The writing, read by column from right to left =   1) ki-mah nam-lugal  2) urim5-ki-ma. It translates as:  1) tomb royal  2) ur :   Royal Tombs of Ur.


The artifacts from the Royal Tombs of Ur give us a complete picture of ancient Sumerian art and civilization. With the notable exception of the Egyptian tomb of Tutankhamen, no other archaeological discovery gives us a better understanding of ancient life and culture. In fact,
it would be difficult to visualize Sumerian history without the artifacts from the Tombs of Ur. Pictures of these artifacts are displayed throughout these pages. They are also seen on other websites, all across the Internet. Most of these websites contain only a few pictures, usually the same ones, with little variety between them.

Most of the artifacts are stored in the British Museum and the Penn Museum. Some of them are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The problem is, it takes some "digging" to find the treasures of the Royal Tombs of Ur in the museum websites, which contain vast quantities of artifacts from all over the world. Even so, you can only see one picture at a time; and while
you are on one museum website you cannot see the artifacts in the other museums. You can never see the collection in its entirety, all at once, to get the full effect.

The purpose of these pages is to provide a more comprehensive view of the treasures from the Royal Tombs of Ur. It's an on-going project and it is by no means complete. I intend to add more pictures as they become available.

Many thanks to the British Museum, the Penn Museum, the Met, and other contributors,
for making the pictures of the artifacts available online.


Click on an icon to select any of the following categories:

Exploration  Lyres  Vessels  Jewelry  Miscellaneous  Weapons

I recommend that you start with the Exploration section, which is an introduction to the Royal Tombs, then see the sections in order by following the path at the end of each page.

Enjoy the tour.

Exploration:  Leonard Woolley's exploration of the Tombs of Ur; The Royal Standard of Ur; "The Ram in the Thicket"; The Tomb of Queen Pu-abi.

Lyres:  The several lyres, and a few harps, found in the tombs.

Vessels:  Cups, bowls, and vases; of gold, silver, and stone.

Jewelry:  Lots of jewelry.

Miscellaneous:  Statuettes, gameboard, seals, etc.

Weapons:  The different weapons found in the tombs.