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Plant Forms in Jewellery from the Royal Cemetery at Ur

Author(s): Naomi F. MillerSource: Iraq, Vol. 62 (2000), pp. 149-155Published by: British Institute for the Study of IraqStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4200486

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149PLANT FORMS IN JEWELLERYFROM THE ROYAL CEMETERYATUR1

By NAOMI F. MILLER

Amongthe spectacularindsSir LeonardWoolley reported romthe Royal Cemeteryat Ur, thehead-dress nd diadem oundin Puabi's omb areamongthe best known.2Partsof theseitemslook like plants,and many plants had symbolicvalue to the ancient Sumerians n additiontotheirpractical mportanceor food, fodder,fuelandall mannerof material ulture. nsofaras theUr ornaments refer to real plants, it is therefore important to know what those plants are.Plant classifications t the level of genus(e.g., oak [Quercus],ose [Rosa], date [Phoenix]) arefrequentlyconsistent cross-culturally,which suggests that the way humans process sense data fromthe natural world is similar, and that the features of plants salient for identification and classifica-tion have both a reality in nature and a reality in human perception.3 That is why we can evenhope to recognize stylized and abstracted versions of plants and animals created by people ofdifferent times and places, such as those of ancient Sumer. Meaning, being culturally constructed,cannot be dealt with so simply;4 for example, we may accurately identify the horse depicted inLascaux, but not know why it was painted. Fortunately, our database for ancient Mesopotamiais so rich archaeologically and textually that we can reasonably try to interpret a representationonce we haveidentifiedt.The new exhibit mounted by the University of Pennsylvania Museum, Treasures from theRoyalTombsof Ur ,andpublicationof theassociated atalogue5 rompted hecurrent econsid-eration of the material. Detailed justification for previous identifications and new identificationsfor some of the plants represented in the ornaments from the Royal Cemetery are presented.Puabi's head-dress6Puabi's head-dress s a complexartefact which includesfour wreathswith botanical motifs(Fig. 1). The uppermost wreath ha es of eight-petalled rosettes (as does an associatedcomb ); to identifys s tylized design as a flower, a star, both, or something else entirelywould require a substantial amount of supplementary information about Mesopotamian symbol-ism. Below the rosettes is a wreath with long, very narrowly lanceolate/elliptic gold leaves, groupedin threes. Below that are two wreaths of ovate (i.e., wider at the base) gold leaves.To anyone familiar with the vegetation along the Euphrates river, the leaves on Puabi's head-dress look like willow and poplar.7 Willow (Salix alba being most common) and poplar (Populuseuphratica, P. alba, and P. nigra) are importantcomponentsof the vegetation n this habitat.8The leaves of other trees that grow along the river, like tamarisk (Tamarix sp.) and oriental plane(Platanus orientalis), bear no resemblanceto the leaves on the head-dress. Identifications as willowand poplarare satisfyingnot just becausethe peopleof Ur would have knownthese trees,butbecausethey growtogether n the samemoisthabitat.The shape of a leaf would seem to be the most importantcharacteristicor a botanicalrepresentation.9n this respectthe long, narrowupperleaves are like willow. They are unlike

11Iwould like to thank Richard L. Zettler for advice and 4Berlin, 1992: 8.helpful comments on the text and for suggesting several SZettlerand Home, 1998.references,and Richard Harrisof the Arboretum at Arizona 6Woolley, 1934: P1. 128.State University for providing photographs of male and 7Maxwell-Hyslop, 1971: 3, n. 2.female date-palms. Townsend and Guest, 1980.2Woolley, 1934. 9For taxonomists from Linnaeus to modem times, the3Berlin (1992: 21) proposes that the organizing principle genus is seen as a configurational category, recognizableof any ethnobiological system of classification will be almost instantaneously (Berlin, 1992: 61); that is, identifi-people's cognitive assessments of the gross perceptual cation does not require close study. Given the high degreeresemblances observed among classes of organisms. For of overlap between many folk and Linnaean genera, ana-an introduction to the discussion surrounding the question tomical details would seem to be of lesser significance thanof the degree to which folk classification reflects natural the overall form of an organism.realities or mental constructs see Medin and Atran, 1999.Iraq LXII (2000)

