Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T23:21:35.089Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Ur Jewellery

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 August 2014

K. R. Maxwell-Hyslop
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

In the years which have passed since Sir Leonard Woolley published the two magnificent volumes devoted to the Royal tombs in 1934, much that has been found in Western Asia throws light, not only on Early Dynastic craftsmanship but also on its relationship to other centres of manufacture where inter alia fine jewellery was produced. At the time that Sir Leonard was writing little was known about Asiatic jewellery of this period. His superb material seemed a relatively isolated phenomenon, and, with the exception of the Troy treasure the succeeding periods down to the 8th century B.C. had yielded little evidence for a continuation or development of the extraordinary technical ability shown by the Sumerian smiths. The picture today is very different; and two points should be stressed when attempting to re-assess the importance of the Ur finds in their relation to later discoveries. First, the great conservatism of jewellery workers both in matters of design and technique. This can perhaps be explained by the fact that while there seem to have been very few technical methods unknown to Sumerian craftsmen, it is now possible to trace the development of these methods right through the succeeding Sargonid and Third Dynasty of Ur periods and into the Second and First millennia B.C. It is also possible to compare the goldwork of the Early Dynastic period with the products of later phases in Mesopotamia, and thus a continuity can be established which relates not only the different Asiatic centres together but also shows their influence all over the Eastern Mediterranean area, the Aegean, and as far west as Italy.

Type
Research Article
Information
IRAQ , Volume 22 , Issue 1-2: Ur in Retrospect. In Memory of Sir C. Leonard Woolley , Spring-Autumn 1960 , pp. 105 - 115
Copyright
Copyright © The British Institute for the Study of Iraq 1960 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Mallowan, M. E. L. Twenty-Five Years of Mesopotamian Discovery, 1956, pp. 24–38 Google Scholar.

2 Tobler, A. J., Excavations at Tepe Gatvra, II, pl. XCI, aGoogle Scholar.

3 Langdon, , Sumerian Liturgies and Psalms (1939), pp. 350ffGoogle Scholar.

4 Legrain, , U.E.T., III, Business documents of the Third Dynasty of Ur, No. 1498Google Scholar. See also J.N.E.S. VIII (1949), p. 172 Google Scholar.

5 A. Haller, Die Gräber und Gräfte von Assur, Taf. 27–35.

6 Ibid., Taf. 30 h.

7 Ibid., Taf. 34, z, y, Taf. 35, p, q. Frankfort, , A note on the Lady of Birth, J.N.E.S., 3 (1944), p. 198. Figs. 2, 3Google Scholar. For a discussion of the distribution of the looped double spiral amulet see my Bronze lugged axe or adire blades in Iraq XVI, Pt. 1, p. 77fGoogle Scholar.

8 Ashur, Haller, op. cit., Taf. 10, a; Uruk, , U.V.B., XVII, 1937, p. 23 and Taf. 39Google Scholar. For Kassite gold work sec Iraq, Supplement 1944–45, Pl. xxvii.

8a Frankfort, , Iraq Excavations of Ku Oriental Institute (1932–1933). Fig. 29Google Scholar.

9 Mallowan, , in Iraq, IX, Pt. 2, p. 171ffGoogle Scholar.

10 Schmidt, Tepe Hissar, pl. xxx. H.2659.

11 Frankfort, , The Art and Architecture of the Ancient Orient, p. 113 Google Scholar.

12 Koşay, Les fouilles d'Alaca Höyük pls. CXXXIV, CLXXXV–CLXXXVII. Poliochni, , I.L.N., 08 3 1957, Figs. 6, 11, 12–15Google Scholar. Schliemann, , Ilios, Figs. 821–921, pp. 486–503 Google Scholar.

13 Schliemann, Ibid., fig. 878, De Morgan La Préhistoire Orientale Fig. 295, Woolley, Royal Cemetery, pl. 146. A mould for this form of earring is in the British Museum.

14 Mallowan, , in Iraq, IX, p. 171ffGoogle Scholar, discusses the distribution and gives detailed references. For a map showing the distribution ot pins with double spiral heads, see Piggott, in Ancient India, 4, 1948, p. 30, fig.3Google Scholar.

15 Frankfort, op. cit., Fig. 58. This is certainly a development of the Asiatic version of the double spiral. For Aegean versions see H. Kantor, Aegean and the Orient in the second millenium B.C, pl. iv, and Becatti, , Orefericerie Antiche (Rome), 1955, Tav. xiv, 46, 47Google Scholar from Mycenae. For examples analogous to the Boǧazköy belt but using the double looped spiral as well as the plain double spiral see Kantor, Op. cit., pls. iv B, C, G, and from Cyprus (Enkomi); Becatti, op. cit., Tax xx.90. For an early example of the double looped spiral from Troy see Frankfort, op.cit., fig. 44 D, and for a better drawing, Schliemann, , llios, p. 495 Google Scholar.

