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When hung as pendants, the supposed “wheat stalks” resemble the branches (rachillae)
from a male date inflorescence (Figure 5.6B). Note that the male flowers of the rachillae are
still in the bud stage, which is the proper stage for hanging in the female tree. The upright
fruit stalk also revealed its true identity when hung as a pendant. Instead of olives, it now
clearly resembles the fruiting branch (rachilla) of a date cluster (see Figure 5.6B).
The Sumerians had two words for date rachises: a 2 - an, the date- palm rachis, and a 2 - an-
sur, the broom of the date- palm rachis.^41 They also had a word for an item of jewelry shaped
like a date rachis, A 2 .AN su- sa- lal,^42 although no physical example of such an ornament
had ever been found prior to Miller’s ingenious reinterpretation. Miller believes that both
the male and female pendants of Queen Puabi’s diadem represent the hitherto mysterious
pieces of Sumerian jewelry known as A 2 .AN su- sa- lal.
Jewelry shaped like date rachillae were icons of the goddess Inanna/ Ishtar and in all like-
lihood would have represented agricultural abundance. Songs from the Inanna/ Dumuzi
cult often refer to head and neck decorations worn by the goddess that were based on flow-
ers and leaves. In fact, they are regarded as “identifying symbols” of Inanna or some other
vegetation goddess. The fact that the Queen or priestess buried at Ur bore these symbols on
her headdress shows that she was identified with a goddess and indicates her semi- divine
status. According to J. van Dijk, “these plant crowns are insignias of the goddesses and ofFigure 5.5 The larger of Queen Puabi’s two headdresses, reconstructed by Wooley using
hundreds of individual pieces.
From Zettler, R. L., and L. Horne (1998), Treasures from the Royal Tombs of Ur. University of Pennsylvania
Museum, Philadelphia.