page_title: Lyres of Ur
hierarchical_section_title: Lyres of Ur
context_page_description: The Lyres of Ur or Harps of Ur are considered to be the world's second oldest surviving stringed instruments after the ones discovered in the Maykop culture. In 1929, archaeologists led by the British archaeologist Leonard Woolley, representing a joint expedition of the British Museum and the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, discovered the instruments when excavating the Royal Cemetery of Ur between from 1922 and 1934. They discovered pieces of three lyres and one harp in Ur, located in what was Ancient Mesopotamia and is contemporary Iraq. They are over 4,500 years old, from ancient Mesopotamia during the Early Dynastic III Period. The decorations on the lyres are fine examples of the court art of Mesopotamia of the period.
  Leonard Woolley discovered the lyres amongst the bodies of ten women in the Royal cemetery at Ur. One body was even said to be lying against the lyre with her skeletal hand placed where the strings would have been. Upon this discovery, Woolley was quick to pour in a liquid plaster to recover the delicate form of the wooden frame.
context_section_description: The Lyres of Ur or Harps of Ur are considered to be the world's second oldest surviving stringed instruments after the ones discovered in the Maykop culture. In 1929, archaeologists led by the British archaeologist Leonard Woolley, representing a joint expedition of the British Museum and the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, discovered the instruments when excavating the Royal Cemetery of Ur between from 1922 and 1934.  They discovered pieces of three lyres and one harp in Ur, located in what was Ancient Mesopotamia and is contemporary Iraq.  They are over 4,500 years old,  from ancient Mesopotamia during the Early Dynastic III Period (2550–2450 BC).  The decorations on the lyres are fine examples of the court art of Mesopotamia of the period.
  Leonard Woolley discovered the lyres amongst the bodies of ten women in the Royal cemetery at Ur. One body was even said to be lying against the lyre with her skeletal hand placed where the strings would have been. Upon this discovery, Woolley was quick to pour in a liquid plaster to recover the delicate form of the wooden frame. The wood of the lyres was decayed but since some were covered in nonperishable materials, like gold and silver, they were able to be recovered.  Strictly speaking, three lyres and one harp were discovered, but all are often called lyres. The instrument remains were restored and distributed between the museums that took part in the digs.
caption: Detail of the "Peace" panel of the Standard of Ur showing lyrist, excavated from the same site as the Lyres of Ur.
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