had to be imported over considerable distances and, being highly valued, was recycled
rather than discarded. Among other materials utilised was bitumen, and although it
had to be transported from sources on the middle Euphrates, was widely circulated.
Bitumen had a broad range of uses, including decorative elements such as, for example,
a bitumen plaque with shell inlays found in a level four house at Khafajeh (Delougaz
et al. 1967 : 31 ). In more practical terms, it came to replace gypsum plaster as the main
waterproofing material along with baked bricks during the Akkadian period such as
in the toilets of houses at Tell Asmar (Delougaz et al. 1967 : 176 ).DEATH AND BURIAL
The Sumerian home was not only for the living; it was also a place for the dead. A
defining characteristic of Early Dynastic homes was that graves were dug beneath the
floors of rooms and courtyards. The location of graves varies between homes, perhaps
reflecting the fact that the use of rooms was not fixed until the Ur III period (see
below). They are simple inhumations of both sexes with a wide age range; most of the
burials found at Khafajeh were in pits dug to depths of 0. 75 – 1. 50 metres; the majority
of bodies were lying on their side in a flexed position (Delougaz et al. 1967 : 58 ). Traces
of matting suggest that some of the bodies had been enclosed in coffins. Some had rich
grave goods, others nothing but generally accompanied by ceramics, often in very large
quantities; Abu Salabikh Grave 80 , for example, contained 135 conical bowls, seven
spouted jars and a bottle (Martin et al. 1985 ). The pottery may have been part of
funerary meals (Cohen 2005 ) or possibly for libation ceremonies or part of a funeral
offering (Postgate 1992 : 99 ).
Towards the end of the Early Dynastic I period, although simple graves continued
to be dug, some Khafajeh tombs were being built of plano-convex bricks with vaulted
roofs. There were few apparent differences in wealth between the tombs although some
had more pottery than others, and a range of small items of the sort found in the floor
levels in the houses suggests a close relationship between the activities of the living and
supposed needs of the dead. These vaulted tombs could contain single or multiple
burials. Grave 33 at Khafajeh can serve as a representative example (Delougaz et al.
1967 : 119 – 121 , fig. 91 ). Although the vault was intact, the tomb had been disturbed, as
shown by scattered skulls and detached bones. Of five skulls, two could be related to
bodies that were oriented in opposite directions. This might suggest that the tombs
were intended to be used more than once and that with each new burial the earlier
remains were pushed aside. An additional result was that accompanying objects accu-
mulated in the tomb. The greatest profusion of objects continued to be pottery. Other,
perhaps personal items in this tomb included copper pins, a shell-shaped cosmetic
bowl containing pigment and a shell cosmetic container. There were also a number of
beads, a fragment of a cylinder seal and four stone bowls. More exotic items included
twenty-five shell rings that might have been from a belt, and a silver spiral ring.
Although the vaulted tombs might contain multiple bodies, the number of burials
is insufficient to account for all the inhabitants of the houses and many burials took
place presumably in extramural cemeteries. Indeed, it has been suggested that the
number of burials beneath a home is related to whether or not the household was
affiliated with a temple or palace. Thus households without any association with a
major institution had more burials than those with an affiliation; the latter were buried
–– Everyday life in Sumer ––