(PG 755 ) (Woolley 1934 : 156 ). In female burials, the upper body was adorned with
necklaces made from semi-precious stones and sometimes from gold and silver beads;
in addition, golden, silver, and copper pins were used to attach seals and less often
amulets or brooches to the garments. The burial of Pû-abı ̄ even yielded a beaded cape
that reached down to her waist (Pittman 1998 ). The wrists and, in some cases, arms
were adorned with bracelets, but no foot jewelry was found.
The emphasis of body adornments on the head and upper body appears to be a
characteristic of the Early Dynastic period since it can also be observed in visual
representations as well, but it should be said that Early Dynastic cemeteries outside of
Ur rarely show the same kind of lavishness in decorating the upper body (Eickhoff
1993 : tab. 18 ; but see Sallaberger 1995 ). Statues and figurines of women, and in some
cases images on seals, show elaborate and magnificent hairstyles that were sometimes
decorated with a headband (Braun-Holzinger 1977 : Taf. 17 b, Taf. 20 g, Taf. 25 a,b). This
suggests that headbands were the only element in the funerary equipment of female
burials and “co-burials” at the Royal Cemetery that were also used by the living. It is
almost certain that headbands made of (precious) metals were a prerogative of the
elites. The above-mentioned administrative document from Adab lists several items for
the funeral of a temple official’s wife, among others a headband, albeit one made of
cloth (Gelb, Steinkeller, Whiting 1991 : 101 iii 2 ).^2 One can therefore assume that the
elaborate headdresses that were found with a number of female burials and a certain
type of female “co-burial” in the Royal Cemetery were made specifically to be worn
by the dead. However, this has to remain an assumption until a use–wear analysis can
offer some evidence as to whether the jewelry was actually worn or not.
MOURNING AND GRIEF
While it is possible to gain information regarding the preparation of the corpse by
drawing mainly on archaeological sources, we have to rely exclusively on the textual
record if we want to understand how people in the Sumerian cultures coped with
death. Given the Mesopotamian climate, it is generally assumed that a corpse was
buried within twenty-four hours. The ceremonies and rites that were carried out for
the relatives of the ruling house could, however, last several days. Definite evidence for
conservational measures performed on the corpse is missing.
Grief for a dead person was expressed by beating one’s chest (gaba ra) and by loudly
wailing (akkil) (Maul 2007 : 360 ). He (ibid. 364 ) furthermore refers to passages in the
Epic of Gilgamesˇ, which vividly describe how Gilgamesˇ, deeply troubled by his friend
Enkidu’s death, left his hair uncombed, took off his jewelry, and put on a mourning
dress (cf. Cohen 2005 : 49 for further textual evidence). Whether this was customary
behavior in the case of a death remains unclear. Due to the costliness of fine garments
and precious jewelry, it is unlikely that ordinary people would have been able to carry
out such practices. It should be noted that the rich graves in the Royal Cemetery
occasionally yielded pieces of jewelry that may be considered offerings by mourners.
Among these are sets of four brîms, which were found on the skull of an adult man (RT
1618 ), near the skull of a small male child (PG 1133 ), and on the bier of the city “queen”
Pû-abı ̄ (RT 800 ). Furthermore, the graves contained pieces of female jewelry laid down
in male burials (for example, in PG 755 , PG 1312 ) as well as male objects, such as
daggers or grinding stones, which were found in female burials (for example, in the–– Helga Vogel ––