Ur of the Chaldees A Record of Seven Years of Excavation

Great Britain: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1930. Hardcover. Very Good/No Jacket. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" Tall. 210 pages.Very small closed tear on edge of spine.The Ur of Chaldees, found in present-day Iraq, was the royal burial site of many Mesopotamian royalties. Woolley discovered tombs of great material wealth. Inside these tombs were large paintings of ancient Mesopotamian culture at its zenith, along with amazing pieces of gold and silver jewelry, cups and other furnishings. The most extravagant tomb was that of ?Queen? Pu-Abi. Amazingly enough, Queen Pu-Abi?s tomb was untouched by the hands of looters through the millennia. Inside the tomb, many well-preserved items were found including a cylindrical seal bearing her name in Sumerian. Her body was found buried along with her attendants who had poisoned themselves in order to join her and continue to serve her. Woolley reconstructed her funeral ceremony from the findings in her tomb. Today her headdress, cylinder seal and her body are on display at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1936, after his discoveries at Ur, Woolley was interested in finding ties between the ancient Aegean and Mesopotamian civilizations. This led him to the Syrian city of al-Mina. From 1937 to 1939 and from 1946 to 1949 he was in Tell Aichana. Leonard Woolley was knighted in 1935. Agatha Christie wrote Murder in Mesopotamia because she was inspired by the discovery of the royal tombs. She later married his younger assistant.