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Human sacrifice and intentional corpse

preservation in the Royal Cemetery of Ur
ARTICLE in ANTIQUITY MARCH 2011
Impact Factor: 1.43 DOI: 10.1017/S0003598X00067417

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ANTIQUITY:

I am writing to let you know that the article will be published in the next issue of
the journal, Volume 85, issue 327, March 2011. The volume will be available
online at http://antiquity.ac.uk/journal.html from around 20 February and the
printed copy of the journal will be available from 1 March.

Human Sacrifice and Intentional Corpse Preservation in the Royal Cemetery of Ur

Aubrey Baadsgaard, Janet Monge, Samantha Cox, and Richard L. Zettler

Sir Leonard Woolleys excavation of the Royal Cemetery of Ur in the 1920s and 1930s unearthed
thousands of human skeletons, few of which were documented in the field or kept for later study
and/or exhibition. The few remains Woolley kept, including 21 relatively well-preserved
skeletons in the Natural History Museum, London and ten skulls which he consolidated and
lifted en bloc, have recently been examined using current forensic protocols and new
technologies for the insight they might potentially provide into skeletal populations, mortuary
practices and the treatment of the dead in late third millennium BCE Mesopotamia. Detailed
examination of two skulls in Penn Museums collection have provided evidence that attendants
buried in royal graves attributed to the Early Dynastic phase of the cemetery, ca. 2500 BCE,
were intentionally killed, preserved, and displayed as part of elaborate royal mortuary rituals.
These discoveries overturn Woolleys reconstruction of events that followed on the deaths of
Urs early kings and queens.

The Royal Cemetery of Ur

Excavations at Tell al-Muqayyar, ancient Ur, Biblical Ur of the Chaldees, during the years
1922-34, sponsored by the British Museum and the Penn Museum, attracted enormous public
attention. Newspapers around the world printed countless articles and The Illustrated London
News, England's "window on the world," reported the results of Woolley's discoveries in some
thirty features. The Royal Cemetery of Ur, an extensive and long-lived burial ground that
included the richly apportioned tombs of the kings and queens who ruled the city-state during the
late Early Dynastic period, ca. 2500 BCE, received the most intense coverage. Woolleys
discoveries competed in their day with Howard Carters discovery of the intact tomb of
Tutankhamun for public attention, and today rank as one of the most important archaeological
finds of all time.

Woolley recovered a rich array of artifacts from Urs royal tombs: gold and silver bowls and
drinking vessels; elaborately crafted musical instruments; decorated furniture ?, carts and a
sledge; and, jewelry made of precious metals and exotic stones such as silver, gold, lapis lazuli,
carnelian and agate, brought to Ur from as far away as Pakistan and Afghanistan, Iran, Anatolia,
Syria.The evidence for the burial of court attendants, musicians and mourners with the kings and
queens who ruled Ur equally fascinated and shocked Western spectators with the suggestion of
human sacrifice in the cradle of civilization.

Woolley (1923) discovered broken burials that were part of the Royal Cemetery in Trial Trench
A, laid out in the first days of excavation in 1922, but he focused his early efforts on the stepped
temple tower (ziggurat) and major public buildings in close proximity to it. He returned to Trial
Trench A in 1926-27 concentrating his efforts on the Royal Cemetery for five of the next seven
field seasons (see Woolley 1928a).

Woolley reported 1,850 graves in the Royal Cemetery (1934:33), and unearthed an additional
260 burials in 1933-34 after publishing the report (1955:127-45) (is this reference right?). He
estimated that the Royal Cemetery originally held twice that number, many destroyed by later
interments, looting, or construction. He recognized the burials occurred over a long period of

time and divided them into distinct periods (Woolley 1934:20-32). Most of the burials were
simple inhumations, with the body, wrapped in matting or in a coffin, placed in a rectangular pit
and provided with personal belongings, e. g., jewelry, cosmetics, cylinder seals, bowls, jars with
comestibles, tools, and weapons. Woolley designated sixteen as royal tombs, distinctive from
the others for their wealth and peculiarities of structure and ritual (Woolley 1934:33). He
assumed that they contained the burials of Urs kings and queens, and inscriptions on cylinder
seals seemingly confirmed his assumption (1934:38). Although Moorey (1977) and others have
challenged Woolleys assumption that the graves belonged to royalty, Marchesi (2004) upon reexamining the inscribed evidence, supported their identification as royal monuments.

