How this queen was found after 4,600 years of oblivion.
Вставка
- Опубліковано 19 чер 2024
- Many thanks to Dr. Richard L. Zettler, Dr. William B. Hafford ( @artifactuallyspeaking ), Katherine Blanchard, Kellie O'Brien, and the entire team at Penn's Museum ( @pennmuseum )
+++ Consider supporting us! +++
Buy me a coffee: www.buymeacoffee.com/mistsoftime
Patreon: / mistsoftime
FB: / mistsoftime21
Instagram: / mists_of_time
++ Episode description ++
Unearth the tale of Queen Puabi and the Royal Cemetery of Ur! Join us on an archaeological adventure as we reveal the secrets of an ancient Sumerian city hidden beneath Iraq's desert.
Led by archaeologist Leonard Woolley, a 1922 expedition embarked on a quest to uncover the forgotten treasures of Ur. After years of excavation, the team discovered the "gold trench," part of the vast burial ground now known as the Royal Cemetery of Ur. Unearthing over 1,850 tombs, they gained insight into the lives of ancient Sumerians. Despite looting and destruction, the cemetery, used for three centuries, retained its wonders.
Among the remarkable finds were sixteen royal tombs, including the extraordinary PG-800 burial site of Queen Puabi. Adorned with exquisite jewels and surrounded by opulent offerings, her burial testified to her elevated status and power. Her unique cylinder seal hinted at her possible reign as an independent queen.
Queen Puabi's opulent tomb astounded the world, showcasing the wealth and international connections of ancient Mesopotamia. Imported gold, silver, carnelian stones, and lapis-lazuli reflected Ur's trading hub status.
The reconstruction of Queen Puabi's regal headdress, made of gold ribbons, precious beads, and lapis-lazuli flowers, presented a majestic image. Adorned with a beaded cloak, belt, earrings, rings, and bracelet, her jewelry weighed nearly six kilograms. Delicate lapis-lazuli pendants symbolized Ur's abundance and prosperity.
The tomb also revealed maids and a male figure buried alongside Queen Puabi, intended to serve her in the afterlife. Elaborate funeral rituals emerged throughout the cemetery. The "Death Pit," containing sacrificed attendants, showcased the Sumerians' extraordinary measures to honor their deceased royalty. Courtiers, arranged for a funerary feast and were surrounded by food, drinks, and lyres, highlighting music's importance.
Despite the mysteries surrounding their identities and the significance of the sacrifices, these ancient relics offer a glimpse into a vibrant society that once thrived in Ur's hallowed grounds.
++ Sources ++
L. Wooley - Ur of the Chaldees; Ur excavations, volume 2
H. Crawford - Ur the city of the Moon God; The Sumerian world
Penn Museum - Treasures from the royal tombs of Ur
R. Zettler, W. Hafford - Magnificent with jewels: Puabi, queen of Ur
P. Zimmerman, R. Zettler - Two tombs or three?
S. Pollock - Feasts, Funerals, and Fast Food in Early Mesopotamian States
A. Baadsgaard, J. Monge, S. Cox, R. Zettler- Human sacrifice and intentional corpse preservation in the Royal Cemetery of Ur
A. Baadsgaard, J. Monge, R. Zettler - Bludgeoned, Burned, and Beautified: Reevaluating Mortuary Practices in the Royal Cemetery of Ur
D. Katz - Sumerian funerary rituals in context
S. Pollock - Death of a household
N. Miller - Plant Forms in Jewellery from the Royal Cemetery at Ur; Symbols of Fertility and Abundance in the Royal Cemetery at Ur, Iraq
Z. Wygnanska - Tracing the "diadem-wearers"
++ Music ++
The amazing team at @MichaelGhelfiStudios
(Audio by) Michael Ghelfi Studios
michaelghelfistudios.com/
"Americana", "Big Drumming", "Cambodian Odyssey", "Enchanted Valley", "Long Road Ahead B", "Night Vigil", "Off to Osaka", "Peaceful Desolation", Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
creativecommons.org/licenses/b...
++Credits++
The Corbridge Lion: CC BY-SA 2.0 by Carole Raddato
Tut's mask: CC BY-SA 1.0 by Roland Unger
Golden helmet: CC BY-SA 2.0 by Akieboy
Puabi's seal and cup. Banner of Ur: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 by The Trustees of the British Museum
.
