As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
FAST FACTS
Call: Meskalamdug’s Helmet
What it is: A 15-karat gold helmet formed like a wig
Where it is from: The Royal Cemetery at Ur, in what is now southern Iraq
When it was made: Circa 2600 B.C.
This gold helmet, fastidiously embellished to appear like the wavy coiffure and ears of its user, was discovered in 1927 by British archaeologist Sir Leonard Woolley throughout excavations at Ur, an ancient city in Mesopotamia that is now part of Iraq.
The artifact was recuperated from a burial place in the Royal Cemetery together with alabaster vases, gold daggers and golden bowls– among which noted the name Meskalamdug, implying “hero of the good land.” Because the burial place was not as huge or as highly provided as other royal burial places, Woolley recommended the deceased was most likely a prince instead of a king of Ur.
2 copies of the helmet were made within a couple of years of discovery, one going to the British Museum and one to the Penn MuseumThe initial helmet, which was concealed before the First Gulf War and secured from robbery up until it was recuperated in late 2003, is at the Iraq Museum in Baghdad.
Related: Vounous Bowl: A 4,000-year-old basin holding 4 mini cows and 18 individuals– that was buried for mystical factors in a Bronze Age burial place in Cyprus
According to the Penn Museumthe helmet is 8.9 inches (22.7 centimeters) high and 8.3 inches (21 cm) broad. And according to James Ogdenan early 20th century goldsmith who produced the 2 specific reproductions in 1928, the initial helmet was made from one sheet of 15-karat gold.
Ogden explained the helmet in his individual notes as “life size” and “perhaps a ceremonial headdress.” The little holes around the rim were most likely utilized to protect a quilted fabric lining, and Ogden kept in mind that he discovered traces of it within.
The hand-beaten gold was designed and inscribed to represent hair that was connected back with a ribbon and pulled into a little bun in the back. The ears had holes so that the user might hear through the helmet, and extra holes listed below the ears were most likely for the accessory of a chin-strap.
Get the world’s most remarkable discoveries provided directly to your inbox.
MORE ASTONISHING ARTIFACTS
Meskalamdug’s helmet is rather various from the regular copper helmets that personal soldiers used, Woolley composed in a 1928 report on Meskalamdug’s burial place. It is comparable to the hairdos and helmets used by the Mesopotamian rulers Eannatum and Sargon the Great, likewise understood as Sargon of Akkad, in the 25th and 24th centuries B.C. Meskalamdug’s helmet is one of the earliest ever discovered.
While there is proof from the Royal Cemetery that a male called Meskalamdug was a Sumerian king, this specific Meskalamdug was not determined as a king by the artifacts in his tomb. The helmet might for that reason have actually come from the eponymous child or grand son of King Meskalamdug, part of Ur’s First Dynasty, whose 2nd other half was Queen Puabi
Kristina Killgrove is a personnel author at Live Science with a concentrate on archaeology and paleoanthropology news. Her short articles have actually likewise appeared in places such as Forbes, Smithsonian, and Mental Floss. Killgrove holds a PhD in biological sociology and an MA in classical archaeology, and she was previously a university teacher and scientist. She has actually gotten awards from the Society for American Archaeology and the American Anthropological Association for her science composing.
Find out more
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
