Imports to Ur reflect the cultural and trade connections of the Sumerian city of Ur. During the period of the Early Dynastic III royal cemetery (ca. 2600 BC), Ur was importing elite goods from geographically distant places. These objects include precious metals such as gold and silver, and semi-precious stones, namely lapis lazuli and carnelian. These objects are all the more impressive considering the distance from which they traveled to reach Mesopotamia and Ur specifically.
Mesopotamia is very well suited to agricultural production for both plants and animals but is lacking in metals, minerals and stones. These materials were traded by both land and water, although bulk transportation is only possible by water as it is cheaper and faster. River transportation greatly aided Mesopotamian crafts from very early in the fourth millennium. The Euphrates provided access to Syria and Anatolia as well as the Gulf, and many trading posts were set up along the river. The Tigris, in general, is less hospitable to travel and was therefore used less than the Euphrates for trade. Pack-animals such as donkeys and mules were used for overland trade. The combination of these means of transportation allowed access to distant areas and a vast trading network.
Most of the gold known from archaeological contexts in ancient Mesopotamia is concentrated at the royal cemetery at Ur (and later in the Neo-Assyrian graves at Nimrod). Textual evidence indicates that gold was reserved for prestige and religious functions. It was gathered in royal treasuries, temples and used for adornment of elite peoples as well as funerary offerings (such as the graves at Ur). Gold is used for personal ornaments, weapons and tools, sheet-metal cylinder seals, vessels such as fluted bowls, goblets and imitation cockle shells, and as additions to sculpture.
The textual evidence for the sources of gold used in Mesopotamia is irregular. The Sumerian texts name Aratta as a source while the Gudea records mention both the mountain of Ḫaḫḫum, near Samsat in modern Turkey, and Meluḫḫa. Other texts refer to a perhaps mythical place known as (Ḫ)arallu, supposedly located in the hinterland of Iran, as a source of gold. Other possible sources are named by Shu-Sin, such as 'Su-land', most likely in western Iran, and (Mar)daman in south-eastern Turkey. Texts referring to Dilmun mention that gold is traveling to Ur up the Gulf, perhaps originating in Meluḫḫa. [1]
The Akkadian word for silver also means money, as it was used for uncoined currency. It was also used for objects, which is how one finds most of the silver in the royal cemetery at Ur. These objects include belts, vessels, jewelry such as hair ornaments and pins, fittings for weapons, imitation cockle shells used for cosmetics, and parts of sculpture.
There are very few literary references to sources for silver. It is also difficult to identify the actual origin of the silver and the mines from those areas in which the majority of trade occurred. Because silver was used as currency it is even more difficult to pinpoint an area of origination due to its vast circulation. The 'Silver Mountains' mentioned in association with the campaigns of Sargon of Akkad are identified as the mines found at Keban on the Upper Euphrates. Other, more generic, silver-producing areas are Aratta, Dilmun, Elam, Marḫashi (also known as Barhashi or Parahshum) and Meluḫḫa. [2] Some known areas in Iran containing argentiferous lead that could have been exploited at this time are Azerbaijan, Kerman, and the Miyana-Zanjan region. Anatolia, especially the mining region of Bolkardag in the Taurus Mountains, is also well known for silver-bearing ore deposits and probably supplied most of the silver to Mesopotamia at this time.
Lapis Lazuli is the best known and well-documented gemstone at Ur and in Mesopotamia in general. In the royal cemetery lapis lazuli is found as jewelry, plaques and amulets, and as inlays in gaming boards, musical instruments, and ostrich-egg vessels as well as parts of larger sculptural groups such as the "Ram in a Thicket" and as the beard of a bull attached to a lyre. Some of the larger objects include a spouted cup, a dagger-hilt, and a whetstone. Because of its prestige and value it played a special role in cult practices and the term “lapis-like” is a commonly occurring metaphor for unusual wealth and it regularly an attribute of gods and heroes. It is commonly found associated with gold.
