Two Chance Finds from Ur

Extract

It is an honour to me to offer in memory of Sir Leonard Woolley a note on two chance finds at Ur which have recently come to light.

The white marble half-statuette (15·2 cm. high, BM.132101) which is illustrated in Pls. XXV–XXVI was presented to the British Museum in 1956, having been originally found by a naval visitor to Ur, Able-Bodied Seaman J. B. Smith, who stated that he picked it up himself. According to his report, it was found in an area which is now known to consist of private houses to the N.E. of the building named by Sir Leonard Woolley “No. 3 Gay Street.” It shows a young woman in an attitude of worship, her hands tightly clasped together. The nose is damaged and the top of the head has been knocked away, but for the rest, the figure is in remarkable preservation. Particularly interesting are the eyes, separately made out of a whiter stone than the figure, and inserted in the eye-sockets; the eyeballs, which were also separately made, are lost. But what is even more striking is the remains of colour. The hair, eyebrows, eyelashes and upper border of garment at the neck were black, though little of it survives, while her rich multiple necklace was (indeed, still is) a dull red, even at the back, and her ear caps were of similar colour. This coloration would have well set off the white colour of her complexion.