page_title: Royal Cemetery at Ur
section_title: Jewelry and metalwork
hierarchical_section_title: Royal Cemetery at Ur / Grave goods / Jewelry and metalwork
caption_attribution_description: Location in exhibit English: British Museum Middle East 14022019 Gold and carnelian beads 2600-2300 BC Royal cemetery of Ur tomb PG 55(composite)
context_page_description: The Royal Cemetery at Ur is an archaeological site in modern-day Dhi Qar Governorate in southern Iraq. The initial excavations at Ur took place between 1922 and 1934 under the direction of Leonard Woolley in association with the British Museum and the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
  Many finds are now in museums, especially the Iraq Museum, Bagdad and the British Museum.
context_section_description: The various female personages and attendants buried at the cemetery of Ur were adorned with jewelry made from gold, silver, lapis lazuli and carnelian including a variety of necklaces, earrings, headdresses, and hair rings. The presence of Carnelian beads present amongst the grave goods at the cemetery indicated trade with the Indus Valley. Hair ornaments included hair combs with floral elements made of gold, lapis, shell, and pink limestone. In addition, hair ribbons of gold and silver and inlaid combs with rosettes were also found amongst the human remains at Ur.
  Many of the jewels contained some sort of botanical reference. Amongst them are vegetal wreaths fashioned with gold leaves. Notably, Puabi’s headdress consists of four botanical wreaths including rosettes or stars and leaves.
  Other precious metals were found in the form of helmets, daggers, and various vessels in copper, silver, and gold. A gold helmet, whose ownership is attributed to Meskalamdug was found in a grave that Woolley believed to be an elite, but not necessarily a king. The helmet was made from a single piece of gold and fashioned to resemble a wig.
  The presence of fully developed casting practices is assumed from the discovery of another weapon made from electrum. At the same time, another weapon, referred to as the “Daggar of Ur,” was, according to Woolley, the first significant grave good discovered at Ur. The sheath and blade are both made from gold with a handle of lapis lazuli with gold decoration. Other examples of metal work include a variety of golden goblets and vessels made with handles of twisted wire. Some of these vessels included relief decoration or patterning. Hammered work in various metals was also discovered. This included a shield ornament containing an Assyrian style subject of lions and men being trampled. Other objects included a silver fluted bowl with engravings and a silver model of a sea faring vessel.
caption: The etched carnelian beads in this necklace from the Royal Tombs of Ur are thought to have come from the Indus Valley civilization, in an example of Indus-Mesopotamia relations.[12]
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