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Fig. 1 Puabi'shead-dressUniversityof PennsylvaniaMuseum).willow leaves on the branch, however, because the goldsmith grouped them in threes instead ofsingly. The ovate lower leaves bear a great resemblance to those of poplar.Despite these considerations, Woolley felt that the lower set of ovate leaves were beech-shaped.10Beech (presumably Fagus sylvatica or F. orientalis) is a tree that does not grow in Iraq and is

10Woolley puts inverted commas around the word beech but not around the word willow (1934: 84).

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PLANT FORMSIN JEWELLERYFROM UR

Fig. 2 Detail of Puabi's diadem as assembledby Woolley(Universityof PennsylvaniaMuseum).more closely linked to the cooler and moister climes of the Black and Caspian seas.11Mesopotamiancraftsmen would have been unfamiliar with the leaves of the beech tree, even if they ate importedbeechnuts or carved imported beech wood.Compared to shape, the pattern formed by the veins and leaf margin would be characteristicsof secondary importance in leaf representation. In the gold version both upper and lower typeshave a central midrib with parallel, straight, unbranched venation that extends to the leaf margin.These characteristics fit beech, and probably explain Woolley's designation. Leaves of poplar andwillow, both members of the plant family Salicaceae, have a midrib, but the veins are not straight.The smooth leaf margin of the gold leaves resembles neither beech nor poplar or willow. Ittherefore seems likely that the gold leaves were mass-produced , and that realistic portrayal ofthe venation was sacrificed for efficiency's sake. Similarly, the long acuminate leaf tip of thehead-dress leaves is not botanically important but rather functions as a place to attach carelianbeads.Comparative characteristics of beech and poplar leaves and the lower leaves of the head-dressappear in Table 1. Several manuals and floras illustrate the leaves: Populus euphratica and Salixalba,12Fagus orientalis,13Fagus sylvatica.14The diadem 15The diadem (Fig. 2) was put together by Woolley, based on his observation of an apparentlyin situ group of beads and ornaments that includes representations of cervids and caprids, threeplant-like forms and abstract forms. Richard Zettler, who has compared the original field notes,drawings and photographs with the objects in the University of Pennsylvania Museum collection,considers Woolley to have faithfully assembled this disparate assemblage as he saw them in situ.Nevertheless, there is good reason to think that several simpler pieces were mistakenly arranged

Davis, 1965. 5Woolley, 1934: PI. 140. The diadem has been takenZohary, 1966. apart permanently, because the pieces come from several13Heywood, 1978. different items (Zettler and Homrne,998).14Watts, 1963.

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N. F. MILLERTABLE 1: Comparisonof beech and poplarleaves with those on Puabi'shead-dressbotanicalterms fromGuest,1966)

Beech Puabi PoplarShape elliptic(widest n centre) ovate ovate(widestat base)Venation parallel parallel lessparallelstraight straight curvedunbranching unbranching branchingto edgeof leaf to edgeof leaf not to edgeof leafLeafmargin end of veinformspoint, entire i.e., smooth) serrate-dentatethough eaf not really toothed

Fig. 3 (left) Male date, floweringbranch(length 3.8cm, diameter 1.0cm) (Universityof PennsylvaniaMuseum).Fig. 4 (right) Floweringbranchof maledate-palm courtesyof the Arboretum t ArizonaStateUniversity).

to form the very complex, composite artefact known as the diadem . The new Ur exhibit, whichseparates and reorganizesthese items into more plausible groupings, reflects the current interpreta-tion. The following discussion deals with the three plant-like forms. The Sumerians had a wordfor one of them, a2-an-su-sa-la2: an item of jewellery in spadix shape.161. Small gold, branchingpendant17(Fig. 3). Woolley and Pittman18identify this type as wheat.Unlike real grain, which is two-ranked, however, the gold filaments on this item are arrangedquite three-dimensionally around the main axis. Woolley oriented the pieces stem up. Loops atone end suggest they should be strung so that they give the impression of a hanging inflorescence.

