Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-21T17:11:33.621Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The golden leaves of Ur

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

M. Tengberg ,
D.T. Potts  and
H.-P. Francfort
M. Tengberg
Affiliation:
UMR 7041 – Archéologie et Sciences de l'Antiquité, Maison de l'Archéologie et de l'Ethnologie, 21 allée de l'Université, F-92023 Nanterre, France
D.T. Potts
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, University of Sydney, Sydney 2006, New South Wales, Australia
H.-P. Francfort
Affiliation:
UMR 7041 – Archéologie et Sciences de l'Antiquité, Maison de l'Archéologie et de l'Ethnologie, 21 allée de l'Université, F-92023 Nanterre, France
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The famous headdress of Pu-abum at Ur is an object of great beauty. But the authors show that the gold leaves of the headdresses and diadems of her court circle can tell an even richer story. Identifying among them the leaves of the sissoo tree, they show that its symbolic usage celebrated a wide range of properties, from medicine to furniture. These were properties appreciated not only in Mesopotamia but in eastern Iran and the Indus Valley, home to the sissoo tree as well as to neighbouring civilisations.

Keywords

MesopotamiaUrheaddressPu-abumsissoo treeDalbergia sissoosymbolic ornament
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 82 , Issue 318 , December 2008 , pp. 925 - 936
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ali, S. I. & Nasir, E.. 1977. Flora of West Pakistan 100: Papilionaceae. Karachi: Department of Botany, University of Karachi.Google Scholar
Amigues, S. 1989. Théophraste, recherches sur les plantes. Tome II: Livres III–IV. Paris: Belles Lettres.Google Scholar
Ansari, M. A., Razdan, R. K., Tandon, M. & Vasudevan, P.. 2000. Larvicidal and repellent actions of Dalbergia sissoo (F. Leguminosae) oil against mosquitoes. Bioresource Technology 73: 207–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aruz, J. 2003. Art of the first cities: the third millennium B. C. from the Mediterranean to the Indus. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art & New Haven (CT): Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Blech, M. 1982. Studien zum Kranz bei den Griechen (Religionsgeschichtliche Versuche und Vorarbeiten 38). Berlin & New York: W. de Gruyter.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bretzl, H. 1903. Botanische Untersuchungen des Alexanderzuges. Leipzig: B. G. Teubner.Google Scholar
Brijesh, S., Daswani, P.G., Tetali, P., Antia, N. H. & Birdi, T. J.. 2006. Studies on Dalbergia sissoo (Roxb.) leaves: possible mechanism(s) of action in infectious diarrhoea. Indian Journal of Pharmacology 38: 120–24.Google Scholar
Burkill, I. H. 1909. A working list of the flowering plants of Baluchistan. Calcutta: Superintendent Government Printing.Google Scholar
Casson, L. 1982. Periplus Maris Erythraei 36: teak, not sandalwood. The Classical Quarterly 32: 181–3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Costantini, L. 1979. Wood remains from Shahr i-Sokhta: a source of information for the ancient environment and technology in protohistoric Sistan, in Taddei, M. (ed.) South Asian Archaeology 1977: papers from the 4th international conference of the Association of South Asian Archaeologists in Western Europe, Naples: 87–121. Naples: Istituto Universitario Orientale, Seminario di Studi Asiatici.Google Scholar
During Caspers, E.C.L. 1994. Vanity portrayed in clay: the female terracotta figurines from Harappa, in Parpola, A. & Koskikallio, P. (ed.) South Asian Archaeology 1993: proceedings of the 12th international conference of the European Association of South Asian Archaeologists, 5-9 July 1993, Helsinki: 183–92. Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia.Google Scholar
Eastwick, E. B. 1851. A glance at Sind before Napier or dry leaves from young Egypt. Hertford: Printed for the author. Karachi & London: Oxford University Press, reprinted 1973 in Oxford in Asia historical reprints from Pakistan series.Google Scholar
