Storiascopio · Era 3 of 12 · primary year 4
The Standard of Ur
about 2600 BC · Ur, Mesopotamia (now Iraq)
In short
The Standard of Ur is a wooden box decorated with shell, red stone and blue lapis lazuli, found in a royal tomb at Ur. One side shows an army with chariots pulled by donkey-like animals; the other, a banquet with musicians and animals brought as gifts. The archaeologist Leonard Woolley discovered it in the 1920s and called it a ‘standard’, but nobody really knows what it was for. Today it is in the British Museum in London.
Why it matters Like a 4500-year-old comic strip, it shows war and peace in the lives of the Sumerians.
Source: British Museum, “The Standard of Ur”
Where we are in the era “River civilisations”
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about 4000 BCEvent 8 of 25about 1200 BC
Your turn
Name ______________________ Class ______ Date __________
When did it happen? Find the date at the top and write it here:
Tell it in your own words: what happened?
Draw the scene below.
storiascopio.com/en/event/the-standard-of-ur/ · free worksheet, you may photocopy it for your class