Queens' tombs at Nimrud

Northwest Palace Excavations at Nimrud began in the 1840s, when explorer Austen Henry Layard first uncovered the city's remains. Through his excavations, Mallowan greatly contributed to mapping the topography of the ancient city. Mallowan's excavations included the southern section of the Northwest Palace where, in 1951, he discovered the so-called “Harem Quarters” underneath room DD. He found an Iron Age, eighth century B.C.E, coffin containing a woman. Reception The discovery of the tombs originally received substantial coverage, including a full-color spread in Time Magazine, but the attention drifted with the Gulf Wars on the horizon. Additionally, the original reports were largely in Arabic and local to Iraq, which limited Western access to them due to an international embargo. Thus, the queens’ tombs have received limited academic attention. The Nimrud Tombs are “one of the most important archaeological finds of the second half of the twentieth century,” but the chaos of war and the language barrier has resulted in the tombs often being overlooked and underappreciated in the West. ==The tombs==

Overview The Tombs were built under the residential wing of the Northwest palace by Assurnasirpal II and his son Shalmaneser III prior to the queens’ deaths. Coffin 1 held the skeletons of 1 unidentified royal woman, 3 children, one infant, and a fetus; and it held a vast amount of gold and jewelry. A gold seal identified coffin 2 as Hamâ, queen of Shalmaneser. A gold stamp seal pendant that indicated her as such was buried with her and may have initially been placed around her neck. Queen Hama died between the ages of 18 and 20, thus her rule as sēgallu was short-lived. This could explain her burial in one of the bronze coffins rather than a tomb of her own, as her death was likely sudden, leaving no time for a new construction. Hama's body was wearing a gold crown, one of the most famous finds from the excavation of the Queens' Tombs at Nimrud. Coffin 3 held the remains of 5 adults, 2 males, 2 probable female, and 1 probably male. The unusual placements of the coffins can be explained in various ways, including: someone moving the body in the main coffin to the ones in the antechamber at some period in antiquity, looting, or other extenuating circumstances. The three coffins in the outer chamber were placed against the doors. This placing prevented the thieves, who robbed the main sarcophagus, from doing the same in the antechamber. Tomb IV The corridor between room 72 and room 71 held a baked brick slab, and underneath was the entrance to Tomb IV. The entrance was arched and blocked by bricks. In Tomb IV, archaeologists found a rectangular stone sarcophagus, originally covered by 4 slabs of terracotta. Only a few objects and a couple teeth remained of the unknown deceased. The tomb was robbed in antiquity, and so little remains, but what is still there confirms the burial practices observed in the other tombs. ==Architectural features and assemblage==

Northwest Palace Around 888 B.C.E., Assyrian king Ashurnasirpal II began constructing what is widely considered to be the most significant architectural achievement of his 24 year reign: the Northwest Palace at Nimrud. Given this, dedicating the Southern Section as the resting place for such royal women is fitting. The overall architectural aesthetic of the Northwest Palace is regarded as Gesamtkunstwerken and very artistic in nature. There is vast evidence to suggest that the palaces of Nimrud were decorated with intricate wall reliefs, blue Mosul marble, paintings, glazed-brick, strips of ivory, and bronze. The most common Near East building material, mud-brick is made of earth, straw, and water, which is blended into a mixture, shaped, and dried in the sun for up to two weeks. It is commonly believed that vaulting originated in ancient Greece and Rome, but the Egyptians and Mesopotamians were using mud-brick vaults before Europe. The vaults used in the queens’ tombs were likely designed to protect the sarcophagus from water and structural damage. ==Objects of adornment==

Overview One of the most well-known aspects about the Queen's Tombs excavation was the discovery of jewelry and other objects of adornment. The finds included hundreds of earrings, neck pieces, and vessels. In addition, there were clothes, headdresses, erotic figurines, beads, amulets, mirrors, hair ornaments, pendants, stamps, fibula, seals, bracelets, armlets, anklets, clothing ornaments and more. Many of the objects were gold, however, others were shaped out of silver, copper, bronze, stone, wood, ivory, ceramic, and crystal. Spurrier describes the stamp seal as “depict[ing] a female worshipper, most likely the queen herself, standing piously before a seated goddess.” The goddess sits on a throne next to an animal and in front of an enlarged scorpion. The animal was originally interpreted as a dog, and then reinterpreted as a lion. This change would reidentify the goddess not as previously believed Gula, but as the prominent Neo-Assyrian goddess who married the god Ashur, Mullissu. Three more stamp seals and two cylinder seals were also found with Queen Hama. Tomb IV Tomb IV was extensively robbed, so only a few objects, dress pieces, and jewelry remained. Because of this, the tomb cannot be used to directly identify Neo-Assyrian burial practices. However, the surviving elements mirrored the other queenly tombs. Objects: ''(All item Titles taken directly taken from Hussein's list; see Hussein's list for detailed descriptions and findspots.)'' • Silver Bowls • Stamp Seals • Jewelry • Mirror • Ceramic Items • Textile ==Destruction of the tombs==

On April 11, 2015, ISIL released a graphic video of the purposeful demolition of art, sculpture, carvings, and architecture at the ancient historical site of Nimrud using hand tools, power tools, and explosives. Video analyses reveal that the destruction took place over multiple different events. Images show the pile of destroyed Neo-Assyrian relief panels could have existed as early as March 7, 2015. The detonation of the Northwest Palace did not occur until after April 1, 2015. Satellite imagery confirms the destruction and leveling of this ancient palace. The damage and destruction of history is the purposeful erasure of Iraqi cultural heritage. ISIL condemned Nimrud for its pre-Islamic, idolatrous imagery and architecture, and has destroyed other Iraqi and Syrian historical sites. Since the catastrophic bombing of Nimrud in 2015, the survival of the excavated Queen's Tombs is not confirmed. == References ==