Standard of Ur

The Standard of Ur
The Standard of Ur in the British Museum
Material	shell, limestone, lapis lazuli, bitumen
Long	49.53 cm (19.50 in)
Width	21.59 cm (8.50 in)
Writing	Cuneiform
Created	c. 2550 BC
Discovered	1927 or 1928 Royal Cemetery at Ur 30°57′41″N 46°06′22″E / 30.9615°N 46.1061°E / 30.9615; 46.1061
Discovered by	Leonard Woolley
Present location	British Museum, London
Identification	121201 Reg number:1928,1010.3
Culture	Sumerian

The Standard of Ur is a Sumerian artifact of the 3rd millennium BCE that is now in the collection of the British Museum. It comprises a hollow wooden box measuring 21.59 cm (8.50 in) wide by 49.53 cm (19.50 in) long, inlaid with a mosaic of shell, red limestone, and lapis lazuli. It comes from the ancient city of Ur (located in modern-day Iraq west of Nasiriyah). It dates to the First Dynasty of Ur during the Early Dynastic period and is around 4,600 years old.^[1]

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 actual purpose is not known. It was found in a royal tomb in Ur in the 1920s next to the skeleton of a ritually sacrificed man who might have been its bearer.^{[citation needed]}