They Opened a 4,500-Year-Old Tomb at Ur and Found Seventy People Who Lay Down to Die

Beneath the Sumerian city of Ur, in a cemetery sacred to the moon god Nanna, archaeologist Leonard Woolley opened a 4,500-year-old grave and found around seventy-four people lying in neat rows on the floor. Soldiers, women in gold and lapis, musicians beside their instruments. They walked into the pit beside their dead ruler and never came back up. Why did so many die at once in the Great Death Pit and the tomb of Queen Puabi, and did they go willingly? This is the story the bones of Ur are still telling. Sources: Penn Museum – A Spectacular Discovery (Queen Puabi): https://www.penn.museum/sites/expedit... Penn Museum – Who Was Buried in the Royal Cemetery: https://www.penn.museum/sites/expedit... National Geographic – The Royal Tombs of Ur: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/hi... Baadsgaard et al. (2011), Antiquity – Human Sacrifice at Ur: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper... UrOnline (British Museum + Penn Museum archive): https://www.ur-online.org/ Royal Cemetery at Ur – Overview: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_C...