003, when they fell victim to the chaos that followed the US invasion.  The four plaques depict (from the uppermost register); 
   

2. •a bull-man holding a pair of leopards by their tails;
   

3. •a pair of mountain goats eating the leaves of trees in a mountain setting;
   

4. •a pair of lions attacking a down-facing mountain goat; and
   

5. •a pair of deer (?) eating the leaves of trees in a mountain setting.
   

6. ✴The remains of the silver lyre (U. 12354) are now in the British Museum (BM 121199).  The three plaques depict (from the uppermost register);
   

7. •a pair of deer (?) eating the leaves of trees in a mountain setting;
   

8. •a pair of lions attacking a down-facing mountain goat; and
   

9. •a lion attacking a down-facing mountain goat, 
   

PG 755: Grave of ‘Meskalamdu‘  

Plan of PG 755: from Leonard Woolley (referenced below, 1934a, Figure 55, at p. 157)   

My additions in red (objects mentioned in the text below) 

As Leonard Woolley (referenced below, 1954, at pp. 57-8) recorded, this grave had been: 

1. “... dug down into the shaft of one of the largest of the ‘royal’ tombs [i.e., PG 779 - see above], ... The first indication that we had of [its existence] was a copper spear head sticking straight up in the ground.  Following it down, we found that it was attached to a golden haft, [below which] was the hole left by the decay of a wooden shaft.  [This hole] continued] down to the corner of the grave, [which had not been violated. ... It] was in the form of] a plain earth pit, big enough to take a wooden coffin and to leave ... [enough] free space for offerings. [as illustrated above].  Along the head of the grave  were struck spears in a row, the blades downwards .... ”  
   

According to Sir Arthur Keith (in Leonard Woolley, referenced below, 1934a, at p. 403), the corpse that was laid out in the wooden coffin was that of:  

1. “...  a strongly built, powerful man , ... about [1.6 meters] in height,  ... [and] under 30 years of age at the time of death.” 
   

Since this grave:

1. ✴had the simple architectural plan that characterised the great majority of those that had been  excavated here; and
   

2. ✴it contained only a single corpse;
   

Woolley (as above) concluded that the young man in the wooden coffin cannot have been a king, albeit that, as he pointed out;

1. ✴his grave was ‘rather large’ compared to the other ‘normal’ graves; and 
   

2. ✴his grave goods were only matched in value and splendour by objects found in the graves that he had characterised as ‘royal graves’.
   

Helmet 

Electrum helmet from grave PG 755 (number 1 in the plan above); now in the Iraq Museum (IM. 8629)    

Image (of a copy ?) from the website ‘Sumerian Shakespeare‘  of Jerald Jack Starr

Leonard Woolley (referenced below, 1954, at p. 58) noted that the corpse itself had almost completely disappeared, albeit that there were enough remains to indicate the way he had been placed in the coffin (see the illustration above), and that, when the earth was removed from the coffin:

1. “... the prevailing note was struck rather by the gold, clean as when it was put into the grave ... “ 
   

Importantly, a magnificent golden object that is usually characterised as a helmet (illustrated above), which was found behind the young man’s head (see number 1 in the plan above) still contained fragments of his skull, indicating that he had been wearing it when he had been placed in the coffin.  He had also been wearing a silver belt around his waist, to which three objects had been attached: 

1. ✴a gold dagger (number 8);
   

2. ✴a whetstone of lapis lazuli on a golden ring (number 9), and
   

3. ✴his cylinder seal (number 10), although this had deteriorated too the extent that neither the scene engraved on it nor the inscription could be used to identify him. 
   

Objects Inscribed with the Name ‘Meskalamdu‘  

Left: Three gold bowls from PG 755 (numbers 2, 4 and 5 in the plan above): 

Now in the Iraq Museum (IM: 8273,  8271 and 8270 respectively) 

Image from Leonard Woolley (referenced below, 1934b, Plate 163): my additions in red   

Right:Copper bowl from PG 755 (number 51 in the plan above): now in the British Museum (IBM 121661a)

Image from Leonard Woolley (referenced below, 1934b, Plate 190): my additions in red  

Although the inscriptions on the young man’s seal was illegible, three golden objects that were found near his body (the lamp at location 2 and the bows at locations 4 and 5) bear the inscription (RIME 1.13.7.1, CDLI, P431212) ‘Meskalamdu’, which was presumably the name of the deceased. The same name was inscribed on one of copper bowl that was among a  of copper vessels that were found corroded together at location 51. 

