SUMERIAN TECHNOLOGY—BOBULA 653 
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Ficure 25.—Design from engraved silver vase: Lion-headed eagle and quadrupeds. 
potter’s kiln developed was the natural location for the development 
of the smelting furnace. 
Rich copper deposits, available for smelting and casting copper and 
bronze, occur in the mountain districts of western Asia—Anatolia, 
Armenia—whence, as many scholars believe, the Sumerians descended 
into the plains of southern Mesopotamia. But they never forgot the 
mountain lands, source of all blessing. The goddess Nin-Hursag, the 
Lady of the Mountain, reigns over the sacred hills, which are ex- 
pressly stated to yield gold, silver, and bronze. Gordon Childe 
(1928) states that the Sumerians also made large implements from 
iron. The mountain mines supplied the craftsmen of the lowlands 
with precious raw materials—gold, silver, copper, and tin—and the 
earliest masterpieces of the metalworker known to humanity are cer- 
tainly those that have come to light from the Royal Tombs of Sumer. 
In these wonderful collections of the earliest art, metals are used 
plentifully for vessels, weapons, tools, and jewelry. Sheets of metal 
were also used to cover beams of temples and statuettes of wood and 
bitumen. Metal heads of animals decorated sledges, musical instru- 
ments, and furniture. Shell-shaped silver lamps lighted the grave of 
Queen Shubad. There were many tools—chisels, saws, harpoons, 
Ficure 26.—Gold lion heads, which decorated the chariot of Queen Shubad. 
