Treatment of the Dead Mesopotamia 2700 BC

Burial in Ur

What were death rituals like in Biblical times? Studying archaeological sites from ancient Mesopotamia offers some answers, as well as raises more questions. Mesopotamia or the "the Land between the Rivers" or "House of Two Rivers" is a region of Southwest Asia between the Trigris and Euphrates rivers, near Iraq ande Syria. Writings from this area are some of the earliest known in human culture, so it is believed that this may indeed be the cradle of civilization.

The Sumerians lived in this area of Mesopotamia about 2800 BC in cities such as Adab, Eridu, Isin, Kish, Kullab, Lagash, Larsa, Nippur, and Ur. Around the city of Ur, which was established around 2100 BC, grew rich agricultural lands. Inside the city proper, stood homes and temples that later became very huge and elaborate buildings.

The city of Ur includes one of the most interesting archaelogical finds of the 20th century, which offers details on burial traditions. Archaeologists found a cemetery in Ur dating back to about 2600 BC with hundreds of bodies. Many of these individuals were buried with very expensive items. In one area of the cemetery, a group of 16 graves dates back to the mid-third millennium. Unlike the other burials, these large, shaft graves included stone, rubble and brick tombs that were built at the bottom of a pit. The tombs' design varied, with some taking up a whole section of the pit and having numerous chambers. In one of these larger tombs was found the body of a woman believed to be Pu-abi, because of the name carved on the cylinder seal.

The larger graves were surrounded by numerous bodies -- 75 bodies around just one, for example -- along with gold, jewelery and food. It is thought that these burial areas once contained kings or queens, and the nearby bodies were sacrificial victims. None of these bodies indicate a violent death, suggesting that they perhaps committed suicide. It is possible that they took poison so they could serve their masters in the afterlife.