Early Sumerian II period : The Blau Monuments, third quarter of 4th millennium BC
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Strommenger, Eva
Photographer: Arthur Llewellyn Basham
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The oldest Near Eastern antiquities on which writing and pictures are combined. The inscription, as yet undeciphered, cannot contribute to their interpretation and is unlikely to do so even in the future since texts from this period consist only of lists. On the other hand, the inscription helps us to a more exact dating as its style belongs to the same stage as that of the Uruk III level. The shape of the two stone plaques is peculiar. Mallowan thinks that they may be imitations of tools, i.e. chisel and pottery scraper, & kneeling craftsmen are depicted on both. One side of the more slender stone is entirely covered with writing. On the other we recognise the "man in net-skirt" (although the inner design of the cloth is missing) with a horned sacrificial animal and squatting man at work under. On one side of the scraper-like other stone similar craftsmen are working at some kind of anvil, with again "man in net-skirt", but shaven & shorn. On the reverse side (above) he appears with hair and beard, holding a sceptre-like object, topped by an animal head. A suppliant (?) stands opposite him. -- Dark shale, 7 x 15.9 cm and 4.1 x 17.8 cm (British Museum).
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Archives Series
Date created
1964
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This image is provided for research purposes only and must not be reproduced without the prior permission of the Archives Program, Australian National University.
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