Treasures from the Royal Tombs of Ur

Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, 1998. Paperback. VG; clean, tight, with unbroken spine; some rubbing to back cover.. Color-illus. wraps; white lettering on gold spine. xv, 195 pp. Full of color plates, bw archival photos, and bw illustrations and plans. This stunning catalogue includes color photographs of more than 230 objects, excavated in the 1930s by renowned British archaeologist Sir Leonard Woolley, from the third-millennium-B.C. Sumerian city of Ur. Learn the fascinating story of the excavation and preservation of these magnificent artifacts. Many of the objects are published in color and fully described for the first time—jewelry of gold and semiprecious stones, engraved seal stones, spectacular gold and lapis lazuli statuettes and musical instruments; and vessels of gold, silver, and alabaster. Curator Richard Zettler sets the stage with a history of Ur in the third millennium and the details of the actual excavations. Art historians Donald Hansen and Holly Pittman discuss the historical importance and significance of the many motifs on the most spectacular finds from the tombs. Catalogue from the traveling exhibition shown in 8 US locations between October 1998 and May 2001.