The Copper Bull is a copper sculpture found at the site of
Tell al-'Ubaid
Tell al-'Ubaid ( ar, العبيد) is a low, relatively small tell (settlement mound) west of nearby Ur in southern Iraq's Dhi Qar Governorate. The majority of the remains are from the Chalcolithic Ubaid period, for which Tell al-'Ubaid is the ...
near the ancient city of
Ur, now in southern
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
, by
Sir Leonard Woolley
Sir Charles Leonard Woolley (17 April 1880 – 20 February 1960) was a British archaeologist best known for his excavations at Ur in Mesopotamia. He is recognized as one of the first "modern" archaeologists who excavated in a methodical way, ...
in 1923. The sculpture, which dates from about 2600 BC, is now in the
British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
.
[Copper figure of a bull](_blank)
British Museum, accessed July 2010
Discovery
The sculpture was found with a number of other artifacts at the base of a foundation in
Tell al-'Ubaid
Tell al-'Ubaid ( ar, العبيد) is a low, relatively small tell (settlement mound) west of nearby Ur in southern Iraq's Dhi Qar Governorate. The majority of the remains are from the Chalcolithic Ubaid period, for which Tell al-'Ubaid is the ...
. The sculpture was found by
Leonard Woolley
Sir Charles Leonard Woolley (17 April 1880 – 20 February 1960) was a British archaeologist best known for his Excavation (archaeology), excavations at Ur in Mesopotamia. He is recognized as one of the first "modern" archaeologists who excavat ...
who was working jointly for the
University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology and the
British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
.
[Ellen Herscher, "At the Museums: Wonders of Ur](_blank)
''Archeology'', Volume 53 Number 2, March/April 2000, retrieved July 2010 The foundation which hid the sculpture was a platform made from brick and mud which had originally supported a temple to the goddess
Ninhursag
, deity_of=Mother goddess, goddess of fertility, mountains, and rulers
, image= Mesopotamian - Cylinder Seal - Walters 42564 - Impression.jpg
, caption=Akkadian cylinder seal impression depicting a vegetation goddess, possibly Ninhursag, sitting ...
. The bull sculpture had been crushed by the falling masonry of the damaged temple. Woolley found similar models of bulls but only this and one other were recovered in an intact state.
Ninhursag was a goddess of the pastures, so it is appropriate that cows should be found around her temple; it was said that her milk sustained the kings.
Construction
The sculpture had been made by first making a wooden model of a bull. This had then been coated with
bitumen
Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term a ...
. The parts of the bull were made in sections.
[Maude de Schauensee, ''Two Lyres from Ur''](_blank)
2002, p.37-42, accessed July 2010 The legs were shaped out of wood covered in copper plate and held in place using tacks. The legs were attached and then more copper sheet covered the main body, with a different sheet for the bull's shoulders. These sheets were held in place by flat-headed nails along the back of the legs, the haunches and the stomach. The body's sheets overlapped the places where the legs had been attached.
Copper bolts attached the legs to the base and the head was attached with a wooden dowel. The horns and the ears were then attached to the head.
Recovery
By the time the bull was discovered the wood had decayed away and the bull was recovered only by casting wax around the fragile remains and then lifting the remains out for later conservation. The sculpture as exhibited in the British Museum includes a horn, part of the tail and hooves which have been recreated to make the bull complete.
[
]
Ownership
The Copper Bull is in the British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
. The artifacts discovered by Woolley were shared between the Iraqi State which received around 50% of the objects and the British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
and the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology which each received about 25% of the objects.[About the Excavations of Ur](_blank)
, retrieved December 2015 Ur was one of the first sites excavated under Iraq's antiquity law, drawn up by Gertrude Bell.[Spotlight on Division of Finds: Penn’s acquisition of its Ur material](_blank)
retrieved December 2015
References
Bibliography
* H.R. Hall and C.L. Woolley, ''Ur Excavations'', vol. I: Al-Uba (London, Oxford University Press, 1927)
* T. C. Mitchell
Terence Croft Mitchell (17 June 1929 – 21 April 2019) was a British archaeologist, scholar and curator. He was Keeper of Western Asiatic Antiquities at the British Museum from 1985 to 1989. He specialised in West Semitic languages, Near Eas ...
, ''Sumerian art: illustrated by objects from Ur and Al-'Ubaid'' (London, The British Museum Press, 1969)
{{British Museum
Middle Eastern objects in the British Museum
Sumerian art and architecture
Sculpture of the Ancient Near East
Cattle in art
Iraq–United Kingdom relations
Ancient art in metal