100 i Flora Unveiled
the priestesses, who personify these goddesses. Because they symbolize vegetation, they are
regarded as decorative items specifically for women.”^43
It is possible that the A2.AN su- sa- lal pendants not only symbolized agricultural abun-
dance, but that they may also depict the specific method of artificially pollinating date
palms— by suspending male rachillae in the female tree. Although female rachillae even-
tually bend downward due to the weight of their fruit, male rachillae emerge from their
(a)(b)Figure 5.6 Orientation of the date rachis ornaments in Queen Puabi’s “diadem.” A. As originally
reconstructed by Wooley. B. As corrected by Naomi Miller. The current consensus is that the
ornaments actually belong to six or seven separate diadems.
From University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. See Naomi F. Miller (2000),
Plant forms in jewelry from the royal cemetery at Ur. Iraq 62:149– 155.