PUABI’S ADORNMENT FOR THE AFTERLIFE: MATERIALS AND TECHNOLOGIES OF JEWELRY AT UR IN MESOPOTAMIA KIM BENZEL Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2013 ©2013 Kim Benzel All rights reserved ABSTRACT PUABI’S ADORNMENT FOR THE AFTERLIFE: MATERIALS AND TECHNOLOGIES OF JEWELRY AT UR IN MESOPOTAMIA KIM BENZEL This dissertation investigates one of the most important archaeological discoveries of the 20th century – the jewelry belonging to a female named Pu-abi buried in the so-called Royal Cemetery at the site of Ur in southern Mesopotamia, modern Iraq. The mid-third millennium B.C. assemblage represents one of the earliest and richest extant collections of gold and precious stones from antiquity and figures as one of the most renowned and often illustrated aspects of Sumerian culture. With a few notable exceptions most scholars have interpreted these jewels primarily as a reflection in burial of a significant level of power and prestige among the ruling kings and queens of Ur at the time. While the jewelry certainly could, and undoubtedly did, reflect the identity and status of the deceased, I believe that it might have acted as much more than a mere marker and that the identity and status thus signaled might have had a considerably more nuanced meaning, or even a different one, than that of royalty or royalty alone. Based on a thorough examination of the materials and methods used to manufacture these ornaments, I will argue that the jewelry was not simply a rich but passive collection of prestige goods, rather that jewelry that can be read in terms of active ritual, and perhaps cultic, production and display. The particular materials and techniques chosen for the making of Pu-abi’s jewelry entailed methodological operations akin to what Alfred Gell has called the “technology of enchantment and enchantment of technology” and allowed these ornaments to materialize from their creation as a group of magically and ritually charged objects. TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ix DEDICATION xiii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1 PAST SCHOLARSHIP ON THE “ROYAL CEMETERY” AT UR 5 METHODOLOGY AND THEORETICAL APPROACHES 8 GOALS OF THIS DISSERTATION 9 CHAPTER II MATERIALS: JEWELRY MATERIALS IN MESOPOTAMIA AND AT UR 11 INTRODUCTION 11 MATERIALS AT EARLY DYNASTIC UR 24 GOLD (AND SILVER) 26 LAPIS LAZULI 56 CARNELIAN 71 AGATE 80 CONCLUSION 83 CHAPTER III MAKERS: JEWELERS AS RITUAL TECHNICIANS IN MESOPOTAMIA 85 INTRODUCTION 85 GOLD (AND SILVER) SMITHS 88 LAPIDARIES 109 CONCLUSION 113 i CHAPTER IV MAKING: “SKILLED CRAFTING” OF JEWELRY AT UR 115 INTRODUCTION 115 PU-ABI’S JEWELRY 117 ADORNMENT OF PU-ABI’S HEAD 119 ADORNMENT OF PU-ABI’S BODY 138 ADORNMENT RELATED TO PU-ABI’S BODY 153 COMPARATIVE JEWELRY ASSEMBLAGES AT UR AND ELSEWHERE 166 CONCLUSION 176 CHAPTER V MADE: SKILLED CRAFTING AND ENCHANTED ADORNMENT 178 INTRODUCTION 178 SKILLED CRAFTING AND ENCHANTMENT 179 CULTIC ADORNMENT IN MESOPOTAMIA 192 PU-ABI’S ENCHANTED ADORNMENT 202 CONCLUSION 207 CATALOG 209 PLATES 221 FIGURES 234 BIBLIOGRAPHY 278 ii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PLATES: Plate 1: Pu-abi’s comb, Cat. no. 1 221 Plate 2: Pu-abi’s poplar wreath, Cat. no. 2 222 Plate 3: Pu-abi’s poplar wreath, Cat. no. 3 223 Plate 4: Pu-abi’s willow wreath, Cat. no. 4 224 Plate 5: Pu-abi’s ringlet wreath, Cat. no. 5 225 Plate 6: Pu-abi’s hair ribbon, Cat. no. 6 226 Plate 7: Pu-abi’s earrings, Cat. no. 8 227 Plate 8: Pu-abi’s rosette medallion necklace and detail, Cat. no. 9 228 Plate 9: Pu-abi’s cloak necklace or collar and detail, Cat. no. 10 229 Plate 10: Pu-abi’s belt or cloak border, Cat. no. 13 230 Plate 11: Pu-abi’s “garter,” Cat. no. 15 231 Plate 12: Pu-abi’s toggle pin, Cat. no. 22 232 Plate 13: Pu-abi’s dress or belt pin, Cat. no. 33 233 FIGURES: Figure 1: Map of Mesopotamia in the third millennium B.C. 234 Figure 2: Varia from the “Royal Cemetery” of Ur 235 Figure 3: Current reinterpretation and display of the majority of 236 Pu-abi’s attire at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology Figure 4: Zainab Bahrani and Kim Benzel visiting with Rachel 237 iii Maxwell-Hyslop at her home in Little Tew in the summer of 2006 Figure 5: Pu-abi’s head ornaments 238 Figure 6: Excavation photo of foundation deposit, Temple Oval, 239 Tutub/Khafaje, Mesopotamia, ca. 2500 B.C. Figure 7: Foundation deposit of Ur-Namma, Nippur, 