16 Kantor, op. cit., pl. iv A.

17 Riemschneider, Le Monde des Hittites, pls. 107–8.

18 Pritchard, , Ancient Near Eastern Texts, pp. 346, 348, 356 Google Scholar.

19 Woolley, and Barnett, , Carchemish III, pls. 63, 64Google Scholar.

20 Woolley, , Alalakh, 1955, pp. 272ff, fig. 73 and pl. LXIXGoogle Scholar.

21 Segall, , Some Sources of Early Greek Jewellery in Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts XLI (1943), p. 42 Google Scholar. de la Ferté, Coche, Les Bijoux Antiques, pp. 25ffGoogle Scholar.

22 Higgins, R., The Aegina Treasure reconsidered in Institute of Classical Studies Bulletin No. 4 (1957), p. 27 Google Scholar.

23 See I.L.N., May 2, 1953, figs. 8 & 9, I am grateful to Mr. Higgins for advice on the use of the term “enamel”.

24 McFadden, in A.J.A., 58 (1954), pl. 18 and p. 131 Google Scholar; Schaeffer, Enkomi-Alasia, figs. 116–17, pls. C, D and CXVI.

25 Brock, J., Fortetsa, p. 197 Google Scholar. Hutchinson, and Boardman, in B.S.A., 1954, pls. 27, 28Google Scholar. Mustilli, D., La Necropolis Tirrenica di Efestia in Annuario della Regia Scuola Archaeologica di Atene XV, 1932, figs. 52, 57, 98, 125, 154, 263Google Scholar (example of granulation work).

26 Jacobsthal, , The date of the Ephesian foundation deposit, in J.H.S., LXXI, 1951, p. 85 and pl. XXXIIIGoogle Scholar. See also D. Levi, Arkades, Annuario Reg. Sc. Atene, X–XII, Tav. xii.

27 Kuftin, , Archaeological Excavations in Trialeti, Tiflis, 1941 Google Scholar. For Blur, Karmir see Barnett, in Iraq, XIV, Pt. 1, p. 132 and XXI, Pt. 1, p. 1Google Scholar. Also Barnett, Oriental influences on Archaic Greece, in The Agaean and the Near East Studies, presented to Hetty Goldman.

28 Ashur, Haller, op. cit., Taf. 36, Ur, Woolley, in A.J., III, pl. XXXGoogle Scholar, in hoard of jewellery found below the Persian floor of E-nun-maḫ, room 5. Blur, Karmir, Barnett, , in Iraq, XIV, Pt. 2, p. 137, 10 and 142, note 1Google Scholar. See Vinski, , Jahrbuch für Kleinasiatische Forschung 1, 1950, Taf. VIIIGoogle Scholar, two examples from Croatia, Erdut and Radoliste.

29 Mari—unpublished—See Coche de la Ferté, op. cit., p. 36; Amrit, Becatti, op. cit., pl. II, 3. Cyprus, Gjerstad, Swedish Cyprus Expedition IV, fig. 34, 2a, 2bGoogle Scholar. Crete, , Khaniali Tekke Treasure, B.S.A. (1954), pl. 28Google Scholar. Tharros, Becatti, op. cit., pl. XLI 22. For other Sardinian examples see Culican, in P.E.F.Q., 07–Dec. 1958, p. 92 Google Scholar. Essay on a Phoenician ear-ring.

30 Moortgar, , Der Ohrschmuck der Assyrer in A.f.O. 4 (1927), p. 198, Abb. 8Google Scholar.

31 D.P.M., VII, pl. XIV.

32 Godard, Le Trésor de Ziweye, fig. 90; Petrie, , Ancient Gaza, IV, pl. XVGoogle Scholar.

33 Minto, Marsiliana d'Albegna, Tav. XII–XIII and Falchi, Vetulonia e la sua Necropoli antichissima, Tav. XVI; cf. also Lemnos, Efestia, Mustilii, op. cit., fig. 52, p. 40, here used as a pendant.

34 Becatti, op. cit., Tav. LXIV, 258b.

35 Karo, G., Le Ore ficerie di Vetulonia, in Studi e Materiali di Archaeologia e di Numismatica I and II, Florence 1899–1902 Google Scholar, and Vetuloneser Nachlese in Studi Etruschi, VIII (1934), pp. 49–57 Google Scholar.

36 Culican, op. cit., pp. 97ff and references given in footnotes 3 and 4.