June 2011, Daily News

Birthplace of Abraham Gets a New Lease on Life

By Dan McLerran   Fri, Jun 17, 2011

Like the great pyramids of Egypt, it looms above a parched, flat and desolate landscape and easily dominates the skyline of this ancient, now long abandoned city. The Great Ziggurat is what most people think about when one mentions the city of Ur. Much more than a single monumental structure, however, Ur was a royal city that contained the public buildings, religious centers, and tombs of a people who, over 4,000 years ago, set the standards for civilizations that followed. It was one of the first great centers of Mesopotamia. Here Abraham, according to the Biblical account, was born and raised. And here, over the many centuries, elements and events, both natural and human, have combined to lay it to waste. It crumbles before our eyes. That is now changing.

Through joint efforts of the U.S.-based Global Heritage Fund, the Iraq Ministry of Culture, State Board of Antiquities and Heritage, and the Dhiqar Antiquities Office, what remains of Ur will be systematically restored and stabilized and a plan established to breath new life into tourism and the local community. It will also build a foundation for future archaeologists to again resume serious research and investigation of this seminal site.

The plan includes surveying and documenting the site and its remains, producing new maps through the use of techniques such as satellite imagery and Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), defining the site boundaries, creating a photographic database of the site's current state, installing a boundary fence, developing a conservation Master Plan, and then implementing conservation activities to restore and stabilize some of the site's most endangered structures, which include the Great Ziggurat and the nearby Royal Cemetery. Efforts will also include a more developed, comprehensive plan for site interpretation and presentation. The price tag involves a $850,000 investment by GHF and $1,000,000 from the Government of Iraq.

Aside from the goal of conserving a valuable heritage of global interest, it is hoped that the efforts will produce returns for a country that has enormous tourism potential. Says Jeff Morgan, Executive Director of GHF, "Everybody has been to Egypt in the past 30 or 40 years. But who has visited Iraq?" American soldiers, for one -- but project administrators and the Iraqi authorities hope to change that in a major way.

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Satellite image of Ur, showing its geographic relationship to other ancient cities of Mesopotamia. Once a coastal city near the Euphrates river and the Persian Gulf, forces of geology and time have naturally relocated it further inland, south of the Euphrates and off its right bank.The desert has claimed it as its own. Wikimedia Commons

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Ruins of the ancient city of Ur. The Great Ziggurat is in the background. Courtesy M. Lubinski, Wikimedia Commons.

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The Royal Tombs (Cemetery) of Ur. Courtesy Nathanm, Creative Commons.

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Archaeologists worldwide have long awaited the opportunity to return to the site of Ur. International politics and war have barred the door for decades. Moreover, only 10 percent of Ur's ancient landscape has been excavated and studied. The rest lies covered by sand and remains unexplored by archaeologists and others equipped for conducting controlled, systematic excavations and analysis. "Treasures are right under our feet," says Iraqi archaeologist Abdelamir Hamdani. "When you remove the thick layer of sand, you will find perhaps a temple, a wall or houses, dating from maybe the fifth millenium B.C. Everyone is fascinated with the idea of excavations." 

The first excavations at Ur were conducted by John George Taylor in 1853 on behalf of the British Museum. During those investigations, Taylor uncovered small clay cylinder seals in the corners near the top of the Ziggurat, at least one of which bore an inscription by King Nabonidus (539 B.C.) of Babylon, interpreted as a prayer for his son Belshar-uzur, the same person known from the Bible as Belshazzar in the Book of Daniel. He also excavated a structure that was associated with a large necropolis. His discoveries brought attention not only to the Ziggurat-temple but also to the massive necropolis of the ancient city, now known as the Royal Cemetery or Royal Tombs, made famous by archaeologist Sir Leonard Woolley's much more thorough excavations there from 1922 to 1934. In that series of excavations, Woolley (pictured right) uncovered about 1,850 burials dated to 2600 B.C., 16 of which were considered royal tombs containing artifacts. Most of these finds are now in the British Museum and the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Among the royal tombs discovered was the unlooted tomb of Queen Puabi (identified by an inscription on a cylinder seal in the tomb), including the remains of human sacrifices buried with her. Ur continued to serve as a sacred burial ground or necropolis for the ancient nobility of Mesopotamia long after it was abandoned for settlement.

In 2009, an agreement was established for joint archaeological research and excavations by the University of Pennsylvania and the Government of Iraq. These excavations, however, and others that will follow under additional auspices will have limited value without a carefully deliberated and well-executed plan for conservation, preservation, tourism, and site interpretation and presentation. Says one observer, "In the past, sites were excavated, artifacts were collected and displayed in great museums, books were written and some technical reports were composed for scholarly consumption, but the sites were then left victim to the elements and neglected for decay. We have to stop this pattern so that future generations and stakeholder communities can benefit from these cultural discoveries. The world will permanently lose these great architectural treasures if we don't do anything about it."

This is where organizations like the Global Heritage Fund and the Iraqi State Board of Antiquities and Heritage enter the picture.

For more information about where you can go to view antiquities of Iraq, see the websites at www.britishmuseum.org and www.penn.museum. For more information about the Global Heritage Fund, see their website at www.globalheritagefund.org.

Cover Photo, Top: Ancient Ziggurat of Ur. Courtesy Hardnfast, Wikimedia Commons.

Photo, Bottom Right: Leonard Woolley at the excavations of Carchemish in Syria in 1913. Wikimedia Commons.

By Dan McLerran

As Founder and Editor of Popular Archaeology Magazine, Dan is a freelance writer and journalist specializing in archaeology.  He studied anthropology and archaeology in undergraduate and graduate school and has been an active participant on archaeological excavations in the U.S. and abroad.  He is the creator and administrator of Archaeological Digs, a popular weblog about archaeological excavation and field school opportunities.  

Comments(1):

1. Ziggurat precursor to the pyramid

   Thursday, June 23, 2011 Richard

   Dan, Although I am not an archaeologist or anthropologist my opinion is that the ziggurat is the precursor to the pyramid. If one looks at the original pyramid, the Egyptian mastaba, it appears that both the ziggurat and the mastaba share many features. I also know that the Egyptologist would refute this but it seems apparent to me.