16PSDa2-an 2: 1.2.A spadix s a flowerspikewith afleshyor thickenedaxis (Guest, 1966).Van Dijk (1967:253ff.) discusses the symbolic importance of plant-depictionsn ornaments or women(goddessesandpriest-esses) in varioustexts, and even mentions the Ur tomb

jewellery, houghhe does not make the specific onnectionsuggestedbelow.17Woolley, 934:PI. 141.8Woolley, 934:89; Pittman, 1998 (n. 9 erroneouslyattributeshedesignationo N. Miller).

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Fig. 5 (left) Female date, fruitingbranch(length 5.1cm, width 3.1cm, depth 0.7cm)(Universityof PennsylvaniaMuseum).Fig. 6 (right) Fruitingbranchof femaledate-palm courtesyof the Arboretum t ArizonaStateUniversity).

A plausible identification on both morphological and symbolic grounds is the inflorescence of thedate-palm (Phoenix dactylifera),a much-branchedspadix .19This could describe the male flower-ing branch (Fig. 4). The Sumerian word for spadix (or, more probably, the whole inflorescence)is a2-an, with a primary meaning of broom.20 If the proposed identification is correct, we nowhave a physical referent for the Sumerian word a2-an-su-sa-la2.2. Fruiting branchpendant21 Fig. 5). For many years this item, too, was displayed upside down.Viewed correctly, it gives the impression of a bunch of some sort of fruit. The ellipsoidal shapeof the beads is too long for grape but consistent with date. Dates ripen from the tip towardthe main stem, so the carnelian bead could reresent the first ripe date of the bunch.22In nature,the fruiting inflorescence has dozens of dates, but a single segment has many fewer (Fig. 6). Theextant ornaments have only a few fruits per inflorescence but could have had as many as four,not very rich for an entire dateranch but perhaps sufficientlydense for a symbolic representation.Dates are associated with the goddess Inanna and fertility. Inanna is not shy to point out, theone who makes the dates be full of abundance in their panicles, am I ,23 and the food offeringsin the Ur cemetery included date.24Date would be a satisfying identification because male floweringbranches and female fruiting branches occur together in art of the period, notably on an inscribed

'9Feinbrun-Dothan,986. me that carnelian ndgoldarequiteclosein colour to fully20PSD, a2-an. ripeand lessripedatesrespectively.2Woolley, 1934:PI. 141,Pittman,1998. 23Sjoberg, 988: ine7.22Both JulideAkerand RichardZettlerpointedout to 24Ellison et al., 1978.

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Fig. 7 (left) Apple(?)branch(length 3.2cm, width 3.8cm, depth 3.0cm) (UniversityofPennsylvaniaMuseum).Fig. 8 (right) Apple showingclustered nflorescence urroundedby leavesclosely spacedalongbranch.

