Such instruments were probably important parts of rituals at court and temple. Eleven silver tubes acted as the tuning pegs. Some of the silver preserved the impression of matting on which it must have originally lain. The silver on the top and back edge of the sounding box had been destroyed. First it was photographed, and then covered in wax and waxed cloth to hold it together for lifting. The metal was very brittle and the uprights were squashed flat. The edges of the sound box have a narrow border of shell and lapis lazuli inlay. The silver cow's head decorating the front has inlaid eyes of shell and lapis lazuli. The plaques down the front of the sounding box are made of shell. They were all made from wood which had decayed by the time they were excavated, but two of them, of which this is one, were entirely covered in sheet silver attached by small silver nails. Three lyres were piled one on top of another. This lyre was found in the “Great Death-Pit,” one of the graves in the Royal Cemetery at Ur accompanied by seventy-four bodies-six men and sixty-eight women-laid down in rows on the floor of the pit.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |