Vessels

Everything worn, poured from or carried, and the material where the Royal Cemetery at Ur dominates. Puabi's headdress, the gold and lapis work, the Ram in a Thicket, the Royal Game of Ur, the Standard of Ur, the Warka Vase, the Nimrud ivories, beads and metalwork and glazed ware. On the death pits that produced much of this: human sacrifice is better supported now than in Woolley's day, but his account of a gentle poisoning was overturned by later imaging that found blunt-force trauma, and no cup he described was ever chemically tested.

Part of Mesopotamia

71 moments in this segment.

1. 3300 BC - Amulet of a lion. 3300 to 2900 BC. Southern Mesopotamia has no stone, no metal ore and almost no timber. Lapis lazuli came from Badakhshan in Afghanistan, carnelian from the Indus, copper from Oman. Trade is not a footnote to this material, it is a precondition. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Gift of Miss Helen Miller Gould, 1910.
2. 3300 BC - Jar with a spout and punctate decoration. 3300 to 3100 BC. Southern Mesopotamia has no stone, no metal ore and almost no timber. Lapis lazuli came from Badakhshan in Afghanistan, carnelian from the Indus, copper from Oman. Trade is not a footnote to this material, it is a precondition. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Gift of the Robert Haber family, 1993.
3. 3300 BC - Fragment of a bowl with a frieze of bulls in relief. 3300 to 2900 BC. Southern Mesopotamia has no stone, no metal ore and almost no timber. Lapis lazuli came from Badakhshan in Afghanistan, carnelian from the Indus, copper from Oman. Trade is not a footnote to this material, it is a precondition. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Gift of Alastair Bradley Martin, 1950.
4. 2700 BC - Duck amulet. 2700 to 2600 BC, from Nippur. Southern Mesopotamia has no stone, no metal ore and almost no timber. Lapis lazuli came from Badakhshan in Afghanistan, carnelian from the Indus, copper from Oman. Trade is not a footnote to this material, it is a precondition. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Rogers Fund, 1962.
5. 2700 BC - Bead. 2700 to 2600 BC, from Nippur. Southern Mesopotamia has no stone, no metal ore and almost no timber. Lapis lazuli came from Badakhshan in Afghanistan, carnelian from the Indus, copper from Oman. Trade is not a footnote to this material, it is a precondition. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Rogers Fund, 1962.
6. 2700 BC - Vessel. 2700 to 2350 BC, from Nippur. Southern Mesopotamia has no stone, no metal ore and almost no timber. Lapis lazuli came from Badakhshan in Afghanistan, carnelian from the Indus, copper from Oman. Trade is not a footnote to this material, it is a precondition. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Rogers Fund, 1959.
7. 2700 BC - Cow amulet. 2700 to 2600 BC, from Nippur. Southern Mesopotamia has no stone, no metal ore and almost no timber. Lapis lazuli came from Badakhshan in Afghanistan, carnelian from the Indus, copper from Oman. Trade is not a footnote to this material, it is a precondition. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Rogers Fund, 1962.
8. 2600 BC - Bowl. 2600 to 2500 BC, from Nippur. Southern Mesopotamia has no stone, no metal ore and almost no timber. Lapis lazuli came from Badakhshan in Afghanistan, carnelian from the Indus, copper from Oman. Trade is not a footnote to this material, it is a precondition. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Rogers Fund, 1962.
9. 2600 BC - Rim sherd. 3rd millennium BC, from Tell Taya. Southern Mesopotamia has no stone, no metal ore and almost no timber. Lapis lazuli came from Badakhshan in Afghanistan, carnelian from the Indus, copper from Oman. Trade is not a footnote to this material, it is a precondition. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Rogers Fund, 1972.
10. 2600 BC - Jar fragment with reclining bulls. 2600 to 2500 BC, from Nippur. Southern Mesopotamia has no stone, no metal ore and almost no timber. Lapis lazuli came from Badakhshan in Afghanistan, carnelian from the Indus, copper from Oman. Trade is not a footnote to this material, it is a precondition. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Rogers Fund, 1962.