Ellison, R., Renfrew, J., Brothwell, D. & Seeley, N.. 1978. Some food offerings from Ur, excavated by Sir Leonard Woolley and previously unpublished. Journal of Archaeological Science 5: 167–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foxvog, D. A. & Kilmer, A. D.. 1975. Benno Landsberger's lexicographical contributions. Journal of Cuneiform Studies 27: 3–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andersen, S. Fredslund, Strehle, H., Tengberg, M. & Sulman, M. I.. 2004. Two wooden coffins from the Shakhoura necropolis, Bahrain. Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy 15: 219–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gershevitch, I. 1957. Sissoo at Susa (OPers. Yaka = Dalbergia sissoo Roxb.). Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 19: 317–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Higgins, R. A. 1961. Greek and Roman jewellery. London: Methuen.Google Scholar
Hajare, S. W., Chandra, S., Tandan, S. K., Sarma, J., Lal, J. & Telang, A. G.. 2000. Analgesic and antipyretic activities of Dalbergia sissoo leaves. Indian Journal of Pharmacology 32: 357–60.Google Scholar
Hajare, S. W., Chandra, S., Sharma, J., Tandan, S. K., Lal, J. & Telang, A. G.. 2001. Anti-inflammatory activity of Dalbergia sissoo leaves. Filoterapia 72: 131–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Huntingford, G.W.B. 1980. The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea (Works issued by the Hakluyt Society, 2nd series 151). London: Hakluyt Society.Google Scholar
Kenoyer, J. M. 1997. Trade and technology of the Indus Valley: new insights from Harappa, Pakistan. World Archaeology 29: 262–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kenoyer, J. M. 2003. Female figures with headdresses and jewelry, in Aruz, J. (ed.) Art of the first cities: the third millennium B. C. from the Mediterranean to the Indus: 391–2. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art & New Haven (CT): Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Madjidzadeh, Y. 2003. La première campagne de fouilles à Jiroft dans le bassin du Halil Roud (janvier et février 2003). Dossiers d'Archéologie 287 (Special issue: Jiroft – fabuleuse découverte en Iran): 65–75.Google Scholar
Mandaville, J. P. 1977. Plants, in The scientific results of the Oman Flora and Fauna survey 1975 (Journal of Oman Studies Special Report 1): 229–67. Muscat: Ministry of Information and Culture, Sultanate of Oman.Google Scholar
Marchesi, G. 2004. Who was buried in the Royal Tombs of Ur? The epigraphic and textual data. Orientalia 73: 153–97.Google Scholar
Margueron, J.-C. 2004. Mari – Métropole de l'Euphrate au IIIe et au début du IIe millénaire av. J.-C. Paris: Picard.Google Scholar
Marshall, J. G. (ed.) 1931. Mohenjo-daro and the Indus Civilization, volumes I–III. London: Arthur Probsthain.Google Scholar
Maxwell-Hyslop, K. R. 1983. Dalbergia sissoo Roxburgh. Anatolian Studies 33: 67–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCrindle, J. W. 1897. The Christian topography of Cosmas, an Egyptian Monk (Works issued by the Hakluyt Society, 1st series 98). London: Hakluyt Society.Google Scholar
Miller, N. 2000. Plant forms in jewellery from the Royal Cemetery at Ur. Iraq 62: 149–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Müller-Böker, U. 1991. Knowledge and evaluation of the environment in traditional societies of Nepal. Mountain Research and Development 11: 101–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parpola, A., Parpola, S. & Brunswig, R. H. Jr. 1977. The Meluhha village: evidence of acculturation of Harappan traders in late third millennium Mesopotamia? Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 20: 129–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pintore, F. 1978. Il matrimonio interdinastico nel Vicino Oriente durante i secoli XV–XIII (Orientis Antiqui Collectio 14). Rome: Istituto per l'Oriente, Centro per le antichita' e la storia dell'arte del Vicino Oriente.Google Scholar
Pittman, H. 1998. Jewelry, in Zettler, R. L. & Horne, L. (ed.) Treasures from the royal tombs of Ur: 87–122. Philadelphia (PA): University of Pennsylvania, Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.Google Scholar
Pittman, H. 2003. La culture du Halil Roud. Dossiers d'Archéologie 287 (Special issue: Jiroft – fabuleuse découverte en Iran): 78–87.Google Scholar
Possehl, G. L. 1996. Meluhha, in Reade, J. E. (ed.) The Indian Ocean in antiquity: 133–208. London: Kegan Paul International.Google Scholar
Postgate, J. N. 1987. Notes on fruit in the cuneiform sources. Bulletin on Sumerian Agriculture 3: 115–44.Google Scholar
