View source for Puabi

{{short description|Queen of Ur}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name         = Puabi<br />{{nobold|{{cuneiform|𒅤𒀜}}}}
| image        = Queen Puabi with attendants.jpg
| image_size   = 300
| caption      = Queen Puabi seated, with attendants, {{circa|2550 BC}}<ref name="British Museum notice WA 121544">[https://www.flickr.com/photos/nics_events/1337998095/in/photostream/ British Museum notice WA 121544]</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Crawford |first1=Harriet |author-link=Harriet Crawford |title=The Sumerian World |date=2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-21911-5 |page=622 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4SKYAAAAQBAJ&pg=PT622 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Anthropology |first1=University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and |last2=Hansen |first2=Donald P. |last3=Pittman |first3=Holly |title=Treasures from the Royal Tombs of Ur |date=1998 |publisher=UPenn Museum of Archaeology |isbn=978-0-924171-55-0 |page=78 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h8j76olVKloC&pg=PA78 |language=en}}</ref>
| succession   = [[First Dynasty of Ur|Queen of Ur]]
| reign        = c. 2550 BC
| predecessor  = 
| successor    = 
| death_date   = Aged c. 40
| burial_place = [[Natural History Museum, London|Natural History Museum]], [[England]], [[United Kingdom]]
| dynasty      = [[First Dynasty of Ur]]
}}
{{Location map
| Near East
| width      = 300px
| float      = right
| border     = 
| caption    = Location of Ur
| alt        = 
| relief     = yes
| AlternativeMap = 
| overlay_image = 
| label      = [[Ur]]
| label_size = 
| position   = left
| background = 
| mark       = 
| marksize   = 
| link       = 
| lat_deg    = 30.963056
| lon_deg    = 46.103056
}}
[[File:Ur excavations (1900) (14764273291).jpg|thumb|right|Plan of tomb PG 800, drawn by archaeologist [[Katharine Woolley]]]]
[[File:Reconstructed sumerian headgear necklaces british museum.JPG|thumb|Reconstructed Sumerian headgear necklaces found in the tomb of Puabi on three of her attendants, housed at the British Museum]]
'''Puabi''' ([[Akkadian language|Akkadian]]: 𒅤𒀜 pu3-AD {{fl.|{{circa}} 2550 BC}}),<ref name=":1" /> also called '''Shubad''' or '''Shudi-Ad''' due to a misinterpretation by Sir [[Charles Leonard Woolley|Charles Woolley]], was an important queen in the [[Sumer]]ian city of [[Ur]], during the [[First Dynasty of Ur]].<ref name=":1">{{cite book |last1=Diakonoff |first1=I. M. |title=Early Antiquity |date=2013 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-14467-2 |pages=78–79 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JU8pegs94uoC&pg=PA78 |language=en}}</ref> Commonly labeled as a "queen", her status is somewhat in dispute, although several [[cylinder seal]]s in her tomb, labeled grave PG 800 at the [[Royal Cemetery at Ur]],<ref name="JR96">{{cite book |last1=Reade |first1=Julian |title=Art of the First Cities: The Third Millennium B.C. from the Mediterranean to the Indus |date=2003 |publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art |isbn=978-1-58839-043-1 |page=96 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8l9X_3rHFdEC&pg=PA96 |language=en}}</ref> identify her by the title "''[[NIN (cuneiform)|nin]]''" or "eresh", a Sumerian word denoting a queen or a priestess. Puabi's seal does not place her in relation to any king or husband, possibly indicating that she ruled in her own right.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.penn.museum/collections/highlights/neareast/puabi.php |title=Queen Puabi's Headdress from the Royal Cemetery at Ur|website=[[Penn Museum]]|access-date=2019-03-28}}</ref> It has been suggested that she was the second wife of king [[Meskalamdug]].<ref name="JR96"/> Although little is known about Puabi's life, the discovery of Puabi's tomb and its death pit reveals important information as well as raises questions about Mesopotamian society and culture.<ref>Durn, Sarah, ''[https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/ur-queen-puabi-mesopotamia-textiles The Most Lavish Mesopotamian Tomb Ever Found Belongs to a Woman]'', Atlas Obscura, February 10, 2022 with an image of adornment found on Puabi</ref>

The meaning of Puabi's name is uncertain, though it could perhaps mean "word of my father"<ref>{{cite web |title=Queen Puabi's Headdress |url=https://www.penn.museum/collections/highlights/neareast/puabi.php |website=Penn Museum Online Collections |publisher=Penn Museum |access-date=10 January 2025}}</ref> or "orchard of my father."

