by Lyudmila AVILOVA, senior researcher, Institute of Archaeology, RAS, Moscow, Russia What caught the eye of archeologists in the dig of the Royal cemetery of the city of Ur in Sumer was a set of tools in the grave goods pointing to a higher social status of the dead, i.e. the kings and their families. Leonard Woolley, who began these excavations in 1919, dated the burials to the Pre-Dynastic Period. Today such burials are dated to the Early Dynastic III Period (first half of the third millennium B.C.). Now this is a commonly accepted point of view. First, a few words about the items found in the dig. The burial under the number 580 where a child was interred and also known as the "grave of a princess" has such things as festal weapons (a golden dagger, a spear made of electrum, natural alloy of gold and silver; a bronze adze). There is also a set of carpentry tools, like an adze of gold, two chisels of gold and one of bronze, and a saw of bronze. Grave 800, likewise known as the burial place of Queen Shubad/Pu-abi, also has a large set of carpentry tools comprising several bronze saws and one of gold, * Sumer--an ancient region in the Lower Euphrates River Valley. Sumerian--designating language of an ancient people of Babylonia, probably of non-Semitic origin. Also, the language of the Sumerians extinct since the third century B.C.-- Tr. as well as five golden chisels of different types; a bronze drill and an adze. Recovered from King Meskalamdug's burial (No. 755) was a saw of bronze alongside golden and electrum weapons (a dagger, broad battle axes). As a matter of fact, precious royal regalia together with carpenter's tools were found not only in Mesopotamia of the Bronze Age but also in Anatolia, in the famous Priam's Treasure at Troy II where, along with two golden diadems, jewelry, vessels and poteria was also a bronze saw. That is, precious carpentry is present together with other valuables and holies. ... Читать далее