The royal tombs date to III (should be the) Early Dynastic Period IIIA, 2600-2450 BCE,
perhaps covering a span of about a century, their occupants possibly related by blood or marriage
(Nissen 1966:143; (this publication is not in the bibliography) Reade 2001:15-26). The layout
and construction of the sixteen tombs apparently changed through time (Zimmerman 1998a;
Reade 2001) as did the wealth of goods, peaking with the construction of the largest death pits
and falling off considerably with the latest royal tombs.

The royal tombs had a stone-built chamber, with one or more rooms, set at the bottom of a deep
pit. The chamber was reserved for the principal royal burial and sometimes contained additional
skeletons, presumed to be personal attendants. Other retainers were found on the floor of the pit
outside the chamber which Woolley dubbed death pits. These pits held the remains of up to 74
retainers: male soldiers or bodyguards wearing helmets and holding weapons, drivers and
grooms for ox-drawn carts, and females in courtly attire with musical instruments.

Woolleys most spectacular discoveries, made in 1927-8 and 1928-9, were the intact tomb
chambers of two royal women: PG 800 (Woolley 1934:73-91), with a death pit (see Zimmerman
1998b: 17-19) (should be 39), belonging to a richly adorned queen (Sumerian eresh; see
Marchesi 2004:186-89), commonly identified as Puabi (more probably, Pu-abum; see Marchesi
2004:193-94), approximately 40 years of age at the time of her death, and PG 1054 (Woolley

1934:97-107), with an unidentified female. Two large death pits were equally prominent in
Woolleys reports: PG 789, called the Kings Grave, (Woolley 1934: 62-71) and PG 1237, the
Great Death Pit (Woolley 1934:113-24). PG 789s tomb chamber had been robbed in antiquity,
but its intact death pit held the bodies of 63 retainers: six soldiers standing at the entrance to the
pit; two ox-drawn carts, with drivers and grooms; women along the southwest wall; and, males
and females lining a narrow passage to the tomb chamber. PG 1237, with no surviving tomb
chamber, contained 74 retainers: five or six males along the northeast wall of the pit near the
entrance, and 68 elaborately dressed females.

In his reports, Woolley noted that the bones of the court attendants were so broken and
decayed (Woolley 1928b:424; 1929c: 59; 1934:36) that they could not yield any forensic
evidence bearing on cause of death. After the excavation of PG 789 and PG 800, he suggested
that the court attendants were chattel and had been killed; he questioned whether they had been
marshaled in order and cut down where they stood . . . or whether they were slaughtered apart
and then laid in the grave. (Woolley 1928c: 1171). Following this interpretation, The Illustrated
London News noted illustrator, Amde Forestier (1854-1930) produced two reconstructions of
PG 789 for its June 23, 1928 report of Woolleys discoveries. An often-reproduced sepia-tone
drawing showed the royal entourage standing in the death pit, awaiting its demise (Fig. 1), and a
black and white illustration showing the grisly sequel, of the scene after all the servants had
been put to death (Fig. 2).

After excavating the female attendants in PG 1237 in 1929-30, all neatly arranged in rows, their
headdresses still intact (1934: 36), Woolley changed his account. He decided that the attendants
hadnt suffered brutal deaths, but had drunk some deadly or soporific drug from cups found
near their bodies. Following the suggestion of his wife, Katherine, he speculated that the poison
came from a large copper cauldron found in the PG 1237 pit. After willingly taking the drug or
poison, the attendants lay down and composed themselves for death, ready to continue their
service to a king or queen in the Netherworld.?

