Mesopotamian Queen Puabi who loved jewellery in 2,600 BC!

British archaeologist Leonard Woolley discovered the tomb of Puabi at the Royal Sumerian Cemetery at Ur (in today’s Iraq) which was excavated between 1922 and 1934 and which was found along with some 1,800 other graves. Puabi’s tomb was clearly unique among the other excavations, not only because of the large number of high quality and well preserved grave goods, but also because her tomb had been untouched by looters through the millennia.

The number of jewellery items uncovered in Puabi’s tomb was staggering and included a magnificent, heavy headdress made of golden leaves, rings and plates, carnelian and lapis lazuli cylindrical beads for extravagant necklaces and belts, an abundance of silver, lapis lazuli and golden rings and bracelets, a belt made of gold rings, carnelian and lapis beads and other various rings and earrings.

Queen Puabi’s physical remains are kept in the Natural History Museum in London whereas the excavated finds from Woolley’s expedition were divided among the British Museum in London, the University of Pennsylvania Museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the National Museum in Baghdad. Several pieces of the treasure were looted from the National Museum in the aftermath of the Second Gulf War in 2003.