strainer
- Museum number
- 121347
- Description
-
Gold strainer with short handles; roughly shaped.
- Production date
- 2600BC
- Dimensions
-
Length: 18 centimetres (total; inc.hndle)
-
Length: 4.50 centimetres
-
Weight: 84 grammes
-
Depth: 12 centimetres
- Curator's comments
- Gold strainer for beer or wine. This object was excavated in the tomb of Pu-abi n the Royal Cemetery at Ur. This contained the body of a woman and two serving ladies surrounded by extraordinary rich material. The main burial was in a rough stone chamber at the bottom of the pit where this strainer was found. There are no gold deposits in Mesopotamia, and the metal would probably have been imported from Iran or Anatolia (modern Turkey). It would have arrived as nuggets or in a semi-processed state. The strainer is a good example of the most common technique of working gold at this time: beating sheets into shape. Beer and wine were drunk in Mesopotamia from at least the fourth millennium BC and it is possible that the strainer was used to remove any debris when serving. Straws were commonly used to help the filtration process.
- Location
- On display (G56/dc12)
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
2016-2017 2 Nov-23 Jan, Lens, Musee du Louvre-Lens, History Begins in Mesopotamia
1999 Berlin, Vorderasiatisches Museum 'Royal Cemetery of Ur'
BM, Early Mesopotamia, case 6
BM, Babylonian Room, case D (south side)
BM, Babylonian Room, case B (top)
- Acquisition date
- 1928
- Department
- Middle East
- BM/Big number
- 121347
- Registration number
- 1928,1010.7
- Additional IDs
-
Excavation/small finds number: U.10931 (excavation number)