In the years since Woolleys excavations, some have challenged his identification of the bodies
as court attendants, suggesting implausible alternatives (for example, Charvat 2002:224-26 and
Srenhagen 2002:324-38; for criticism see Marchesi 2004). Most scholars, however, have
accepted Woolleys revised account of the retainers demise, concentrating on illuminating the
cultural and historical conditions that might have led to their willful (willing?) submission to
death (Pollock 1991, 2007). Others have sought to promote Woolleys initial assertions that the
royal court attendants were human sacrifices, killed in a theatre of public cruelty, by weak
and vulnerable kings intending to intimidate a restive population and reinforce their claims to
rule (Dickson 2006).

In spite of longstanding debate, no-one ? has returned to the primary evidence and re-examined
the skeletal remains of presumed sacrificial victims to determine if they provide any indication of
a probable cause of death. (this statement is contradicted by the following sentence) A few
remains are available for study in the Natural History Museum, London, initially analyzed by Sir
Arthur Keith (1934), with Theya Molleson and Dawn Hodgson (2003) providing a more recent
examination. In addition to scattered bones, they include the skeletal remains of just four
presumed royal ? attendants, all from PG 1684, (PG 1648) a small royal tomb on the periphery
of the cemetery (Mollenson and Hodgson 2003:100-05): a late adolescent or young adult female
(PG 1684a); (PG 1648a) a mature female, (PG 1648b); an adolescent male, ca. 17 years old (PG
1684c); (PG 1648c) and, a robust adult male (PG 1684d). (PG 1648d) All of the bones had been
heated, presumably to preserve the bodies prior to burial. Some showed markers of occupational
stress, but no evidence bearing on cause of death.

Other than the remains from PG 1648, the only skeletal material from presumed court retainers
are a series of skulls of soldiers/bodyguards from grave PG 789s death pit and young females
from PG 1237. Woolley consolidated the skulls, their helmets or jewelry, with wax and lifted
them en bloc for exhibition. He noted that their display would not only be of interest in and of
itself, but would prove the accuracy of his reconstruction of the headdresses worn by young
women in PG 1237 (1929b:61-62) (this is the wrong reference). Two skulls, a soldier (PG 789,

Body 46) and a young woman (PG 1237, Body 52), (Body 53) are currently on exhibit in the
British Museum (Irving and Ambers 2002:211; Molleson 2003:106-07 and 111); others are
housed in its storerooms (Fletcher, Collins and Curtis 2008). Two are in the Penn Museum (see
below) and two skulls of young women from PG 1237 are in the Iraq Museum (U. 12395, PG
1237, Body 19 and U. 12381, PG 1237, Body 48, see Woolley 1934: pl. 148b and Strommenger
1964: pl. XVIII). Since these skulls were long considered artifacts for exhibit, they were not
subjected to scientific analysis until recently.

Janet Ambers (Department of Conservation, Documentation and Science) (Department of

Conservation and Scientific Research) radiographed the two skulls on display in the British
Museum, as well as those in storage, and Penn Museums two skulls were radiographed at the
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in July 2004. The radiographs revealed age and sex,
as well as previously unknown details of the female head ornaments and male helmets. The Penn
Museums skulls were subsequently subjected to Computed Tomography (CT)-scans in April
2007 in order to glimpse the entirety of the surviving bone of the skull, including parts obscured
by helmets and ornaments (see below). The CT-scans (Equipment used? number of slices? Some
information about method should be included) were extremely revealing, providing evidence for
the apparent cause of death of royal attendants as well as insight into the postmortem treatment
of their remains.