11. 2600 BC - Sherd. 3rd millennium BC, from Tell Taya. Southern Mesopotamia has no stone, no metal ore and almost no timber. Lapis lazuli came from Badakhshan in Afghanistan, carnelian from the Indus, copper from Oman. Trade is not a footnote to this material, it is a precondition. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Rogers Fund, 1972.
12. 2600 BC - Necklace. 2600 to 2500 BC, from Ur (modern Tell al-Muqayyar). Southern Mesopotamia has no stone, no metal ore and almost no timber. Lapis lazuli came from Badakhshan in Afghanistan, carnelian from the Indus, copper from Oman. Trade is not a footnote to this material, it is a precondition. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Dodge Fund, 1933.
13. 2600 BC - Beaker. 3rd millennium BC, from Tell Taya. Southern Mesopotamia has no stone, no metal ore and almost no timber. Lapis lazuli came from Badakhshan in Afghanistan, carnelian from the Indus, copper from Oman. Trade is not a footnote to this material, it is a precondition. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Rogers Fund, 1972.
14. 2600 BC - Earring. 2600 to 2500 BC, from Ur (modern Tell al-Muqayyar). Southern Mesopotamia has no stone, no metal ore and almost no timber. Lapis lazuli came from Badakhshan in Afghanistan, carnelian from the Indus, copper from Oman. Trade is not a footnote to this material, it is a precondition. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Dodge Fund, 1933.
15. 2600 BC - Ritual vessel or stand. 2600 to 2500 BC, from Nippur. Southern Mesopotamia has no stone, no metal ore and almost no timber. Lapis lazuli came from Badakhshan in Afghanistan, carnelian from the Indus, copper from Oman. Trade is not a footnote to this material, it is a precondition. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Rogers Fund, 1962.
16. 2350 BC - Bowl rim sherd. 3rd millennium BC, from Tell Taya. Southern Mesopotamia has no stone, no metal ore and almost no timber. Lapis lazuli came from Badakhshan in Afghanistan, carnelian from the Indus, copper from Oman. Trade is not a footnote to this material, it is a precondition. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Rogers Fund, 1972.
17. 2350 BC - Sherd with incised decoration. 3rd millennium BC, from Tell Taya. Southern Mesopotamia has no stone, no metal ore and almost no timber. Lapis lazuli came from Badakhshan in Afghanistan, carnelian from the Indus, copper from Oman. Trade is not a footnote to this material, it is a precondition. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Rogers Fund, 1972.
18. 2350 BC - Bowl sherd. 3rd millennium BC, from Tell Taya. Southern Mesopotamia has no stone, no metal ore and almost no timber. Lapis lazuli came from Badakhshan in Afghanistan, carnelian from the Indus, copper from Oman. Trade is not a footnote to this material, it is a precondition. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Rogers Fund, 1972.
19. 2350 BC - Jar rim sherd. 3rd millennium BC, from Tell Taya. Southern Mesopotamia has no stone, no metal ore and almost no timber. Lapis lazuli came from Badakhshan in Afghanistan, carnelian from the Indus, copper from Oman. Trade is not a footnote to this material, it is a precondition. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Rogers Fund, 1972.
20. 1900 BC - Jar sherd. 2nd millennium BC, from Tell Taya. Southern Mesopotamia has no stone, no metal ore and almost no timber. Lapis lazuli came from Badakhshan in Afghanistan, carnelian from the Indus, copper from Oman. Trade is not a footnote to this material, it is a precondition. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Rogers Fund, 1972.
21. 1900 BC - Part of a necklace: pendant and beads. 19th to 18th century BC. Looting pits at an Iraqi archaeological site. The larger loss was never the Iraq Museum: unexcavated site looting removed far more, and it gets less coverage because there is no dramatic footage of it. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Bequest of W. Gedney Beatty, 1941.
22. 1800 BC - Roller. 18th century BC. Southern Mesopotamia has no stone, no metal ore and almost no timber. Lapis lazuli came from Badakhshan in Afghanistan, carnelian from the Indus, copper from Oman. Trade is not a footnote to this material, it is a precondition. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Gift of Mrs. Elias S. David, in memory of Elias S. David, 1984.