==Tomb of Puabi==
[[United Kingdom|British]] [[archaeologist]] [[Leonard Woolley]]<ref>{{cite book
| last = Woolley
| first = Leonard
| year = 1934
| title = Ur Excavations II, The Royal Cemetery
| publisher = London-Philadelphia
| page =  73 & ss
}}</ref> discovered the tomb of Puabi, which was excavated between 1922 and 1934 by a joint team sponsored by the British Museum and the [[University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology]]. The Woolley team included his wife and fellow archaeologist, [[Katharine Woolley|Katharine]], who drew the detailed diagrams of the site. Puabi's tomb was found along with approximately 1,800 other graves at the [[Royal Cemetery at Ur]]. 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.

=== Objects in the tomb ===
The number of grave goods that Woolley uncovered in Puabi's tomb was staggering. They included a [[Queen Puabi's headdress|heavy, golden headdress]] made of golden leaves, rings and plates; a superb lyre (see [[Lyres of Ur]]) complete with a golden and [[lapis lazuli]]-encrusted bearded bull's head; a profusion of gold [[tableware]]; golden, carnelian, and lapis lazuli cylindrical beads used in extravagant necklaces and belts; a chariot adorned with lioness heads in silver, and an abundance of silver, lapis lazuli, and golden rings and bracelets, as well as her headdress, a belt made of gold rings, carnelian and lapis beads, and other various rings and earrings. Puabi's headdress drew inspiration from nature in its floral motifs and is made up of gold ribbons and leaves, lapis and carnelian beads, and gold flowers.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hafford|first=William B.|date=Spring 2018|title=A Spectacular Discovery: Burials Simple and Splendid|journal=Expedition|pages=62–63}}</ref>

The textiles in the tomb had been reduced to dust. Nonetheless, Wooley deduced the pattern of the weaves from the undisturbed remains. The weaves included "plain over-and-under right-angle weave"(i.e., [[Tabby weave]]), "finely woven cloth with a diagonal rib", and "a loosely woven right-angle weave fabric on one side of which were long threads forming either a very deep pile or else tassels".<ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.coursehero.com/file/p2rrl7f0/Figure-75-Figures-of-women-spinning-right-warping-center-and-weaving-left-from/|title=Women's Work: The first 20,000 years|author=Elizabeth Wayland Barber|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|date=1994|page=183}}</ref>

=== The "Death Pit" ===
A number of "death pits" were also found outside of the chambers as well as above Puabi's chamber, raising questions about the initial attribution of the death pits to Puabi specifically.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Hafford|first=William B.|date=Spring 2018|title=A Spectacular Discovery: Burials Simple and Splendid|journal=Expedition|page=65}}</ref> The largest and most well-known death pit held 74 attendants, 6 men and 68 women, all adorned with various gold, silver, and lapis decoration, and one woman who appeared to be more elaborately adorned than the others.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.penn.museum/sites/iraq/?page_id=208|title=The Death Pit|language=en-US|access-date=2019-03-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200704043345/https://www.penn.museum/sites/iraq/?page_id=208|archive-date=2020-07-04}}</ref> She was buried with 52 attendants: servants, guards, lions, a horse, a chariot, and several other bodies—retainers who were suspected by excavator Leonard Woolley [[Human sacrifice|to have poisoned themselves (or to have been poisoned by others)]] to serve their mistress in the next world. In Puabi's chamber, the remains of three other women were found, and these personal servants had minor adornments of their own. The pit found above Puabi's chamber contained 21 attendants, an elaborate harp or lyre, a chariot, and what was left of a large chest of personal grooming items. Due to the location of the pits and general lack of evidence, it is largely unclear whether the death pits may be directly linked to Puabi.<ref name=":0"/>

