INTERPRETING VISUAL EVIDENCE

The Queen’s Lyre

Burials and Long-Distance Trade

One of the most intriguing types of evidence from the river-basin societies discussed in this chapter is the elaborate burials of the elite. These burials often contained tremendous wealth in the form of finely crafted items. A number of these items show not only highly specialized artisanship but also evidence of long-distance trade in raw materials among these third-millennium BCE societies.

Consider the types of objects pictured here and the materials used to make them. Queen Hetepheres I of the Fourth Dynasty of Egypt (c. 2550 BCE) was buried at Giza (near Memphis and Saqqara) with silver bracelets decorated with butterflies made of turquoise, lapis lazuli, and carnelian. In southern Mesopotamia, Pu-Abi was interred in the magnificent Royal Tombs of Ur (c. 2600–2400 BCE), which contained artifacts such as the Royal Standard of Ur pictured on the first page of this chapter. Among the many items found in Pu-Abi’s tomb was a lyre made with lapis lazuli and shell set in bitumen, shown in the second image below. Excavation reports describe this lyre as being found in the arms of a female lyrist who may have been a sacrificial victim at the death of Pu-Abi. Harappan artisans in the Indus River valley used a bow drill to perforate tiny beads in order to craft the necklace shown here from lapis lazuli, carnelian, and other semiprecious stones. Much earlier, around 4000 BCE, at Varna on the coast of the Black Sea (see Map 2.7), an important person from a farming village was buried with 990 gold objects (mostly decorative pieces sewn onto his clothing), as well as flint daggers, axes, and spearheads; his burial is shown in the final image.

Bracelets of Queen Hetepheres I.
Harp, or “Queen’s Lyre,” from the Royal Tombs of Ur.
Harappan gemstone necklace with lapis lazuli and carnelian.
Male warrior burial at Varna.

QUESTIONS FOR ANALYSIS

  1. Looking at Map 2.2, where did the raw materials used to make each of the items here come from? Along what trade routes would these raw materials have traveled? What does that suggest about trade between river-basin societies in the third millennium BCE?
  2. What does the presence of these highly crafted items in the graves of elite individuals suggest about river-basin societies, especially in terms of wealth accumulation, labor specialization, and the beginnings of social stratification?
  3. What does the ability and willingness to bury so much wealth in the dirt suggest about these third-millennium BCE societies, especially as compared with earlier, more subsistence-based hunting and gathering communities?