The CT Scans and Forensic Analysis

The Penn Museums two skulls belong to a young female from grave PG 1237 (30-12-551) and a
young, mature male (B17312) from grave PG 789. The female skull was identified as Body 52
(Fig. 3) by her head ornaments. They include a silver comb with three inlaid flowers (only one
preserved); gold ribbon; two gold stylized flowers in the shape of rosettes; a wreath of gold
poplar leaves and lapis lazuli and carnelian beads; large, double lunate gold earrings; and, two
necklaces of gold and lapis beads. The skull together with ornaments are smashed in a three
quarter profile facing left, with the right mandible exposed complete dentition ?. Also visible is

the right clavicle, the right and left zygomatic arch, and the shattered remains of the face and
neurocranium. Her lower and upper M3s are fully erupted and unworn at root complete with
apex open, indicating she was in her late teens or early twenties at death (Moorrees et al. 1963;
White 2000).

The male skull (B17312) (Fig. 4) is Body 50, the first of six soldiers or guards on the ramp
leading into PG 789, the Kings Grave. A copper poker and a copper spear head were found
with him. Woolley (1934:149a) (Pl. 149) shows the skull (upper right) ? in situ (Fig. 5).

The skull is flattened in profile, facing left, and waxed together with the remains of a crushed
copper helmet worn on top. The left side of the face (maxilla, mandible, teeth and base of the
cranial vault) is visible; the copper helmet covers the eye orbits and the whole of the
neurocranium. Directly below the skull are the left humerus, scapula and fragments of vertebrae.
Behind the skull and over the crown of the helmet are the fragmentary remains of the right
humerus. The position of the arm suggests the body was dumped in place rather than carefully
positioned. The large brow ridges, visible on CT-scans, bilobate chin, and both the heavily
muscled mastoid process, as well as the lower part of the nuchal area of the occipital, suggests
that the soldier is male. His dentition, including moderate wear on the lower M1s and virtually
no wear on M3s, indicates he died between 25-30 years of age. All sutures appear open on the
CT-scan, though the basi-occipital suture is not intact (Moorrees et al. 1963; White 2000).

Both skulls are extensively fragmented due to the deep overburden of the dirt used to fill the
burial pit. The females skull was more fragmented than the male, and her gold ornaments
resulted in streaking in some CT images. The copper helmet which encased the males skull
largely protected it from the effects of post-mortem fragmentation, but since the copper was fully
oxidized, the helmet did not interfere with the CT scan.

This study relied almost exclusively on the analysis of CT imaging as a consequence of the
condition of the remains and in consideration of their proper handling and care in accordance

with museum protocols. ?? Analysis of the CT images involved observing and locating different
types of bone breakage patterns with distinct morphological signatures. Two distinct varieties
were noted on the cranial bones of both specimens. One pattern reflects perimortem and the other
postmortem bone change.

The perimortem damage might have occurred at or around the time of death or have been caused
by depositional changes occurring close to death, and therefore be taphonomic (postdepositional) in origin. This uncertainty is compounded by a lack of experimental studies
considering the longer-term effects of taphonomic alterations to the skull and trauma/breakage
morphology, although some recent studies consider taphonomic changes related to blunt force
trauma (Calce and Rogers 2007:519-527; Wieberg and Wescott 2008:1-7) (is this correct?
1028-34 in bibliography). The perimortem damage, however, shows bone beveling from the
inner to outer table and endocranial displacement, smooth edges and a preponderance of nonright angle breaks, with obtuse angles predominating, while postmortem damage shows
characteristic jagged edges in a regular pattern and with a high frequency of right angle breaks
(Calce and Rogers 2007:519-527). It therefore seems unlikely that the perimortem damage
occurred as part of the depositional process, and more probable that the intact skull bones would
undergo plastic deformation first as part of the late-phase perimortem change, which later
precipitated a postmortem-like pattern of breakage.

In three separate cases, a blunt force trauma appears to have damaged the skulls, producing
circular holes in flat neurocranial boneseach injury resulting in a hole about 3 cm in diameter.
Two instances of such trauma are visible on the male skull and one trauma on the female. In one
case (Fig. 6), radiating fractures bound the depressed and detached bone area; in the other two
cases, cranial bone is depressed but attached (a hinge fracture) with radiating fracture lines
visible (Arbour 2008:151-95; Berryman and Symes 1998:333-52). The morphology of these
depressed bone areas is atypical in comparison to the other types of ubiquitous breaks on the
skull bones (perhaps show another image to illustrate this) and therefore must be of a separate
origin.