This opaque semi-precious stone has restricted geological origins. There is no textual evidence which provides a clear reference to the source of Sumerian lapis lazuli although documents list Aratta, Dilmun, and Meluḫḫa in Iran. These also name mountains such as Mt. Dapara, Mt. Bikni (modern Kuh-i Alvand in western Iran) and Bahtar Mountain or Sogdia. It is almost universally acknowledged that the lapis lazuli from Mesopotamia originated in the upper reaches of the Kokcha River in the Badakhshan district of modern Afghanistan. [3] This was certainly exploited at the time of the Royal Cemetery (ca. 2600 BC) with evidence of manufacture in the 3rd millennium at Shortugai (I) on the Oxus River. This area is around 1500 miles from Mesopotamia and is extremely inhospitable. The mines are located 330 meters up the mountain slope and mining can only be conducted three months of the year because of the harsh winters. Other possible sources include Azerbaijan and Kerman. The stone was possibly first taken to Meluḫḫa and then traded (along with carnelian) by ship up the Gulf. There is no textual reference to a land route but several probably existed through the Zagros Mountains.
Carnelian is a variety of microcrystalline quartz that is particularly suited for fine beads and seals. This semi-precious stone is second only to lapis lazuli in terms of popularity in Mesopotamia and Ur specifically. Carnelian was most likely imported as both a raw material and as manufactured beads.
Because quartz occurs widely and in igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary rock formations the exact areas or origination are difficult. It occurs in alluvial pebbles in the central plateau of Iran and in the Elburz Mountains in northern Iran. Also found in large blocks on the Gulf at Bushire. [4] Charles Leonard Woolley, the excavator at Ur, attributes the carnelian found there to the Gulf area. The Indus Valley, however, has famously been exploited for its carnelian and it is likely that some of the material originated here as well. [5] Carnelian is also mentioned in many Sumerian texts including those to do with trade with Dilmun. In the Gudea inscriptions carnelian is reportedly from Meluḫḫa.
In the 3rd millennium BCE, chlorite stone artifacts were very popular, and traded widely. These included disc beads and ornaments, as well as stone vases. These carved dark stone vessels have been found everywhere in ancient Mesopotamia. They rarely exceed 25 cm in height, and may have been filled with precious oils. They often carry human and animal motifs inlaid with semi-precious stones.
"Elaborate stone vessels carved with repeating designs, both geometric and naturalistic, in an easily recognizable “intercultural style”, [6] were made primarily of chlorite; a number were produced at the important site of Tepe Yahya southeast of Kerman (Iran) in the middle and late 3rd millennium b.c.e. Some of these vessels were painted natural color (dark green) and inlaid with pastes and shell, and some have even been found with cuneiform inscriptions referring to rulers and known Sumerian deities. More than 500 vessels and vessel fragments [7] carved in this style have been recovered from sites ranging from Uzbekistan and the Indus Valley (e.g., Mohenjo-daro) in the east to Susa [8] and all the major Sumerian sites in Mesopotamia, including Mari, in the west and to the Persian Gulf, particularly Tarut [9] and the Failaka Islands, in the south." [10]
Lapis lazuli, or lapis for short, is a deep-blue metamorphic rock used as a semi-precious stone that has been prized since antiquity for its intense color. As early as the 7th millennium BC, lapis lazuli was mined in the Sar-i Sang mines, in Shortugai, and in other mines in Badakhshan province in modern northeast Afghanistan. Lapis lazuli artifacts, dated to 7570 BC, have been found at Bhirrana, which is the oldest site of Indus Valley civilisation. Lapis was highly valued by the Indus Valley Civilisation. Lapis beads have been found at Neolithic burials in Mehrgarh, the Caucasus, and as far away as Mauritania. It was used in the funeral mask of Tutankhamun.
Sumer is the earliest known civilization in the historical region of southern Mesopotamia, emerging during the Chalcolithic and early Bronze Ages between the sixth and fifth millennium BC. Like nearby Elam, it is one of the cradles of civilization, along with Egypt, the Indus Valley, China, Caral-Supe, and Mesoamerica. Living along the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, Sumerian farmers grew an abundance of grain and other crops, a surplus which enabled them to form urban settlements. The world's earliest known texts come from the Sumerian cities of Uruk and Jemdet Nasr, and date to between c. 3350 – c. 2500 BC, following a period of proto-writing c. 4000 – c. 2500 BC.
