The Standard of Ur is a Sumerian artifact of the 3rd millennium BC that is now in the collection of the British Museum. It comprises a hollow wooden box measuring 21.59 centimetres (8.50 in) wide by 49.53 centimetres (19.50 in) long, inlaid with a mosaic of shell, red limestone and lapis lazuli. It comes from the ancient city of Ur. It dates to the First Dynasty of Ur during the Early Dynastic period and is around 4,600 years old. The standard was probably constructed in the form of a hollow wooden box with scenes of war and peace represented on each side through elaborately inlaid mosaics. Although interpreted as a standard by its discoverer, its original purpose remains enigmatic. It was found in a royal tomb in Ur in the 1920s next to the skeleton of a ritually sacrificed man who may have been its bearer.
The Standard of Ur in the British Museum
Standard of Ur
Plan of grave PG 779, thought to belong to Ur-Pabilsag. The Standard of Ur was located in "S"
"War" panel
Ur was an important Sumerian city-state in ancient Mesopotamia, located at the site of modern Tell el-Muqayyar in south Iraq's Dhi Qar Governorate. Although Ur was once a coastal city near the mouth of the Euphrates on the Persian Gulf, the coastline has shifted and the city is now well inland, on the south bank of the Euphrates, 16 km (10 mi) from Nasiriyah in modern-day Iraq. The city dates from the Ubaid period circa 3800 BC, and is recorded in written history as a city-state from the 26th century BC, its first recorded king being King Tuttues.
The name 𒋀𒀊𒆠 URIM5KI for "Country of Ur" on a seal of King Ur-Nammu
Enthroned King Ur-Nammu (c. 2047–2030 BC)
Gold helmet of King of Ur I Meskalamdug, c. 2600–2500 BC
Mesopotamian female deity seated on a chair, Old-Babylonian fired clay plaque from Ur