SUMERIAN TECHNOLOGY—BOBULA 655 
Gold was used for much of the jewelry worn by men and women— 
beads, rings, bracelets, earrings, chains, cylinder seals, headdresses, 
and bands. It is probable that there was plenty of filigree silver 
jewelry, too, but most of it perished 
in the earth. In a specially for- 
tunate instance, a silver hair rib- 
bon came to light in the folds of 
the robes of a court lady who died 
at Ur; the ribbon survived because 
it remained in a coil. The owner 
may have hurried in order not to 
be left out of the mass funeral, and 
she had no time to put on her 
ornament. 
Larger silver objects had more 
chance to survive the passage of millennia, though their restoration 
was difficult. The silver from Ur was encrusted with a thick layer 
of silver chloride, some so-called secondary silver from which copper 
had been leeched out, and in some cases with copper. 
A. Kenneth Graham wrote (1929) : 
. . . to reproduce the silver bowl (of Ur) would require no ordinary amount 
of skill even with modern methods. The silver alloy would first have to be 
prepared and cast into convenient form. It would then be alternately heated 
in a furnace (annealed) and rolled until a flat sheet of the desired thickness 
is obtained. ‘The silversmith would carefully study the shape of the object to 
be produced and then proceed to cut a pattern out of the flat sheet metal. 
He would then prepare forms upon which the metal would be hammered to 
the finished shape. 
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Figure 28.—Gold bird with lapis tail. 
Microscopic examination of the structure of Ur silver showed that 
indeed this was the way in which these old silver objects were made, 
and they are technologically “worthy accomplishments.” 
While gold objects usually take care of themselves, restoration of 
silver is the glory of the museum experts, and ingenious methods 
have been developed by which today’s master craftsmen pay tribute 
to those of the past, while proving, and allowing others to realize, 
how great was the mastery of these early metalworkers, who pro- 
duced masterpieces of unsurpassed beauty. 
Let us once again quote from Sir Leonard Woolley, who describes 
the helmet of prince Mes-Kalam-Dug: 
It was a helmet of beaten gold made to fit low over the head with cheek 
pieces to protect the face and it was in the form of a wig, the locks of hair 
hammered up in relief, the individual hairs shown by delicate engraved lines. 
Parted down the middle, the hair covers the head in flat wavy tresses and 
is bound round with a twisted fillet. ... As an example of goldsmith’s work 
this is the most beautiful thing we have found ... and if there were nothing 
else by which the art of these ancient Sumerians could be judged we should 