23. 1600 BC - Seal-shaped inscribed amulet. 16th to 12th century BC. Southern Mesopotamia has no stone, no metal ore and almost no timber. Lapis lazuli came from Badakhshan in Afghanistan, carnelian from the Indus, copper from Oman. Trade is not a footnote to this material, it is a precondition. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Rogers Fund, 1952.
24. 1600 BC - Mace head. 2nd Millennium BC. Southern Mesopotamia has no stone, no metal ore and almost no timber. Lapis lazuli came from Badakhshan in Afghanistan, carnelian from the Indus, copper from Oman. Trade is not a footnote to this material, it is a precondition. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Purchase, 1886.
25. 1000 BC - Inscribed clay ball. 1st millennium BC. Southern Mesopotamia has no stone, no metal ore and almost no timber. Lapis lazuli came from Badakhshan in Afghanistan, carnelian from the Indus, copper from Oman. Trade is not a footnote to this material, it is a precondition. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Purchase, 1886.
26. 900 BC - Beads. 9th to 7th century BC, from Nimrud (ancient Kalhu). Southern Mesopotamia has no stone, no metal ore and almost no timber. Lapis lazuli came from Badakhshan in Afghanistan, carnelian from the Indus, copper from Oman. Trade is not a footnote to this material, it is a precondition. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Rogers Fund, 1952.
27. 900 BC - Drinking vessel ("istikan"). "), ca. 9th to 7th century BC, from Nimrud (ancient Kalhu). Southern Mesopotamia has no stone, no metal ore and almost no timber. Lapis lazuli came from Badakhshan in Afghanistan, carnelian from the Indus, copper from Oman. Trade is not a footnote to this material, it is a precondition. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Rogers Fund, 1962.
28. 800 BC - Jar with geometric decoration. 8th to 7th century BC, from Nimrud (ancient Kalhu). Southern Mesopotamia has no stone, no metal ore and almost no timber. Lapis lazuli came from Badakhshan in Afghanistan, carnelian from the Indus, copper from Oman. Trade is not a footnote to this material, it is a precondition. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Rogers Fund, 1954.
29. 800 BC - Inlay. 8th to 7th century BC, from Nimrud (ancient Kalhu). Southern Mesopotamia has no stone, no metal ore and almost no timber. Lapis lazuli came from Badakhshan in Afghanistan, carnelian from the Indus, copper from Oman. Trade is not a footnote to this material, it is a precondition. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Rogers Fund, 1958.
30. 721 BC - Panels of a writing board MET DP110589. 721 BC. Nimrud, ancient Kalhu, capital under Ashurnasirpal II and the site of the Northwest Palace, the Nimrud ivories and the queens' tombs found by the Iraqi archaeologist Muzahim Mahmud Hussein between 1988 and 1990, a discovery usually left out of Western tellings. It was bulldozed in 2015, and it was the real catastrophe of that year, more than the Mosul Museum video.
31. 500 BC - Alabastron. 1st millennium BC. Southern Mesopotamia has no stone, no metal ore and almost no timber. Lapis lazuli came from Badakhshan in Afghanistan, carnelian from the Indus, copper from Oman. Trade is not a footnote to this material, it is a precondition. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917.
32. 1896 - Nippur vase of Lugalzagesi. Southern Mesopotamia has no stone, no metal ore and almost no timber. Lapis lazuli came from Badakhshan in Afghanistan, carnelian from the Indus, copper from Oman. Trade is not a footnote to this material, it is a precondition.
33. 2009-12-14 - Dressing Queen Puabi. Penn Museum conservators dress a mannequin in Queen Puabi's reconstructed headdress of gold, carnelian and lapis. Her name is read from a lapis cylinder seal found on her body; the title can mean queen, lady or priestess, so calling her a queen is convention rather than a settled reading.
34. 2012-06-02 - See updated video link below for renewed Standard of Ur. The Standard of Ur, BM 121201, from Woolley's excavation of the Royal Cemetery. Its two shell and lapis panels are conventionally read as war and peace, though the object's actual function is not established.