Gudea (Sumerian: 𒅗𒌤𒀀, Gu3-de2-a) was a ruler (ensi) of the state of Lagash in Southern Mesopotamia, who ruled c. 2080–2060 BC (short chronology) or 2144-2124 BC (middle chronology). He probably did not come from the city, but had married Ninalla, daughter of the ruler Ur-Baba (2164–2144 BC) of Lagash, thus gaining entrance to the royal house of Lagash. He was succeeded by his son Ur-Ningirsu. Gudea ruled at a time when the center of Sumer was ruled by the Gutian dynasty, and when Ishtup-Ilum ruled to the north in Mari. Under Gudea, Lagash had a golden age, and seemed to enjoy a high level of independence from the Gutians.
Dilmun, or Telmun, was an ancient East Semitic-speaking civilization in Eastern Arabia mentioned from the 3rd millennium BC onwards. Based on contextual evidence, it was located in the Persian Gulf, on a trade route between Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley civilisation, close to the sea and to artesian springs. Dilmun encompassed Bahrain, Kuwait, and eastern Saudi Arabia. This area is certainly what is meant by references to "Dilmun" among the lands conquered by King Sargon II and his descendants.
Puabi, also called Shubad or Shudi-Ad due to a misinterpretation by Sir Charles Leonard Woolley, was an important woman in the Sumerian city of Ur, during the First Dynasty of Ur. Commonly labeled as a "queen", her status is somewhat in dispute, although several cylinder seals in her tomb, labeled grave PG 800 at the Royal Cemetery at Ur, identify her by the title "nin" or "eresh", a Sumerian word denoting a queen or a priestess. Puabi's seal does not place her in relation to any king or husband, possibly indicating that she ruled in her own right. It has been suggested that she was the second wife of king Meskalamdug. The fact that Puabi, herself a Semitic Akkadian, was an important figure among Sumerians, indicates a high degree of cultural exchange and influence among the ancient Sumerians and their Semitic neighbors. Although little is known about Puabi's life, the discovery of Puabi's tomb and its death pit reveals important information as well as raises questions about Mesopotamian society and culture.
Ancient art refers to the many types of art produced by the advanced cultures of ancient societies with different forms of writing, such as those of ancient China, India, Mesopotamia, Persia, Palestine, Egypt, Greece, and Rome. The art of pre-literate societies is normally referred to as prehistoric art and is not covered here. Although some pre-Columbian cultures developed writing during the centuries before the arrival of Europeans, on grounds of dating these are covered at pre-Columbian art and articles such as Maya art, Aztec art, and Olmec art.
Meluḫḫa or Melukhkha is the Sumerian name of a prominent trading partner of Sumer during the Middle Bronze Age. Its identification remains an open question, but most scholars associate it with the Indus Valley civilisation.
Magan was an ancient region in what is now modern day Oman and United Arab Emirates. It was referred to in Sumerian cuneiform texts of around 2300 BC and existed until 550 BC as a source of copper and diorite for Mesopotamia. There is also evidence to support the idea that the Magan people were actually Sumerian. As discussed by The Archeology Fund founded by Juris Zarins, "The Sumerian cities of southern Mesopotamia were closely linked to the Gulf. Archaeologists and historians have linked sites in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Qatar to the Sumerian geographical term of Dilmun. Oman, was most likely the Sumerian Magan".
The First Dynasty of Ur was a 26th-25th century BCE dynasty of rulers of the city of Ur in ancient Sumer. It is part of the Early Dynastic period III of the history of Mesopotamia. It was preceded by the earlier First Dynasty of Kish and the First Dynasty of Uruk.
Aratta is a land that appears in Sumerian myths surrounding Enmerkar and Lugalbanda, two early and possibly mythical kings of Uruk also mentioned on the Sumerian king list.
Uqair, alternatively spelled as al-'Uqair, Uqayr, and Ogair, is an ancient seaport city in the Al-Ahsa Governorate of the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. It is the first seaport in the Persian Gulf and has been linked by some to the ancient city of Gerrha mentioned in Greek and Roman sources. The site was also the location of the conference at which the Uqair Protocol of 1922 was issued, which helped to establish the borders of modern Saudi Arabia.