=== Theories of cause of death ===
Evidence derived from CAT scans through the [[University of Pennsylvania Museum]] suggests that some of the sacrifices were likely violent and caused by blunt force trauma. A pointed, weighted tool could explain the shatter patterns on the skulls that resulted in death, while a small hammer-like tool was also found, retrieved, and catalogued by Woolley during his original excavation. The size and weight of the tool fit the damage sustained by the two bodies examined by Aubrey Baadsgaard, a PhD candidate at the University of Pennsylvania. [[Cinnabar]], or mercury vapour residue, was observed as well, and it would have been used to prevent or slow the decomposition of the bodies until the completion of the necessary funerary rites.<ref>Baadsgaard, A., Monge, J., Cox, S., & Zettler, R. L. (2012). Bludgeoned, Burned, and Beautified: Reevaluating Mortuary Practices in the Royal Cemetery of Ur. Sacred killing: the archaeology of sacrifice in the ancient Near East (pp. 125-158). Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns.</ref>

==Remains==
Puabi's physical remains, including pieces of her badly damaged skull, are kept in the [[Natural History Museum, London]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BFjoBgAAQBAJ&pg=PT51|title= From Ancient to Modern: Archaeology and Aesthetics|author= Jennifer Y. Chi, Pedro Azara|date= 22 March 2015|page= 51|publisher= Princeton University Press|isbn= 978-0-691-16646-9}}</ref> The excavated finds from Woolley's expedition were divided among the [[British Museum]] in [[London]], the [[University of Pennsylvania Museum]] in [[Philadelphia]], and the [[Iraq Museum]] in [[Baghdad]]. Several pieces of the treasure were looted from the National Museum during the [[Iraq War]] in 2003.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bogdanos |first=Matthew |date=2005 |title=The Casualties of War: The Truth about the Iraq Museum |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40026122 |journal=American Journal of Archaeology |volume=109 |issue=3 |pages=477–526 |issn=0002-9114}}</ref> Several of the more spectacular pieces from Puabi's grave were featured in a highly successful Art and History Museum tour through the United Kingdom and the United States.