35. 2012 - Standard of Ur - Peace. The Standard of Ur, roughly 2600 BC, excavated by Leonard Woolley from the Royal Cemetery at Ur and now in the British Museum. Its two panels are conventionally called War and Peace, though what the object actually was, a box, a soundbox or a standard, is not established.
36. 2013 - Denis Bourez - British Museum, London (8747049029) (2). The Standard of Ur, roughly 2600 BC, excavated by Leonard Woolley from the Royal Cemetery at Ur and now in the British Museum. Its two panels are conventionally called War and Peace, though what the object actually was, a box, a soundbox or a standard, is not established.
37. 2013 - Syrian-style Nimrud ivory from Fort Shalmaneser. The Nimrud ivories, carved furniture inlays from the Northwest Palace, many showing Phoenician and Egyptianising styles that arrived as tribute or loot. A large part of the collection was stored in the Iraq Museum basement and suffered water damage.
38. 2013 - Calcite bowl, Inanna Temple, Nippur. Southern Mesopotamia has no stone, no metal ore and almost no timber. Lapis lazuli came from Badakhshan in Afghanistan, carnelian from the Indus, copper from Oman. Trade is not a footnote to this material, it is a precondition.
39. 2014 - Beads, modern restringing, Tell Agrab, Earlier Shara Temple, Early Dynastic period, 2900-2800 BC, lapis lazuli, carnelian, silver - Oriental. 07362. Exhibit in the Oriental Institute Museum, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA. This work is old enough so that it is in the public domain. Photography was permitted in the museum without restriction. Southern Mesopotamia has no stone, no metal ore and almost no timber. Lapis lazuli came from Badakhshan in Afghanistan, carnelian from the Indus, copper from Oman. Trade is not a footnote to this material, it is a precondition.
40. 2014 - Metal vessels, Mesopotamia - Oriental Institute Museum, University of Chicago - DSC07268. Exhibit in the Oriental Institute Museum, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA. This work is old enough so that it is in the public domain. Photography was permitted in the museum without restriction. Southern Mesopotamia has no stone, no metal ore and almost no timber. Lapis lazuli came from Badakhshan in Afghanistan, carnelian from the Indus, copper from Oman. Trade is not a footnote to this material, it is a precondition.
41. 2014 - Beads and miniature vessels - Oriental Institute Museum, University of Chicago - DSC07263. Exhibit in the Oriental Institute Museum, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA. This work is old enough so that it is in the public domain. Photography was permitted in the museum without restriction. Southern Mesopotamia has no stone, no metal ore and almost no timber. Lapis lazuli came from Badakhshan in Afghanistan, carnelian from the Indus, copper from Oman. Trade is not a footnote to this material, it is a precondition.
42. 2015-08-28 - treasure of Nimrud أغلى كنز في العالم كنز النمرود العراق. The Treasure of Nimrud, gold from the queens' tombs found by Muzahim Mahmud Hussein in 1989. It survived 2003 in a flooded vault in Iraq's Central Bank and was found intact.
43. 2016-06-22 - Ancient Mesopotamian Meat Stew. An ancient Mesopotamian meat stew reconstructed from the Yale culinary tablets. The tablets assume a cook who already knows the basics, so much has to be inferred.
44. 2017-04-21 - Tom Scott vs Irving Finkel: The Royal Game of Ur | TRAILER | International Tabletop Day 2017. A trailer for the Royal Game of Ur playthrough at the British Museum. The board came out of the Royal Cemetery at Ur, the same excavation that produced the lyres and Puabi's grave goods.
45. 2017 - Ur Royal Cemetery Game Pieces. The Royal Game of Ur, a board game from the Royal Cemetery at Ur, roughly 2600 BC. A cuneiform tablet in the British Museum preserves its rules, which is why it is one of the few ancient games that can actually be played.
