High-tech in Bronze Age: the Precious Heritage of Ulling (Ⅲ) Magnificence of Royal Mausoleum

Take the excavation scale of Woolley at that time as an example. This picture shows a pit called X pit at that time. At that time, he needed to take out 13000 square meters of soil, and dug this pit X in one month. His excavation team has 200-300 people, which is very huge.

The depth of pit X, the well of this pit has been dug into the flood layer, and the diggers including Woolley and Catherine can be seen from the bottom.

Strict management system

But Woolley's team management is very strict. In his report, Woolley described how he visited Mohid Ibn Hubaiyib, a tribal leader in the area, and asked him to ensure that no workers would touch the scene when Woolley was away. In the process of excavation, this agreement still seems to be very strict. Without Woolley's authorization, no place can be entered, and these great discoveries have not been taken away.

Your plan

Excavation site

The road to the grave

Entrance to the grave. This tomb is in the later period, but its architecture is the same as the imperial tomb in Ur.

Step into the grave

Excavation site

Excavation site

Mining results

Woolley recorded more than 26,5438+0,000 items, which constitute the core collection of the Iraqi Museum. At that time, the honorary director of the cultural department of the British Museum, Grout Bell, drafted a bill to enable the British Museum and the University of Pennsylvania to excavate a considerable number of cultural relics. The University of Pennsylvania Museum now has more than 7,000 registered objects, which were excavated from Woolley in Ur and Obeid.

Ul Mausoleum has attracted a lot of public attention with its rich cultural relics and evidence of human sacrifice. Due to extensive publicity, Iraqi locals and tourists from all over the world flocked to the very remote Iraqi desert to visit this site.

Gold dagger, 1926-27 At the end of the excavation, some bronze weapons contained a gorgeous gold dagger with a glass handle. Next to it is a golden bag, which contains a set of musical instruments also made of gold. Sumerians have never found such precious works of art in Sumerian ruins before.

The gold helmet, the cuneiform inscription found on the cultural relics, indicates that it was made for Meskaramdig, King of Ur.

Panorama of ancient tomb

The Royal Mausoleum consists of more than 2,000 tombs, most of which are simple tombs with remains on one side, and some simple tombs such as bowls and jars. However, there are 16 tombs that are different, because their structures are very special, the funerary objects are also very rich, they are rare treasures from all over the world, and the sacrificial ceremonies are also very special, including the confirmation of some human sacrifices, which makes the tombs unique. Wu Lai regarded them as royal tombs. He believed that some of Ur's late monarchs and queens were buried in these tombs, and their ruling period was about. Woolley turned this 16 into a royal mausoleum. So as to be numbered. The royal tomb PG 755(PG = private tomb) is not shown because it is partially buried under PG779.

According to various inscriptions, this is the royal cemetery of Ur-Pabirsage of Ur-PaBielsa dynasty, and its ruling time was about 2600-2450 BC. Rulers are Mesanepada's son Mesanepada, Anepada's son and Meschi Agnana Meschi Agger-Nanna, but these names are not consistent with the specific tombs. One is Queen Puabi of PG800 tomb.

Schematic diagram of royal mausoleum

Among the royal tombs, the most abundant funerary objects are three tombs numbered PG789, PG800 and PG 1237.

The tomb owner of PG789 is an unknown king, whose tomb has been stolen in ancient times. The burial pit of this tomb is well preserved and 63 human remains have been found. Among them, the entrance is the remains of six soldiers, all holding spears and wearing bronze helmets; Behind them are the remains of two oxcarts, each with three cows and three bodies beside it; There are 54 bodies on the ground northeast of Oxcart, most of which are women.

PG800 is adjacent to PG789, and the tomb belongs to Queen Pu-Abi, probably the king and queen buried by PG789. According to archaeologists, when she was buried, she wore a beautiful headdress on her head; The upper body is covered with a shawl made of beads of gold, silver, lapis lazuli, carnelian and agate; The waist is a wide belt, which is also covered with gold beads, lapis lazuli and carnelian, and a small gold ring is hanging below the belt; Wear ten gold rings on your hands; There is also a silver cup lying horizontally. In addition, three cylindrical seals were found above her right arm, one of which was engraved with the words "Puabi, Queen". In the tomb where she was buried, the remains of three buried people were also unearthed, and a large number of funerary objects were placed on the north, east and west sides of the tomb.

In tomb PG800, the remains of five people appeared at the entrance of the sacrificial pit, surrounded by bronze daggers and 70 ceramic cups. In the middle of the burial pit, a skateboard pulled by two cows was found, and the remains of the cows were mixed with the remains of four men. At the northeast end of the burial pit, the remains of a wooden cabinet with lapis lazuli and shells embedded in its surface were found. At the southwest end of the human burial pit, there are 10 female corpses arranged in two rows, and each woman wears a delicate and elegant headdress.

The funeral procession of PG 1237 is very spectacular, with 74 people, including 68 women and 6 men, known as the "funeral pit".

Hypothesis about martyrdom

Frais Festival's interpretation of 1928 Queen Putabi's Royal Mausoleum was first published in London News Illustrated. Wu Lai thinks that these guards and their wives died of their own free will, because there is a small cup next to the excavated wreckage, so he thinks that they died after drinking the poison inside. Seventy-five years later, scientists scanned the heads of a bodyguard and a maid at that time (when Wu Lai sealed their heads with wax for display) and found that they all died of what the doctor said was blunt trauma. They were hit on the head from behind with a chain hammer, and then their bodies were mummified and buried with them.

In the hypothetical martyrdom scene, followers are arranged and then poisoned. These cows were also killed. The structure in the background is a dome tomb. The children's waitresses stood in front with delicate headdresses. The man on the left is a soldier who will always guard the grave.

The civilization of the god king

The Royal Mausoleum of Ur evaluates the richness of tombs and the grotesque funeral ceremonies it represents, providing clear new clues for the origin of ancient Mesopotamian civilization. This means that this is a complex and highly stratified society, and an extremely rich and powerful elite has been promoted to a position close to god. The range of materials used in the manufacture of man-made products implies extensive trade relations, and the craftsmanship embodied in these products proves the skill and artistic level that no one has doubted so far. However, this is also a cruel militaristic society. War equipment stands out in the tomb, but the most striking thing in this respect is the image depicted in Ur standard. Sumerian drivers rode horses to drive away fleeing enemies, Sumerian spearmen led naked prisoners, and Sumerian king accepted the heroic and unfortunate victims in his army. From the underground room of the royal mausoleum, a dazzling and evil picture of civilization appeared at the same time.