The treasures of Up
Site near Ali Base in Iraq was once a center of civilization
The ruins of the ancient Sumerian city of Ur are in a desolate corner of southern Iraq. Settlements at the site began so long ago that the city is mentioned in the Old Testament. The temple tower, known as the Ziggarat, has quietly witnessed at least 4,000 years of history. Many hot baking suns and cool evening moons have lingered upon its dusty brick walls.
During more recent times, jet engines have disturbed the silence of the desert. The area is now home to the men and women of the 407th Air Expeditionary Group at Ali Base near Nasariyah. Enduring the isolation and the 120-degree temperatures, soldiers and airmen maintain a fully functioning airport in the middle of nowhere.
During 2005, base personnel were providing training to Squadron 23 of the new Iraqi air force. By the end of the year, the Iraqis were making their first solo flights, without U.S. instructors on board, in their new C-130 aircraft. Squadron 23 now operates independently at the Baghdad Airport.
One way to spend off-duty time at Ali Base is to tour the Ur site. This Morale, Welfare and Recreation outing is offered along with the basketball and table-tennis matches associated with a typical military recreation center.
Seeing the place now, it’s difficult to imagine that Ur was once an important center of civilization. The building decorations, flowers and trees are all gone. Burial places have been emptied of their treasures. Certain graves were once filled with gold and silver items, and with alabaster figures crafted with long beards and curly hair.
Based on other Sumerian temples in the region, the Ziggarat was most likely adorned with animals made of copper and carved shell that were pressed into bitumen — or black tar. Columns were inlaid with mother of pearl and pink limestone. Thousands of clay cones, crafted to look like flower stems, were probably pressed into the tar to form geometric patterns after the “petals” had been dipped in red and black pigments.
The temple was a place of worship and ritual, not a burial tomb like an Egyptian pyramid. It was completed during the reign of King Ur-Nammu. Back then, it was surrounded by the fruits of irrigation, palm trees and lush gardens. Without a system of canals to bring the water, Ur could not have existed as a city.
To see the excavated treasures of Ur, we can leave Iraq and travel to the ivy-covered halls of the University of Pennsylvania, to its Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Philadelphia. Here can be found the largest collection of artifacts from Ur in the United States. On a recent visit, I spoke with Dr. Richard L. Zettler, an expert in Near Eastern studies.
“In a lot of ways, the decade of the 1920s was the golden age of the large archaeological dig,” Zettler said. In 1922, scholars from Penn and from the British Museum began digging at Ur. It was the same year in which Howard Carter discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun in Egypt.
We can thank the Sumerians at Ur for some of the earliest known musical instruments and wheeled vehicles, and blame them for some of the earliest law codes.
The Sumerian language has been translated so that scholars can now read thousands of clay tablets covered with their writing. Voices from the past can be heard in songs of praise, while others are heard to complain of corrupt rulers and high taxes. Some scholars have found contracts for the sale of houses and farmland that are nearly 5,000 years old.
Some of the oldest beer vessels ever found were also found at Ur. The Sumerians enjoyed beer so much that they even had a beer goddess, Ninkasi. According to ancient text, she “pours the fragrant beer into the . . . vessel, which is like the Tigris and Euphrates joined.” There’s definitely an idea for a beer commercial somewhere in that description.
Sumer owed its life to the Tigris and Euphrates, the two great rivers that begin in the mountains of Turkey and flow until they reach the Persian Gulf. Sumerian traders journeyed beyond the gulf in sailboats earlier than 2000 B.C. They purchased precious stones from Afghanistan, lumber, perfumes, wine, honey, cloth, copper and gold from the valley of the Indus River, and pearls (which the Sumerians liked to call fish eyes).
More recently, a U.S. Marine who had returned from Iraq in 2005 took a group of small relief carvings known as cylinder seals that he had bought from a street vendor to the Penn museum for evaluation. As soon as they were found to be genuine, the Marine agreed to turn the finds over to the art crime team of the FBI. They eventually were returned to the Iraqi government.
The Penn museum has a long tradition of protecting Sumerian art objects, and its efforts are gaining recognition. Said Zettler: “You’d be surprised how many e-mails I get from Americans who are in Iraq today. Many troops are concerned about looting at ancient sites or want to ask questions about objects.”
Both scholars and pilgrims have traveled to Ur, by different roads, in search of biblical Abraham. There is some evidence to support the idea that the Ur site is the “Ur of the Caldeas” described in the Old Testament. Some visitors arrive seeking a fragment of written text or other such proof, while others travel guided only by faith.
One thing is clear, the voyage of our civilization began at places like Ur. Though they were long ago absorbed as a nation, the Sumerians are still alive within our cultural heritage. Without their little scribbles on clay tablets, would our super-fast data transmissions be possible?
Our voyage continues far beyond their city that dried up and returned quickly to the parched land from which it came. Each culture that followed continued to build upon the genius, the ingenuity and the artistry of the Sumerians.
The full collection from Ur is currently touring the U.S. and is scheduled to return to the University of Pennsylvania in January 2007. For more information about the university museum and its many events, visit its Web site: www.museum.upenn.edu/ new/research/iraq/index.shtml.
Ken O’Donnell is a contracting officer at Defense Supply Center Philadelphia who recently spent four years at Mainz- Kastel, Germany. E-mail him at:Kenneth.O’Donnell@dla.mil.