46. 2017 - Queen Puabi's Grave Goods. Queen Puabi, also read Shub-ad, was buried at Ur around 2600 BC with attendants. Woolley's account of a gentle poisoning has been overturned: the 2009 to 2011 Penn CT work found perimortem blunt-force trauma, plus heat and mercury treatment indicating the bodies were preserved and displayed. No cup was ever chemically tested. Human sacrifice at Ur is better supported than ever; Woolley's manner of it is not.
47. 2017 - Copper Alloy Chisel, Harpoons, Lance and Spear Heads. The lyres from the Royal Cemetery at Ur, roughly 2600 BC. The wood had entirely decayed, so what Woolley recovered was the shape of a void in the soil, which he filled with plaster to lift the object. The Golden Lyre of Ur in Baghdad was damaged in 2003.
48. 2017 - Head Ornament from the Great Death Pit. Southern Mesopotamia has no stone, no metal ore and almost no timber. Lapis lazuli came from Badakhshan in Afghanistan, carnelian from the Indus, copper from Oman. Trade is not a footnote to this material, it is a precondition.
49. 2017 - Gold Dagger & Head Ornaments from Royal Grave. Southern Mesopotamia has no stone, no metal ore and almost no timber. Lapis lazuli came from Badakhshan in Afghanistan, carnelian from the Indus, copper from Oman. Trade is not a footnote to this material, it is a precondition.
50. 2017 - Ornaments from the Great Death Pit. Southern Mesopotamia has no stone, no metal ore and almost no timber. Lapis lazuli came from Badakhshan in Afghanistan, carnelian from the Indus, copper from Oman. Trade is not a footnote to this material, it is a precondition.
51. 2017 - Silver Bowl & Head Ornament Worn by King's Attendant. Southern Mesopotamia has no stone, no metal ore and almost no timber. Lapis lazuli came from Badakhshan in Afghanistan, carnelian from the Indus, copper from Oman. Trade is not a footnote to this material, it is a precondition.
52. 2017 - Silver Vessels. Southern Mesopotamia has no stone, no metal ore and almost no timber. Lapis lazuli came from Badakhshan in Afghanistan, carnelian from the Indus, copper from Oman. Trade is not a footnote to this material, it is a precondition.
53. 2019 - Warka Vase ProtoCuneiform. Index of figurative art elements, which have proto-cuneiform equivalents after ncongruent Corpora: Writing and Art in Ancient Iraq by J. S. Cooper. Original images photographed by Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg) at the Iraq Museum in Baghdad; images were edited and annotated by user Gurdjief.
54. 2019 - Detail, the Queen's gold lyre from the Royal Cemetery at Ur. C. 2500 BCE. Iraq Museum. (a cast or replica, not the original object). The lyres from the Royal Cemetery at Ur, roughly 2600 BC. The wood had entirely decayed, so what Woolley recovered was the shape of a void in the soil, which he filled with plaster to lift the object. The Golden Lyre of Ur in Baghdad was damaged in 2003.
55. 2019 - Tributary procession led by Qalparunda of the Land of Unqi, detail of the throne dais of Shalmaneser III, Iraq Museum. The Iraq Museum in Baghdad. The widely reported figure of 170,000 items lost in 2003 is wrong: it came from a miscommunication by the first crews on the scene plus empty cases whose contents curators had removed before the First Gulf War. The accurate figure is around 15,000 items, of which roughly 6,000 had been recovered as of 2009.
56. 2019 - Shalmaneser III, detail, south face, west end, Throne Dais of Shalmaneser III from Nimrud, Iraq. The Iraq Museum in Baghdad. The widely reported figure of 170,000 items lost in 2003 is wrong: it came from a miscommunication by the first crews on the scene plus empty cases whose contents curators had removed before the First Gulf War. The accurate figure is around 15,000 items, of which roughly 6,000 had been recovered as of 2009.
57. 2019 - Limestone friezes of vines from Hatra, Iraq. 2nd-3rd century CE. Iraq Museum. The Iraq Museum in Baghdad. The widely reported figure of 170,000 items lost in 2003 is wrong: it came from a miscommunication by the first crews on the scene plus empty cases whose contents curators had removed before the First Gulf War. The accurate figure is around 15,000 items, of which roughly 6,000 had been recovered as of 2009.