239 Mesopotamia, ca. 2112–2095 B.C. Figure 8: Pu-abi’s head ornaments 240 Figure 9: Pu-abi’s body ornaments 240 Figure 10: Top row, Pu-abi’s head ornaments; Pu-abi’s comb, 241 Cat. no. 1, Pl. 1; Middle row, left to right, Pu-abi’s poplar wreath, Cat. no. 2, Pl. 2; Pu-abi’s poplar wreath, Cat. no. 3, Pl. 3; Pu-abi’s willow wreath, Cat. no. 4, Pl. 4; Bottom row, Pu-abi’s ringlet wreath, Cat. no. 5, Pl. 5 Figures 11a, b: Top, detail of Pu-abi’s comb, Cat. no. 1, Pl. 1; 242 bottom, microphotography detail of Pu-abi’s comb, Cat. no. 1, showing stress fractures from work hardening where prongs of comb split off Figure 12: Detail of Pu-abi’s comb, Cat. no. 1, from back 243 showing mechanism for flower attachments Figure 13: Microphotography detail of Pu-abi’s comb, Cat. no. 1, 243 showing mechanism for flower attachments Figure 14: Pu-abi’s comb, Cat. no. 1, back showing wire reinforcing 243 Figure 15: Top row, one of Pu-abi’s poplar wreaths, Cat. no. 2, Pl. 2 and 244 detail; Middle/bottom rows, microphotography detail of suspension loops Figure 16: Top row, one of Pu-abi’s poplar wreaths, Cat. no. 3, Pl. 3 and 245 detail; Middle/bottom rows, microphotography detail of suspension loops iv Figure 17: Top row, Pu-abi’s willow wreath, Cat. no. 4, Pl. 4 and detail; 246 Middle/bottom rows, microphotography detail of suspension loops Figure 18: Pu-abi’s willow wreath, Cat. no. 4, microphotography detail of 247 suspension loop Figure 19: Pu-abi’s willow wreath, Cat. no. 4, microphotography detail of 247 suspension loop as it meets one of the ring pendants Figure 20: Two of Pu-abi’s of four (?) hair rings, Cat. no. 7 248 Figure 21: Top, detail of Pu-abi’s necklace, Cat. no. 10, Pl. 8; Bottom, 249 microphotography detail of medallion in Pu-abi’s necklace, Cat. no. 10 Figure 22: Pu-abi’s “cloak” beads, Cat. no. 11 250 Figure 23: Pu-abi’s additional beads, Cat. no. 12 250 Figure 24: Microphotography detail of Pu-abi’s belt, Cat. no. 13, 251 showing the seam join on one of the cylindrical gold beads Figure 25: Microphotography detail of Pu-abi’s belt, Cat. no. 13, 252 showing the folded over edges on one of the cylindrical gold beads Figure 26: Detail of Pu-abi’s belt, Cat. no. 13, Pl. 10, 253 showing joins of rings Figure 27: Pu-abi’s “cuff,” Cat. no. 16 253 Figure 28: Pu-abi’s ring, Cat. no. 17, microphotography 254 Figure 29: Pu-abi’s ring, Cat. no. 18, microphotography 255 Figure 30: Pu-abi’s ring, Cat. no. 19, microphotography 256 Figure 31: Pu-abi’s ring, Cat. no. 20, microphotography 257 v Figure 32: Pu-abi’s ring, Cat. no. 21, microphotography 258 Figure 33: Pu-abi’s toggle pin, Cat. no. 23 259 Figure 34: Pu-abi’s toggle pin, Cat. no. 24 259 Figure 35: Pu-abi’s cylinder seal, Cat. no. 25 260 Figure 36: Pu-abi’s cylinder seal, Cat. no. 26 260 Figure 37: Pu-abi’s cylinder seal, Cat. no. 27 260 Figure 38: Pu-abi’s amulet, Cat. no. 28 261 Figure 39: Pu-abi’s amulet, Cat. no. 29 261 Figures 40, 41: Pu-abi’s amulets, Cat. no. 30 261 Figure 42: Pu-abi’s amulet, Cat. no 31 261 Figure 43: Pu-abi’s amulet, Cat. no. 32 262 Figure 44: Microphotography detail of Pu-abi’s toggle pin, 263 Cat. no. 22, showing cap at top of pin Figure 45: Microphotography detail of Pu-abi’s dress or belt pin, 264 Cat. no. 33, showing stress fractures from work hardening Figure 46: Gold, lapis lazuli, and carnelian ornaments associated with 265 Body 51, PG 1237, Ur, Mesopotamia, ca. 2500 B.C. Figure 47: Gold, lapis lazuli, and carnelian ornaments associated with 266 Body 54, PG 1237, Ur, Mesopotamia, ca. 2500 B.C. Figure 48: Gold, lapis lazuli, and carnelian ornaments associated with 267 Body 55, PG 1237, Ur, Mesopotamia, ca. 2500 B.C. vi Figures 49a, b: Jewelry hoard, discovered beneath floor of 268 Akkadian palace, Tell Asmar, Mesopotamia, ca. 2500 B.C.; right, burial items, Burial 344, Kish, Mesopotamia, ca. 2500 B.C. Figures 49c, d: Left, gypsum plaque depicting bejeweled female figure, 268 discovered in area of Ishtar temple, Ashur, Mesopotamia, ca. mid-late 3rd millennium B.C.; right, drawing of same Figures 50 a-c: Left, mosiac column with shell, pink limestone, 269 and black shale inlays, Ninhursanga temple, Tell al Ubaid, Mesopotamia, ca. 2400-2250 B.C.; top right, fired clay cone-mosaic panel, Uruk, Mesopotamia, ca. 3300–2900 B.C.; bottom right, reconstructed clay cone-mosaic columns decorating staircase in the E-anna Precinct, Uruk, Mesopotamia, ca.