Potts, D. T. 1999. The archaeology of Elam: formation and transformation of an ancient Iranian state. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Potts, D. T. 2002. Total prestation in Marhashi-Ur relations. Iranica Antiqua 37: 343–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Puri, G. S. 1960. Indian forest ecology: a comprehensive survey of vegetation and its environment in the Indian subcontinent. New Delhi and Calcutta: Oxford Book and Stationery Co.Google Scholar
Reade, J. 2001. Assyrian King-Lists, the Royal Tombs of Ur, and Indus Origins. Journal of Near Eastern Studies 60: 1–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reade, J. 2003. The royal tombs of Ur, in Aruz, J. (ed.) Art of the first cities: the third millennium B. C. from the Mediterranean to the Indus: 93–132. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art & New Haven (CT): Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Rechinger, K. H. 1984. Papilionaceae II. Flora Iranica. Flora des Iranischen Hochlandes und der umrahmenden Gebirge (Persien, Afghanistan, Teile von West-Pakistan, Nord-Iraq, Azerbaidjan, Turkmenistan). Graz: Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt.Google Scholar
Sabeti, H. 1966. Native and exotic trees and shrubs of Iran. Tehran: University of Tehran Publications.Google Scholar
Schoff, W. H. 1912. The Periplus of the Erythræan Sea [attributed to Arrianus] translated from the Greek and annotated by W. H. Schoff. New York: Longmans & Co.Google Scholar
Stewart, J. L. 1862. Notes on the flora of the country passed through by the expeditionary force under Brigadier-General Chamberlain, against the Mahsood Wuzeeris: April 17th to May 19th, 1860. Journal of the Royal Geographical Society 32: 316–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tengberg, M. 2002. The importation of wood to the Arabian Gulf in antiquity: the evidence from charcoal analysis. Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 32: 75–81.Google Scholar
Tengberg, M. In press. Vegetation history and plant exploitation in the Indo-Iranian borderland in antiquity: archaeobotanical research in Sistan-Baluchistan, Kerman (Iran) and Pakistani Baluchistan, in Majidzadeh, Y. & Pittman, H. (ed.) Jiroft in the Bronze Age-Archaeology of the Halil river basin. Pennsylvania (PA): The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.Google Scholar
Tengberg, M. & Potts, D. T.. 1999. gismes.má-gan-na (Dalbergia sissoo Roxb.) at Tell Abraq. Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy 10: 129–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tengberg, M. & Thiébault, S.. 2003. Vegetation history and wood exploitation in Pakistani Baluchistan from the Neolithic to the Harappan period: the evidence from charcoal analysis, in Weber, S. A. & Belcher, W. R. (ed.) Indus Ethnobiology: new perspectives from the field : 21–63. Lanham (MD) & Oxford: Lexington Books.Google Scholar
Thiébault, S. 1992. Complementary results in anthracological analysis from sites in Baluchistan, in Jarrige, C. (ed.) South Asian Archaeology 1989: papers from the 10th international conference of South Asian Archaeologists in Western Europe, 3-7 July 1989, Paris (Monographs in World Archaeology 14): 274. Madison (WI): Prehistory Press.Google Scholar
Townsend, C. C. & Guest, E.. 1974. Flora of Iraq. Volume 3: Leguminales. Ministry of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform: 592.Google Scholar
Woolley, Sir L. 1934. Ur Excavations. Volume 2, the Royal Cemetery: a report on the Predynastic and Sargonid graves excavated between 1926 and 1931 (Joint Expedition of the British Museum and the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania to Mesopotamia.). Philadelphia (PA) & London: Trustees of the British Museum and the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania.Google Scholar
Yule, H. & Burnell, A. C.. 1996. Hobson-Jobson: the Anglo-Indian dictionary (new edition). Ware: Wordsworth.Google Scholar
Zettler, R. L. & Horne, L.. 1998. Treasures from the royal tombs of Ur. Philadelphia (PA): University of Pennsylvania, Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.Google Scholar
Zohary, M. 1973. Geobotanical foundations of the Middle East. Stuttgart: Gustav Fischer & Amsterdam: Swets & Zeitlinger.Google Scholar