Royal Cemetery of Ur

Record summary

Leonard Woolley’s excavations at Ur uncovered a cemetery containing richly furnished Early Dynastic burials, including the tombs conventionally associated with Puabi and the so-called Great Death Pit. The site is important for comparing mortuary hierarchy, sacrifice interpretations, craft production, and long-distance exchange in third-millennium Mesopotamia. Reconstruction remains debated: some bodies may represent attendants killed or voluntarily buried, while grave assemblages and tomb sequences require specialist analysis. Woolley’s preliminary reports and later reassessments should be consulted rather than relying on popular summaries.