.
.
Chapters:
00:00 - Intro
00:44 - A forgotten city
01:53 - Leonard Woolley
02:28 - The Gold Trench
03:45 - The Royal Cemetery of Ur
05:23 - Queen Puabi
07:21 - A world news
08:14 - Puabi's jewels
10:54 - International connections
12:11 - A comfortable afterlife
13:41 - The Death Pit
14:34 - A royal court
15:34 - How did they die?
17:38 - Outro
I was initially put-off by the cute-sy, animated figures......but I see now why it was used; this video fascinated me at age 63 and would have (courtesy of the figures) when I was young. That script/narration are absolutely wonderful.
Thank you for your kind comment sir!
Another great video. When will the algorithm notice.
Thank you Kevin! Eh...it's always a little bit disappointing to see the channel grow slowly. Maybe it's my Italian accent putting people off, but we'll see. We have many ideas and we are going to introduce some news as soon as possible (better graphics, motion capture etc)
Ah I was forgetting. Thank you for commenting. Comments are the best thing ever for a channel of our size. Keep them coming, they help us with the algorithm and they make us feel very good.
Absolutely fascinating video! And I love the production values in those animations. So much colour and character. Thank you!
Thank you! I'm glad you liked it. If you enjoy our animations, then stay tuned. We are currently working to enhance them tenfold! :D
Good job! I really enjoyed this video, It’s on point and very well animated i will be following this channel.
Thank you!
I just visited Ur in March what an impressive place..
Beautiful video, thank you for your work,👏🏼💖
Thank you! I hope to visit Ur one day as well.
Such a cool headdress! Mighty want one for myself! Gold ribbons? Yes please... Brilliant video.
Thank you, Irene! I'm afraid those gold ribbons were not meant for peasants like us :D . But just imagine the kind of adornments the people of the time must have had. Those gold ribbons and gold flowers could have been inspired by what more common people were wearing. Sadly, perishable materials have disappeared over time, and the images on statues and carvings don't fully depict daily life. We can easily imagine a sumerian girl wearing a beautiful flower wreath at a town party! We have read a very good paper on sumerian diadems and tracing who used them. Sadly we could not make this info into the episode, but needless to say, headdresses were very important as personal decorations, to show your status etc. Fashion has always been an extremely important political and social language.
@@mists_of_time But I am a QUEEN, lol. Don't disrupt my dreams. I deserve fine things. Too bad that paper didn't make it into the episode but, yeah, I get it, time restrains and all. Maybe another time? It would be quite interesting though to see how these crafts mimic or immortalize traditions that otherwise would be lost, such as, if I'm not mistaken, the twin volutes on top of columns in the ionic order, perheaps representing ram sacrifices. Or the unswept room roman mosaics. Anyway, I look forward to your next video. You guys are amazing!
She was Annunaki, some respect me thinks.
Great video, just like the previous ones. And a fascinating topic. Thanks!
Thank you very much! I'm really glad you enjoyed it.
AWESOME!! So nice to see the great Nin get some more coverage!
Thank you! We are very proud of this video and I hope you will like it. From your use of the title Nin, I guess you are already familiar with the topic. We decided to follow the theory about her being the Queen of Ur, do you think she was a priestess?
@@mists_of_time Yeah I'm not sure the ancient Sumerians/Akkadians conceptualized leadership the same way we do now. I don't feel the term "Queen" fits properly but its not "wrong" either. "Lugal" is an easier example. Often it's translated as "King" but really it seems to have been more-so (in early times at least) an office of war. So something more like "The man(usually) in charge of the defense forces and city when it's in danger from outside forces and likely the "police" or internal security forces during peace time" but "King" just rolls off the tongue easier. Nin Puabi (Great lady word of her father - or something to that effect) Likely was seen as an actual godlike (possibly like Gilgamesh?) being who was in charge of the spiritual sustainment of both her city and its (in their minds) actual living god who resided in the city temple. this era/topic is kind of a fascination of mine lol. Thanks for the reply!
@@bingohomeslice5158 Thank YOU for your reply. It was very well put, and it's wonderful to have an audience that shares your passion. If you have the time, please drop us a message on Instagram or send an email to say hi (you can find our contact information on the about page of our channel). Perhaps we can develop this topic into an episode.
