City of Ur – Universal History

In 1925 a British-American expedition was organized to excavate the Sumerian city of Ur, in southern present-day Iraq. Situated near the Euphrates River, Ur had flourished between 3,000 and 2,000 BC.. It was one of the city-states of Sumer, in ancient Mesopotamia.
Despite the fact that its buildings had disappeared under the desert, the name of Ur had been preserved because it was mentioned in the Bible as the birthplace of Abraham. However, it was not until the beginning of the 20th century that archaeologists could be sure that Ur was located in Iraq. This was possible thanks to the discovery of some inscribed clay tablets, found in a place known in the region as Tell al-Muqayyar. When the tablets were deciphered, it was observed that they mentioned a king named Ur-Nammu, who we know had become the king of Ur in about 2112 BC. So when they started excavating al-Muqayyar, the archaeologists already knew the name of the ancient city. Despite this, they could not imagine the treasures they would find in it.
The director of the expedition was a British man named Sir Leonard Woolley, one of the most outstanding archaeologists of the time. The excavation of Ur lasted 12 years and was the high point of his career. Working tirelessly with a team of up to 400 local workers, Woolley and his team were soon digging up houseplants and temples, retrieving many objects of daily life from the sand and dust. They discovered that the streets of Ur were narrow. Some followed a predetermined plan, but others simply twisted around groups of small houses. The buildings were made of adobes and built around a central courtyard. The floors were covered with cane mats. The furniture was mostly low tables, stools, and chairs.

The royal cemetery in Ur

The most spectacular discoveries took place, in the royal cemetery. It contained more than 1,800 graves, most of them ordinary people. However, 17 of these tombs were larger than the others and more solidly built, using stone or brick. They also contained much wealth in the form of precious objects made of gold and silver, often set with gems. Only two of these 17 tombs had escaped looting by robbers, but inscriptions and names of kings were found, which convinced Woolley that they were the tombs of the rulers of Ur.
The archaeologists were very careful when digging. One of his techniques included pouring paraffin over delicate objects to prevent them from falling apart when lifted. Wonderful objects began to appear immediately, some more than 4,500 years old. Among them were statues, necklaces, beads, and female headdresses decorated with the finest gold leaf in the shape of willow and beech leaves. A hammered iron helmet also appeared, once worn by a king named Meskalamdu. It has small holes around the edge for fastenings that allowed a cloth lining to be attached to it, remains of which were found inside.
Perhaps the most fascinating of all the finds, however, is a small wooden box known as the *Banner of Ur. It is inlaid with shells and lapis lazuli, and may have been the sounding board for a lyre. What makes it fascinating are the inlaid images on its long sides and the light they shed on Sumerian life. One of the panels contains a royal party and the other a war scene. The two narrow panels also have elaborate decoration. One of them presents a ram being sacrificed to the gods.

Commercial networks in Ur

In addition to providing information about the funeral rituals of Ur and the skills of its artisans, the finds show the patterns of their trade and the people with whom they traded. Lapis lazuli, for example, is known to have come from Afghanistan, which may also have been the source of tin. This metal was especially appreciated because, when mixed with copper, it produces bronze. The shells came from the Persian Gulf. The carnelian, a red stone, was brought from what is now Iran, while the wood came from the Amanus Mountains in northwest Syria, down the Euphrates River.
If Woolley got a lot of information from the artifacts and tombs of Ur, he got even more from a collection of more than 200 texts preserved on clay tablets. They contained lists of animals and materials, such as fish, sheep, goats, and trees, as well as the names of different people and their profession. We are told that the people of Ur had highly specialized occupations, including carpenter, blacksmith, gardener, cook, and brickmaker. The tablets also describe aspects of the law. If a man wanted to divorce his wife, for example, he only had to pay a certain amount of money. He also had the right to sell his children into slavery if he so wished.
The golden age of Ur lasted about 100 years., during the reigns of Ur-Nammu and his successors. This king was responsible for the reconstruction of the great temple of the city, a stepped pyramid or ziggurat. Although only its base remains, excavations have shown that it was a solid structure made of bricks. It rose up to 21 meters high on three floors, all connected by external stairs. At the top was a small sanctuary where sacred rituals took place. This ziggurat, like others in the region, was built to resemble a sacred mountain, a place where humans could stay closer to the gods. Ur’s patron was Nanna, the god of the Moon..
The end of Ur occurred around 2000 BC. The Elamites invaded from the west and destroyed the city. Over the centuries, its ruins decayed until they were completely covered by sand. However, his destiny was, 4,000 years later, to bring his treasures to light.

The great pit of death

During his excavations, Woolley found evidence that the inhabitants of Ur practiced a nefarious and certainly cruel burial ritual. From the skeletons found in the tombs, it was clear that when a king or queen died their servants were expected to die with them and accompany them in the afterlife. Apparently, at a royal funeral, the servants followed the lifeless body of their sovereign into the tomb.
Then, having placed themselves according to their importance, they drank poison and lay down to wait for death. It is not clear if they did it voluntarily or if they were executed.
The clearest evidence that this practice was carried out was found in the largest of the Ur tombs, which contained 74 skeletons, mostly female. called the Great Pit of Death, the tomb measured 2.3 square meters. Woolley was able to verify that the victims had dressed for their finale. Gold ribbons were found between the bones, along with gold beads and lapis lazuli, as well as gold leaf from the headdresses. There were also harps, decorated with gold and silver, and two ram statues, carved from wood and then covered in shell, gold, and lapis lazuli.