Bowl Inscribed with the name of Queen Nintur  

Copper bowl from PG 755 (number 51 in the plan above): now in the British Museum (BM 121663b)

Inscription (RIME 1.13.5.4; CDLI, P2476856), Queen Nintur 

Image from Leonard Woolley (referenced below, 1934b, Plate 190): my additions in red  

Another copper bowl from location 51 bears an inscription (RIME 1.13.5.4; CDLI, P2476856): ‘Nintur, the queen’.  As we shall see, this lady was probably the wife of King Mesanapada.  

Royal Inscriptions from SIS 1-2 

As explained above:

1. ✴the ‘Royal Cemetery was sealed at some point in the ED IIIa period by a layer of debris (dubbed SIS 1-2) that was dumped on it from the city above, presumably when it was no longer in use as a place of burial; and
   

2. ✴the epigraphic evidence that was found in SIS 1-2 included:
   

3. •a seal impression naming Mesanepada; and 
   

4. •a cylinder seal and two seal impressions naming (or probably naming) his wife, Queen Nintur. 
   

I will discuss this body of epigraphic evidence before discussing its relevance for the dating of the closure of the cemetery below.  

Seal Impression of King Mesanepada  

Seal of Mesanepada (excavation number U, 13607). inscription RIME 1.13.5.2; CDLI, P431204, from SIS 1 

Now in the Penn Museum (Sealing 31-16-677), image from museum website  

Reconstruction of the relief, from Léon Legrain (referenced below, 1936, Plate 30, number 518)   

As noted above, the clay jar sealing illustrated above was found in the debris level SIS 1.  The inscription (RIME 1.13.5.2; CDLI, P431204) above this last scene reads:

1. “Mesanepada, King of Kish, dam nu-gig (husband of the nu-gig)”. 
   

As noted in the website Ur Online, the narrative relief is arranged in three parts:

1. ✴to the left of the inscription, a lion attacks a ‘fine Gilgamesh figure’ while a naked man with a fine beard (who wields a dagger) pulls its tail; 
   

2. ✴to the right of the inscription, this ‘Gilgamesh figure’ appears again ,and we now see that he is trying to wrest a goat from another lion (while another partly-lost animal holds this second lion by its tail ?); and 
   

3. ✴below the inscription, four small naked men are depicted on a smaller scale in a ‘swastika formation, as each of them points a dagger at the left heel of the man in ahead of him while reaching forward to grasp his right foot.  
   

Note that the motifs of a ‘Gilgamesh figure’ attacked by a pair of lions and a swastika (in this case, of lions) in the seal of A’Anzu from PG 1236 (above).  

Nintur, Wife of Mesanepada 

Lapis lazuli seal of Queen Nintur, wife of Mesanepada (excavation number 8981) from SIS 1-2:

inscription RIME 1.13.5.3; CDLI, P247685 

   Now in the Penn Museum  (exhibit CBS 16852; image from Julian Reade (referenced below, 2003, at p. 103)  

Mesanepada is also named in a seal of his wife, which was found in loose soil in SIS 1-2, the stratum above the royal graves: this inscription (RIME 1.13.5.3; CDLI, P247685) reads:  

1. “Nintur, the queen, the wife of Mesanepada”. 
   

The relied carried by the seal is in two registers:

1. ✴in the upper register, a naked hero protects  bovids who are being attacked from each side by lions; and
   

2. ✴in the lower register, a naked figure approaches from the left as a pair of crossed lions attacks a pair of bovids.
   

Fragmentary sealing of Queen Nintur (excavation numbers U. 13678 and U. 13686 A, B)  from SIS 1-2 

Inscription (RIME 1.13.5.4; CDLI, P431205), Queen Nintur  

Image from Leonard Woolley (referenced below, 1934b, Plate 207, number 215 

Two fragmentary clay sealings from SIS 1-2 carry an inscription (RIME 1.13.5.4; CDLI, P431205) that names ‘Nintur, the Queen’ (the same inscription as that on the copper bowl found at location 51 in PG 755.  The hero here is similar to thae one depicted in the upper register of Mesamepada’s sealing (above). 

1.