@@mists_of_time please do 😊
There still needs to be a concerted effort to excavate and protect the secrets of Eridu. I think it was put on the back burner in the forties, but there was no good reason to do that.
There's a lot to be discovered all over the world for sure.
@@mists_of_time I often think about how much more is out there. Ubar was thought to be mythical, but it was actually a cuneiform tablet at Nineveh that confirmed it was possibly a real place in Saudi Arabia. It's possible that something more about Queen Puabi might be on one of the records at Eridu, or perhaps the key to deciphering ancient Elamite. I obsess about Eridu a bit, because it is supposed to be the oldest city state.
@@aaroncarson1770 at one point we would actually like to have an episode on Ubar. I need to find some time to read a lot of documents in order to have a well informer episode but so far technical stuff about the new and better animation style have taken too much time. Do you have any suggested readings? Maybe I will try to squeeze some time on this topic
@@mists_of_time I loved the animation you did. Having the visual accompanying the historical facts brings them to life, and fixes the facts into memory so much better. I'm afraid that my information about the city of Ubar was gleaned from here on UA-cam. Supposedly someone found it in the desert, and then a sandstorm buried it again, and they couldn't find it again. I'll have a look around though. ❤️
@@mists_of_time I saw one video saying that there is something being excavated in Oman that is reputed to be Ubar although I had originally thought that Ubar and Iram are the same city, but experts are saying not. This may be Ubar but is not Iram as referenced in the Koran and the records unearthed at Ebla.
Very interesting ❤ could it be that all the human sacrifices were slaves? I don't know much about the topic of human sacrifices. It sounds so cruel yet interesting.
Thanks for the video!
We aren't aware of who these people were. It's quite likely that they were personal servants of the ruler but we aren't sure about it. Anyway You have to consider that we may find this cruel, but we can't apply our world view to their times. What we know for sure is who these people were not: in these death pits we don't find kids (the future of the ruling house) nor people who produced stuff (farmers, potters etc, so the economic future of the ruling house). This is something that has been noticed by some academics. Anyway there are some other instances of human sacrifice in the bronze age but we did notice something: this institution lasted very little. It's a clear political message of power (and wealth) but at the same time it didn't make people happy and eventually it disappeared.
@@mists_of_time wow! There's so much to know! Thank you 🙏
@@yami7656 thank you Yami! I'm reading many comments from you and that's always very nice. Sometimes uploading videos without a feedback is like shouting in the void. Anyway, if you have a minute we are gathering questions for an upcoming "ask me anything" video for a 1k subs special here: ua-cam.com/users/postUgkxZqLHokkxif7Hbl3fid5Mcp7c8V-k9MrW
Niceeee
Hi there! I guess you already saw this episode. We had to make some edits and repost it. New episodes will arrive very soon. Please consider rewatching it to help us with YT's algorithm (turn off the audio if you don't want to actually listen to it). Thank you!
@@mists_of_time sure
@@ajithsidhu7183 thank you! Really appreciate it. I want to tell you that we are working on some future content about India too!
@@mists_of_time that's great
@@mists_of_time please do on the sikh empire
You seem to have left out the size of her head.
"We are actually remaking our art style. We like the big egg-shaped heads, but they are too limiting.
4,600 years? Thats almost as long as it takes me to get out of bed in the mornings. (It's very chilly in my part of Australia right now.)
I can almost picture a 4chan greentext, something like this.
Be me, former farmer, managed to get a job at the palace.
Pay is quite good and very stable, even when the harvest season is done with.
moneybag.png
All I do is stand next to a cart/chariot thing and wait for the boss lady to want to go somewhere.
Suddenly the boss lady dies, now they want to kill me too!
crying.jpg
Wat do anons?
Something like that anyway. How rude to your staff, who would ever want to work at the palace under those conditions?
I don't think they ever had a saying in accepting or not those conditions. It's quite likely that they were servants with no freedom at all. But at the same time it's probable that there was some perks attached to being part of this ritual. Maybe they truly believe that they were going to enjoy a great afterlife. How many times even in modern times we have witnessed some self sacrificing? (terror bombers, soldier heroically charging the enemy etc). It's important to understand that ideology can make people do things that are totally irrational from our point of view. Sadly we don't have any evidence to understand more who these people were and we can just speculate.