Copper figure of a bull
From the Temple of Ninhursag, Tell al-'Ubaid, southern Iraq,
around 2600 BC
Decoration for the temple façade
This bull was discovered in 1923 by Leonard Woolley at the small
site of Tell al-'Ubaid, close to the remains of the city of Ur. The
bull was found among a group of objects at the foot of a mud brick
platform. The platform had originally supported a temple building
dedicated to the goddess Ninhursag. The objects were found beside
the platform-stairs. The bull had been squashed flat by the weight
of the brickwork which had fallen from the temple above.
Ninhursag was a mother goddess and her name means 'lady of the
steppe land' where cows were put out to pasture. It is appropriate
that her temple should have been decorated with bulls and cows.
The body of the bull originally had a wooden core, now decayed,
which was covered in a thin layer of bitumen. Over this was
hammered thin sheet copper (probably from Iran or Oman) secured
with copper nails.
Four bulls were found at the site but only two were in a good
state of preservation (the second is now in the University of
Phildelphia Museum). Because the copper was in such a fragile
state, Leonard Woolley poured wax over the remains and covered it
in bandages so that the metal was kept in place when lifted from
the ground. Modern restorations include one horn, a section in the
middle of the tail and part of the modelling of the hooves.
H.R. Hall and C.L. Woolley, Ur Excavations, vol. I: Al-Uba (London, Oxford University Press, 1927)
T.C. Mitchell, Sumerian art: illustrated by o (London, The British Museum Press, 1969)