Georges Roux
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748613878
- eISBN:
- 9780748653584
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Discontinued
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748613878.003.0002
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE
The ruins of Ur in Iraq are the most beautiful and eloquent in all Mesopotamia. After some explorations and probes, the first of which go back to 1854, the Ur excavations began in 1918 under the ...
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The ruins of Ur in Iraq are the most beautiful and eloquent in all Mesopotamia. After some explorations and probes, the first of which go back to 1854, the Ur excavations began in 1918 under the direction of Sir Leonard Woolley. In 1922, the ziggurat and the great rectangular platform surrounding it had been partly exposed. From this trench many clay vessels emerged, as well as beads of cornelian, lapis lazuli and even gold, sure evidence of the presence of tombs. Excavating a cemetery, above all in Mesopotamia, is always technically difficult and, as Woolley's labourers and the archaeologist himself lacked experience, he had the admirable sense to close the workings and not return until four years later. The celebrated ‘royal cemetery’ of Ur was thus excavated between 1926 and 1932, at a rate of three or four months a year.Less
The ruins of Ur in Iraq are the most beautiful and eloquent in all Mesopotamia. After some explorations and probes, the first of which go back to 1854, the Ur excavations began in 1918 under the direction of Sir Leonard Woolley. In 1922, the ziggurat and the great rectangular platform surrounding it had been partly exposed. From this trench many clay vessels emerged, as well as beads of cornelian, lapis lazuli and even gold, sure evidence of the presence of tombs. Excavating a cemetery, above all in Mesopotamia, is always technically difficult and, as Woolley's labourers and the archaeologist himself lacked experience, he had the admirable sense to close the workings and not return until four years later. The celebrated ‘royal cemetery’ of Ur was thus excavated between 1926 and 1932, at a rate of three or four months a year.