The blunt force trauma was probably inflicted using an instrument with a small pointed striking
end and sufficient weight to have penetrated the skull. Thrusting weapons, such daggers, swords,
spears, or lances, could not have been effective at close range, and pear-shaped stone maces,
such as recovered from other contemporary archaeological contexts such as Khafajah in the
Diyala region of Iraq would have crushed, rather than penetrated the skull. The weapon would
more likely have been something similar to a copper battle-axe with a long spike on one end
(Fig. 7) found in a slightly later grave in the Royal Cemetery (Woolley: (1934) pl. 224, Type
A16, U. 9680). This battle-axe is ca. 21 cm long and 7.7 cm high and is a unique find in the
Royal
Cemetery. It resembles weapons depicted on Akkadian cylinder seals (Frankfort 1955: no. 670;
Moortgat 1988: no. 243) and recovered from contemporary sites in Syria (Tell Ahmar) and Iran
(Luristan) (Muscarella 1988: 388). If indeed this was the instrument used to inflict these
wounds, in all likelihood, as shown in the cylinder seal impressions, the axe would have been
hafted to take advantage of the leverage it would provide when the fatal blow was delivered.
While a pick axe is the most likely candidate, it is difficult to determine with precision the types
and varieties of weapons used to produce either blunt or sharp force trauma on archaeological
specimens (Lovell 1997).

Another feature observed on the female with both the external and internal skull table visible in
CT cross-section are ectocranial areas of the skull bone that appear delaminated (image?) (not
present on the endocranial surface). This feature is reminiscent of heating or burning damage to
fresh bone (Pope and M.A. and O.C. Smith 2004 (not the same as the bibliography):1-10). It is
possible the Ur specimens were heated (or smoked) to reduce putrefaction and enhance
preservation. The results of the analysis of heat applied to the bone is inconclusive (Cabo-Perez,
Symes, and Dirkmaat 2008), in part due to the lack of standards to interpret both microscopic
and chemical analyses applied to archaeological specimens where the effect of diagenetic
processes are difficult to control (Koon, Nicholson and Collins 2003:1393-1399). Evidence for
heating, but not direct exposure to flame was previously noted on contemporary specimens from

the Royal Cemetery housed in the Natural History Museum, including a probable royal male in
grave PG 755 and the attendants in the royal grave PG 1648 (Molleson and Hodgson 2003).
Heating a corpse for preservation is also known from later periods in the ancient Near East, e. g.,
Late Bronze Age Qatna (Tell Mishrife), near Homs, Syria (Pflzner, Witzel and Kreutz
2007:29-64, 173-88) (? not in the bibliography) and Nimrud, ancient Calah, where the corpse of
a Neo-Assyrian queen, possibly Atalia, wife of Sargon II (721-05 BCE), had apparently been
heated to a temperature of 150-250 C for many hours (Schultz and Kunter 1998:119).

The CT scans also showed small, globular deposits of a radio-opaque, probably metallic
substance. These particles form a halo-like dusting around the skull and are quiet likely
composed of mercury sulfide (HgS) or cinnabar, a known preservant used in other ancient
cultures. On radiographic and CT scan images, the females skull has HgS laced specimens ?
with characteristic radio-opaque flakes surrounding hard tissues (Fig. 8). The area surrounding
the cranial vault of the female was tested for the presence of mercury vapor using an EDXRF or
energy dispersive x-ray fluorescence analyzer (tests performed by Environmental Health and
Radiation Safety, University of Pennsylvania; Bacharach Instrument, MV-1 Mercury Sniffer).
This technique produced a small, but positive result probably dampened by the heavy layers of
conservation materials applied to the specimen both in the field and during museum curation (is
this an assumption or did the skulls have further conservation treatment after preservation by
Woolley?)

