Bronze bull's head with inlaid eyes of shell and lapis lazuli.
Click on any of the images to enlarge them in a separate window. Many of the pictures on this page (and on other pages of this website) are from Columbia University.
Silver bull's head. The Sumerians, who drew human faces so simply, even crudely, were experts at depicting animals.
Three goats being led to sacrifice during the victory procession shown on the Standard of Ur. The artist adds a realistic touch by foreshortening the face of the lead goat to reflect the fact that it's turned at a three-quarter angle toward the viewer. An artistic touch is added by making the bodies of the goats blend together.
Gold tweezers and stiletto. Queen Pu-abi's tomb.
Gold (electrum) and silver toilet set (?).
Gold case for the tweezers, and an unidentified utensil (left).
Electrum chisels, found with the grooms outside Queen Pu-abi burial chamber. Lengths: 6.1 and 10.5 centimeters (2.4 and 4.13 inches). The chisels must have had some kind of symbolic value, since electrum (a natural alloy of gold and silver) is not hard enough to make an effective cutting tool.
Engraved square from a game board.
Game board found in the King's Grave (PG 789) similar to the game found in Queen Pu-abi's tomb (PG 800). Top: Playing squares with an animal theme, rather than the abstract designs of Pu-abi's board. Middle: Side of the board with the "eye motif" common in Sumerian art. Bottom: Square game tiles, unlike Pu-abi's game, which had round game tiles.
Silver boat model. Several boat models were found in the Royal Tombs. They were often loaded with small containers, as if carrying provisions for the dead. This boat model is from PG 789, the King's Grave.
This bull-legged table is one of the few examples of Sumerian furniture that has survived until the present day.
Mystery Item. Height: 21 centimetres (8.26 inches). Width: 19.5 centimetres (7.67 inches). Made of stone, it is decorated with the eye motif and the eight-pointed rosettes that were so meaningful to the Sumerians. The handle is similar to the kind found on a woven reed basket. The original purpose of the object isn't known.
The UPenn Museum has this figurine labeled as "a man", but the shepherd's hat signifies that he is a Sumerian king. The figures below were likewise misidentified.
A Sumerian king similar to the one shown above. It may actualy be the same one, because these terra cotta sculptures were cast in a mold. They aren't from the Royal Tombs of Ur, but were found in a workshop in the city itself.
A Sumerian king. UPenn states that he is carrying a whip, but it is actually a fly whisk, a symbol of authority.
Sumerian king.
The Royal Tombs of Ur had been partially covered in later years by a rubbish heap. There were so many cylinder seal impressions found in the rubbish that Leonard Wooley called it "the seal impression strata".
Cylinder seal impression showing a banquet. In the top register, two men drink beer through long straws from a large vat on the floor between them. In the botttom register, men and women sing and dance while playing cymbals and a bull-headed lyre. The two small figures beneath the lyre have been described as dwarfs, but they're probably just children.
Cylinder seal and seal impression with a simple but effective motif. It almost looks like modern art.
A similar cylinder seal impression. Gazelles run across shallow water (a river, lake, or marsh) with frogs and fish in it. One of the gazelles looks back over his shoulder.
Modern reproduction of a lyre's bull head at the British Museum.
