Posted on 09/09/2025 9:56:26 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
This gold helmet, painstakingly decorated to look like the wavy hairdo and ears of its wearer, was found in 1927 by British archaeologist Sir Leonard Woolley during excavations at Ur, an ancient city in Mesopotamia that is now part of Iraq.
The artifact was recovered from a tomb in the Royal Cemetery along with alabaster vases, gold daggers and golden bowls -- one of which listed the name Meskalamdug, meaning "hero of the good land." But since the tomb was not as big or as richly furnished as other royal tombs, Woolley suggested the deceased was probably a prince rather than a king of Ur.
Two copies of the helmet were made within a few years of discovery, one going to the British Museum and one to the Penn Museum. The original helmet, which was hidden before the First Gulf War and protected from looting until it was recovered in late 2003, is at the Iraq Museum in Baghdad...
Meskalamdug's helmet is quite different from the ordinary copper helmets that private soldiers wore, Woolley wrote in a 1928 report on Meskalamdug's tomb. But it is similar to the hairstyles and helmets worn by the Mesopotamian rulers Eannatum and Sargon the Great, also known as Sargon of Akkad, in the 25th and 24th centuries B.C. Meskalamdug's helmet is one of the oldest ever found.
While there is evidence from the Royal Cemetery that a man named Meskalamdug was a Sumerian king, this particular Meskalamdug was not identified as a king by the artifacts in his grave. The helmet may therefore have belonged to the eponymous son or grandson of King Meskalamdug, part of Ur's First Dynasty, whose second wife was Queen Puabi.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
The photos in the LiveScience article are from Getty, which we can't post on FR.
Ya think??
The article states this helmet was probably made about 2600 BC and uncovered in 1927. That's pretty amazing it was undiscovered for so long and (based on the picture) in great condition.
"The hand-beaten gold was modeled and engraved to represent hair that was tied back with a ribbon and pulled into a small bun in the back."
He must not have got the memo:
Toshiro Mifune?
LOL!
Meskalamdug. So mellifluous it rolls right off the tongue.
Thanks for posting. Amazing design. Fascinating detail. That long ago. How did an individual accomplish that? Just to think about doing that, let alone finding the materials and tools to do it. WOW!
Only soi-bois....
😊
Practicing a craft, almost anyone will get better at it, but some people are just better at ****. High status people have the resources to make such skills pay off. IOW, it was good to be king, but it was also good to develop rare skills.
😊 King M probably couldn't get a haircut because he didn't trust someone with a blade (no hairs scissors until the Middle Ages or Renaissance) to walk around behind him.
I tried reviving the Egyptian sidelock during the pandemic nl but it never caught on. I went back to the Caesar.
I’ve wound up with the Larry Fine.
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