The Early Dynastic period is an archaeological culture in Mesopotamia that is generally dated to c. 2900 – c. 2350 BC and was preceded by the Uruk and Jemdet Nasr periods. It saw the development of writing and the formation of the first cities and states. The ED itself was characterized by the existence of multiple city-states: small states with a relatively simple structure that developed and solidified over time. This development ultimately led to the unification of much of Mesopotamia under the rule of Sargon, the first monarch of the Akkadian Empire. Despite this political fragmentation, the ED city-states shared a relatively homogeneous material culture. Sumerian cities such as Uruk, Ur, Lagash, Umma, and Nippur located in Lower Mesopotamia were very powerful and influential. To the north and west stretched states centered on cities such as Kish, Mari, Nagar, and Ebla.
Bahrain is a nation in the Persian Gulf, in a strategical position in relation to the eastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, Iran, Iraq and Oman.
The Lyres of Ur or Harps of Ur is a group of four string instruments excavated in a fragmentary condition at the Royal Cemetery at Ur in modern Iraq from 1922 onwards. They date back to the Early Dynastic III Period of Mesopotamia, between about 2550 and 2450 BC, making them the world's oldest surviving stringed instruments. Carefully restored and reconstructed, they are now divided between museums in Iraq, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
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.
Indus–Mesopotamia relations are thought to have developed during the second half of 3rd millennium BCE, until they came to a halt with the extinction of the Indus valley civilization after around 1900 BCE. Mesopotamia had already been an intermediary in the trade of lapis lazuli between the Indian subcontinent and Egypt since at least about 3200 BCE, in the context of Egypt-Mesopotamia relations.
A-Imdugud, was an early ruler of the First Dynasty of Ur in the 27th century BCE. He does not appear in the Sumerian King List, but is known from an inscribed seal found in tomb PG 1236 in the Royal Cemetery at Ur, which is the largest and probably the earliest tomb structure at the cemetery.
Etched carnelian beads, or sometimes bleached carnelian beads, are a type of ancient decorative beads made from carnelian with an etched design in white, which were probably manufactured by the Indus Valley civilization during the 3rd millennium BCE. They were made according to a technique of alkaline-etching developed by the Harappans, and vast quantities of these beads were found in the archaeological sites of the Indus Valley civilization. They are considered as an important marker of ancient trade between the Indus Valley, Mesopotamia and even Ancient Egypt, as these precious and unique manufactured items circulated in great numbers between these geographical areas during the 3rd millennium BCE, and have been found in numerous tomb deposits.
Queen Puabi's headdress is a 2600-2450 BCE Mesopotamian crown consisting of ornate gold leaf wreaths, strands of lapis lazuli and carnelian beads, with a gold comb, and delicate hair ribbons. The entirety of the headdress is estimated to weigh over 6 pounds. The headdress was discovered resting on Queen Puabi's remains in PG 800 during the excavation of the Royal Cemetery at Ur that began in 1922 and concluded in 1934. Successive Mesopotamian societies built new cities on top of previous civilizations and commonly created tells to preserve human remains. These younger tells hid and protected her immense riches by making them inaccessible to looters. Found next to Queen Puabi's remains was a cylinder (identification) seal with the title "nin" inscribed, indicating a great lady or queen. In the grave, excavators also found the remnants of female attendants –– adorned in similar jewelry and hair ribbons –– whose purpose was to serve the queen in her afterlife. The religious significance of Queen Puabi's headdress demonstrates her royal status as well as her cultic importance. The unearthing of Ur was led by Charles Leonard Woolley and was a joint expedition sponsored by the Penn Museum and the British Museum. The headdress currently resides in the Penn Museum in Philadelphia. The excavation is still very popular because of the riches discovered, the uncovering of a mass grave, and the potential connection with Abraham from the book of Genesis.
The ancient Sumerian economy refers to the systems of trade in ancient Mesopotamia. Sumerian city-states relied on trade due to a lack of certain materials, which had to be brought in from other regions. Their trade networks extended to places such as Oman, Arabia, Anatolia, the Indus River Valley, and the Iranian Plateau. Sumerians also bought and sold property, but land tied to the temples could not be traded. There were three types of land—Nigenna, Kurra, and Urulal—and only Urulal land could be traded; Nigenna land belonged to the temple, while Kurra land belonged to the people working in the temple. Within Sumer, the Sumerians could use silver, barley, or cattle as currency