A flattened human head draped with gold and lapis lazuli jewelry lies in a glass case at the University of Pennsylvania's Museum of Archeology and Anthropology, its teeth the only recognizable feature. It's all that remains of a female courtier to a Mesopotamian monarch who was buried around 4,500 years ago with all of his or her wealth, including the humans who attended the royal court. The attendant, together with several hundred others, was discovered in 16 royal tombs that generated international headlines in the 1920s when they were unearthed by British archeologist Sir Leonard Woolley at Ur, near modern-day Nasiriyah in southern Iraq. Now the remains, together with some 220 other objects from the site, are going on display at the Penn Museum for the first time in more than 10 years in a show that sheds new light on one of the great archeological discoveries of the 20th century. “Iraq's Ancient Past: Rediscovering Ur's Royal Cemetery”, a long-term exhibition opening on Oct. 25, places the Ur treasures in the historic context of a region known as the “cradle of civilization”, and tells the story of their excavation from 1922-1934. The centerpiece of the show is the Queen Puabi headdress containing four kilograms (8.8 pounds) of gold and 3,600 beads made of carnelian and lapis lazuli. The opulence of the Ur treasures shows the prosperity of the Mesopotamian civilization, and its success in trading with distant regions.