==Artifacts from tomb PG 800==
<gallery widths="200" heights="200" perrow="4">
File:Flickr - Nic's events - British Museum with Cory and Mary, 6 Sep 2007 - 185.jpg|Cylinder seal of Queen Puabi, found in her tomb and inscribed as 𒅤𒀜 𒊩𒌆''Pu-abi [[NIN (cuneiform)|Nin]]'' "Queen Puabi".<ref name="British Museum notice WA 121544">[https://www.flickr.com/photos/nics_events/1337998095/in/photostream/ British Museum notice WA 121544]</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Crawford|first1=Harriet|title=The Sumerian World|date=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-21911-5|page=622|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4SKYAAAAQBAJ&pg=PT622|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Anthropology|first1=University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and|last2=Hansen|first2=Donald P.|last3=Pittman|first3=Holly|title=Treasures from the Royal Tombs of Ur|date=1998|publisher=UPenn Museum of Archaeology|isbn=978-0-924171-55-0|page=78|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h8j76olVKloC&pg=PA78|language=en}}</ref> The last word "𒊩𒌆" may be pronounced as ''Nin'' "lady" or ''Eresh'' "queen".<ref>{{cite book|last1=James|first1=Sharon L.|last2=Dillon|first2=Sheila|title=A Companion to Women in the Ancient World|date=2015|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-1-119-02554-2|page=9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0NYdCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA9|language=en}}</ref><ref>Seal and transcription: {{cite web|title=CDLI-Archival View|url=https://cdli.ucla.edu/search/archival_view.php?ObjectID=P247683|website=cdli.ucla.edu}}</ref>
File:Queen's Lyre Ur Royal Cemetery.jpg|Queen Puabi's Lyre, one of the [[Lyres of Ur]], Ur Royal Cemetery
File:Inlay of two standing goats BM 121529.jpg|Inlay with two standing goats, Ur, Tomb PG 800
File:Silver Lion's Head Finial for the arm of a chair with shell and lapis lazuli inset eyes recovered from the royal cemetery of Ur 2550-2450 BCE.jpg|Silver lioness head finial for the arm of a chair with shell and lapis lazuli inset eyes, recovered from the royal cemetery of Ur 2550–2450 BCE, from the death pit at the entrance to Puabi's chamber<ref>{{cite web |title=Artifacts of the Royal Cemetery of Ur|url=https://www.thoughtco.com/artifacts-royal-cemetery-of-ur-171678|first=K. Kris|last=Hirst|website=ThoughtCo|language=en}}</ref>
File:Sumerian Fluted Goblet from the tomb of Queen Puabi Electrum 2500 BCE.jpg|Sumerian fluted goblet from the tomb of Queen Puabi, Electrum, 2500 BCE
File:Lapis Lazuli Cylinder Seal recovered from the royal cemetery of Ur, Iraq 2550-2450 BCE.jpg|Lapis lazuli cylinder seal recovered from tomb PG 800, inscription ''U-bara-ge''<ref>{{cite book|editor1-first=Richard L.|editor1-last=Zettler|editor2-first=Lee|editor2-last=Horne|editor3-first=Holly|editor3-last=Pittman|editor4-first=Donald P.|editor4-last=Hansen|title=Treasures from the Royal Tombs of Ur|date=1998|publisher=UPenn Museum of Archaeology|isbn=978-0-924171-54-3|page=78|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D_-d4p4bd5kC&pg=PA78|language=en}}</ref>
File:Queen Puabi's Grave Goods ( c. 2550 BCE). Marble jar (British Museum, BM 121702).jpg|Marble jar, similar to Egyptian jars. May have come from the Eastern Mediterranean. British Museum, BM 121702.<ref>British Museum, museum notice</ref>
</gallery>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
*{{cite web|url=http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/dinner_party/heritage_floor/shub_ad_of_ur.php|title=Shub-Ad of Ur |date=2007-01-29|work=Dinner party Database|publisher=Brooklyn Museum|access-date=2009-09-27}}
*{{cite book|last=White|first=Anne Terry |title=Lost worlds: Adventures in Archaeology |publisher=Random House|year=1941|pages=300–303|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9MQaAAAAMAAJ&q=Shub-Ad+of+Ur}}
*{{cite book|last=Woolley|first=Sir Leonard |title=Ur of the Chaldees: a Record of Seven Years of Excavation |publisher=Penguin Books|year= 1950|edition=Edition: 2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UK1tAAAAMAAJ&q=Shub-Ad+of+Ur}}

==External links==
*[http://www.penn.museum/sites/iraq/?page_id=28 Queen Puabi (Penn Museum)]
*[http://www.arthistory.upenn.edu/522/puabi/puabi.html Plan of Queen Puabi's gravesite.]
*[https://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/ur-and-its-treasures/ Royal Tombs of Ur at the University of Pennsylvania Museum]
*[http://www.kolbsociety.com/en/kolb-fellows-new/fellows/108-jane-hickman-ph-d Jane Hickman]: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHK71kAfbbg "Beauty Through the Ages" Jewelry: Worn to Adorn], lecture at the Penn Museum, published on Youtube 16 November 2011

{{Rulers of Sumer}}

[[Category:26th-century BC monarchs]]
[[Category:26th-century BC women]]
[[Category:Sumerian people]]
[[Category:Akkadian people]]
[[Category:Ancient Mesopotamian women]]
[[Category:Ancient queens regnant]]
[[Category:First Dynasty of Ur]]
[[Category:3rd-millennium BC births]]
[[Category:3rd-millennium BC deaths]]