Mercury sulfide and other minerals such as arsenic act as preservatives by delaying the
putrefaction process. The oldest documented use of mercury for preserving corpses dates to
roughly 2000 years ago in China (Aufderheide 2003). The Ur specimens may represent the
earliest known use of mercury in Western Eurasia. Locally available sources existed in recent
volcanic exposures in Turkey and Iran (Borisenko, Naumov, Pavlova, and Zadorozhny 2004) and
could have been transported to southern Mesopotamia along well-established trade routes. The
application of heat and mercury to the Ur skulls might be considered an early attempt at

embalming without arterial infusiona temporary method to reduce decay while elaborate and
lengthy funerary rights were performed before burying deceased bodies.

Human Sacrifice in the Royal Cemetery: A Revised Perspective

Radiographs, CT-scans and forensic analyses of the skulls of two attendants from Urs royal
tombs overturn Woolleys long-standing account of the burial proceedings accompanying the
deaths of the city states Early Dynastic kings and queens. Rather than willingly drinking some
deadly or soporific drug, court retainers were violently killed by means of blunt force trauma
to the skull. Since the two specimens come from two different royal tombs, it is reasonable to
assume a similar cause of death for the majority of attendants buried in other graves. CT-scans of
skulls in the British Museum and the Iraq Museum might confirm or refute such an assumption.

The attempt to preserve attendants bodies using heat and chemicals also substantially revises
Woolleys account of the burial proceedings. Rather than involving a ceremony with living
participants, it seems more likely that the attendants were killed, preserved, and dressed and their
bodies purposefully arranged in a tableau mort as part of lengthy and (probably) public funerary
ceremonies that proceeded their interment. These ceremonies would have been staged events
with music and feasting (Cohen 2005:82-93; Pollock 2003:17-38) as documented in roughly
contemporary textual sources (Jagersma 2007:289-307; Katz 2007:167-88) and in the imagery of
cylinder seals and sound boxes of lyres which show banqueting and musicians; and the abundant
drinking and serving vessels, food remains (Woolley 1934:68 and 104), (is this the right page?)
and musical instruments recovered from the death pits.

Conclusion

Woolley waxed and lifted the skulls of soldiers from PG 789 and young women from PG 1237 as
artifacts intended for exhibition. They may prove the accuracy of the restoration of headdresses,
but they refute his account of the willful, peaceful deaths of the court attendants of Urs

mid-3rd millennium BCE royalty. Woolleys efforts at preserving many of the stunning finds of
the Royal Cemetery were unfortunately not extended to skeletal remains, (he did preserve some
of the skeletal remains or this research would not have been possible) so these skulls remain the
sole source for comprehending the events of the cemetery, including the long disputed
phenomenon of the simultaneous death of kings/queens and their attendants. The new findings of
this research showcase how modern technologies and forensic techniques can provide important
new information when applied to archaeological finds, including those long held in museum
collections. Such new insights demonstrate that the discoveries from the Royal Tombs of Ur still
have much to reveal, some 80 years after their first moments of fame.

References and Notes:

We thank the University of Pennsylvania Hospital, Department of Radiology, headed by N.

Bryan, with S. Steingall, CT technician, and T. Schoenemann, L. Grant, and S. White of the
University of Pennsylvania Museum.

Fig. 1. Artistic reconstruction of the death pit of grave PG 789 before death, originally
published in The Illustrated London News June 23, 1928, pp. 1171-72.
Fig. 2. Reconstruction of the death pit of PG 789 after death of royal attendants by poisoning,
from the Illustrated London News, June 23, 1928, pp. 1173-74.
Fig. 3. Photograph of Penn Museum Ur female skull.
Fig. 4. Photograph of Penn Museum Ur male skull.
Fig. 5. Photograph of soldier (Body 50 of PG 789) in situ.
Fig. 6. CT images of both skulls showing depressed areas, perhaps caused by blunt force trauma.
Fig. 7. Line drawing of a battle-axe from Ur grave PG 689, Woolley 1934, pl. 224.

Fig. 8. CT image of female showing HgS crystals, distinguished from irregularly shaped gold
fragments.

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