58. 2020-03-25 - Making a 9th century Iraqi lustreware bowl replica. Making a replica of a ninth-century Iraqi lustreware bowl at the British Museum. Craft reconstruction recovers the sequence of operations that a finished object conceals.
59. 2020 - Bagues en or de Puabi. Queen Puabi, also read Shub-ad, was buried at Ur around 2600 BC with attendants. Woolley's account of a gentle poisoning has been overturned: the 2009 to 2011 Penn CT work found perimortem blunt-force trauma, plus heat and mercury treatment indicating the bodies were preserved and displayed. No cup was ever chemically tested. Human sacrifice at Ur is better supported than ever; Woolley's manner of it is not.
60. 2021-04-15 - كنز نمرود The Assyrian treasure of Nimrud and the mystery of its location/. The Treasure of Nimrud and the question of where it was, in Arabic. The gold was moved to a Central Bank vault before 1991 and its survival was not confirmed publicly until 2003.
61. 2021-05-11 - Middle East, The Standard of Ur (Stop 394, Room 56). The Standard of Ur, BM 121201, described in British Sign Language. Its two inlaid panels are conventionally called War and Peace, though what the object actually was, a box, a soundbox or something else, is not settled.
62. 2021-05-11 - Middle East, The Uruk Trough (Stop 391, Room 56). The Uruk Trough in Room 56, described in British Sign Language. Carved with sheep approaching a reed byre, it belongs to the same late-fourth-millennium Uruk world that produced the Warka Vase and the first written tablets.
63. 2021-05-20 - Gareth's Posh Mesopotamian Beer Drinking | #CuratorsCornered Ostentatiously Decorated Mundane Object. A British Museum curator on Mesopotamian drinking vessels and the beer they held. Beer was a staple ration rather than a luxury, and the Hymn to Ninkasi doubles as a description of how it was brewed.
64. 2021 - Iraqi woman keeping ancient pottery craft alive. An Iraqi woman keeping an ancient pottery craft alive. Hand-built pottery in southern Iraq preserves techniques with a very long local history.
65. 2021 - An ancient Mesopotamian recipe. 4644, 8958 and 4648, are the oldest known recipes anywhere and give ingredients and method without quantities.
66. 2022-11-10 - BISI Lecture: Prof Dirk Wicke 'On Nimrud Bowls and Nimrud Ivories'. Dirk Wicke on the Nimrud bowls and ivories. The Nimrud ivories were carved in Phoenician and Syrian workshops and reached Assyria as tribute and booty, so the finest objects in an Assyrian palace were often not Assyrian.
67. 2023 - Modern imports threaten ancient Iraqi pottery craft. Imported goods threaten Iraq's traditional pottery craft. Continuity of craft is a different kind of heritage from excavated objects and is easier to lose quietly.
68. 2023 - Replicas of a ritual vase, originally from the 4th millennium BC, originally alabaster, replicas made of plaster cast, from Uruk aka Warka, . 1027a (a cast or replica, not the original object). The Warka Vase, roughly 3200 to 3000 BC from Uruk, is the earliest surviving large carved stone ritual vessel. It was looted from the Iraq Museum in 2003 and returned broken during the amnesty programme.
69. 2023-06-21 - Interdisciplinary team cooks 4000-year old Babylonian stews at NYU event. An interdisciplinary team cooks 4,000-year-old Babylonian stews from the Yale tablets. Reconstruction cooking is a way of testing what the terse recipe texts actually mean.
70. 2024 - RoyalGameOfUrRuleSet. The Royal Game of Ur, a board game from the Royal Cemetery at Ur, roughly 2600 BC. A cuneiform tablet in the British Museum preserves its rules, which is why it is one of the few ancient games that can actually be played.
71. 2025 - Beer inspired by 5,000-year-old Sumerian recipe served up Madrid | REUTERS. Beer brewed from a 5,000-year-old Sumerian recipe served in Madrid. Reconstruction projects are how brewing methods described in cuneiform get tested.