plaque from the Inanna Temple at Nippur.25The identification of these pieces as date serves as areminder not to take artistic representations too literally, for in the physical world the fruitscannot develop until after the female flowers have been fertilized by the pollen of the male flowers.3. Three-leavedand three-fruitedpendant26(Fig.7). Woolley27described this type as a cluster ...of three pomegranates with their leaves , though neither fruit nor leaves looks particularly likethose of the pomegranate. Following up a suggestion by Andrew Cohen,28 an identification asapple is plausible. On morphological grounds apple is consistent with the form of the pieces(Fig. 8). Like poplar, the leaves have a central midrib and may be wider at the base. On thebranch, apple leaves can sometimes have a whorled appearance, because they grow closely spacedalong short shoots. Like the plant represented in the pendants, many apple species, includingPyrus malus, have several fruits in terminal clusters. In that species the leaves are about twice thelength of the 2.5-5 cm depressed-globose fruit.29 Plant geography and archaeology present noimpediment to the identification - not only does apple grow in Iraq today, dried apple-halveswere found in the Royal Cemetery.30Finally, much as the date-palm is commonly associated withsexuality in Sumerian, so too are apples.31ConclusionThe referents and meanings of symbolic representations can be difficult to determine, especiallyfor those of cultures remote in time and space, but their forms are not necessarily arbitrary.Thisis particularly the case for representations of biological entities, like plants and animals, whichare likely to be understood by people in different cultures, as long as they are familiar with theorganism being depicted. Therefore, as others have suggested, we can be confident that Puabi'shead-dress includes depictions of willow and poplar leaves. It is also possible to identify with nearcertainty two types of ornament as male and female date inflorescences, based on the morphologyand physiology of the date, which is consistent with what we know about the symbolic expressionof Sumerian concerns about fertility and the afterlife. Similar reasoning applies to the apples ,but the argument connecting apple morphology and physiology to the Sumerian symbolic andrepresentational conventions of these pieces may not be quite as strong as that for the dates.

25Hansen, 1963: P1.VI, plaque 7N 133-4. 29 Townsend and Guest, 1966: 110.26Woolley, 1934: PI. 141. 30Ellison et al., 1978.27Woolley, 1934: 89. 31Veenker, 1994.28 Personal ommunication.

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ReferencesBerlin, Brent 1992. Ethnobiological Classification. Principles of Categorization of Plants and Animals inTraditionalocieties.PrincetonUniversityPress,Princeton.Davis,P. H. (ed.) 1965.Floraof Turkey,Vol. 7. UniversityPress,Edinburgh.Ellison, R., J. M. Renfrew,D. Brothwelland N. Seeley1978.Somefood offerings romUr, excavatedbySirLeonardWoolley,andpreviouslyunpublished. ournal f Archaeologicalcience5: 167-77.Feinbrun-Dothan, . 1986. FloraPalaestina,Vol.4. IsraelAcademyof SciencesandHumanities, erusalem.Guest,E. 1966.Floraof Iraq,Vol.1. Ministryof Agriculture,Baghdad.Hansen,Donald P. 1963.New votive plaquesfrom Nippur.Journalof Near EasternStudies23: 145-67andplates.Heywood,V. H. 1978.Flowering lantsof the World.MayflowerBooks,New York.Maxwell-Hyslop,K. R. 1971. WesternAsiaticJewellery . 3000-612 B.C.Methuen,London.Medin,Douglas L., and Scott Atran 1999. Introduction. n eid. (eds.), Folkbiology, p. 1-15. MIT Press,Cambridge.Pittman,H. 1998.Jewelry. n Zettlerand Horne,1998:87-122.Sj6berg,A. 1988.A hymnto Inannaand herself-praise. ournal f Cuneiformtudies40: 165-86.Townsend,C. C. and E. Guest 1966. Floraof Iraq,Vol. 2. Ministryof Agriculture,Baghdad.1980.Floraof Iraq,Vol.4. Ministryof Agriculture ndAgrarianReform,Baghdad.vanDijk,J. 1967.VAT8382,einzweisprachiges onigsritual.Heidelbergertudien umAltenOrient, 33-68.Veenker,R. A. 1994.Forbiddenruit,ancientNearEastern exualmetaphors Draft, 5 January1994).Watts,M. T. 1963.MasterTreeFinder.NatureStudyGuild,Berkeley.Woolley,Sir L. 1934. Ur ExcavationsI, TheRoyalCemetery.Publicationsof the Joint Expeditionof theBritishMuseumand the Museumof the Universityof Pennsylvaniao Mesopotamia.Zettler, R. L., and L. Home 1998. Treasuresfrom the Royal Tombs of Ur. University of PennsylvaniaMuseum,Philadelphia.Zohary,M. 1966.FloraPalaestina,Vol.1. IsraelAcademyof Sciencesand Humanities, erusalem.

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