The Sumerians

ARTIFACTS, UPDATES ON ARCHEOLOGY FINDS AT DIGS IN IRAQ, INCLUDING THE UNCOVERING OF THE GREAT WALLS OF URECH.

If you were lucky enough to visit the Treasures from the Royal Tombs of Ur exhibit at the Sackler Gallery in Washington, D.C. last year then you saw many of the results of Woolley's genius. The exhibit featured the objects which Woolley recovered in the first part of the last century from the tomb of Puabi, a Sumerian priestess whose court was sacrificed and buried with her.This book is a look inside his mind, how he viewed the people whose past he was uncovering. Sure, he got some things wrong. He did not have the benefit of the research of countless others who came after him. In particular, he appears convinced that there was something he calls "Sumerian nationalism" which was in conflict with rise of Semitic speakers in Mesopotamia. There is no evidence that the ancient Mesopotamians had a concept of an ethnic group or that this concept was a source of conflict.Woolley was also writing during an era when it was considered scientific to view history in terms of what he called "race," so he returns regularly to contrast his view of the racial stock of the Sumerians with that of the Semites in Mesopotamia.Yes, this book is a period piece, but I learned a lot from it, and I am a beginner. Indeed, this is the first history of the Sumerians I have ever read from cover to cover. The listing of the Sumerian King's List early in the book is particularly valuable. I find myself returning to it from time to time. What city was Gilgamesh king of? Oh yes, Erech.