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Identity and Adornment in the Third-millennium bc Mesopotamian ‘Royal Cemetery’ at Ur

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 January 2007

Amy Rebecca Gansell
Amy Rebecca Gansell
Affiliation:
Department of History of Art & Architecture, Harvard University, Arthur M Sackler Museum, 485 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 01238, USA; gansell@fas.harvard.edu.
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Abstract

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This article presents a study of the deposition of jewellery on bodies in the third-millennium bc Mesopotamian ‘Royal Cemetery’ at Ur. Four assemblages of adornments are identified and evaluated in relation to burial type, gender, age, privilege, and behavioural role. Aspects of the social and ritual identities of the dead are then interpreted through adornment. While the historic definition of the interred community and the precise nature of their practices are open to speculation, this study begins to clarify dynamics of group and individual identity at this site of human sacrifice.

Keywords

Royal Cemetery, UrMesopotamian jewelleryritual identitysocial identity
Type
Research Article
Information
Cambridge Archaeological Journal , Volume 17 , Issue 1 , February 2007 , pp. 29 - 46
Copyright
© 2007 The McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research