Ur, Mesopotamia: The Lead Metal from Pit X

Abstract

Three complete bottle-wrapped seal combinations were found in the various Ur collections: Two in the Penn Museum’s collection, and a third one in the Birmingham Museum’s collection from Ur. The two museums permitted the sampling of lead metal sheets in order to perform geochemical analysis. So far, the lead isotope signatures indicate that Turkey, more precisely Anatolia and the Taurus ore deposits, is the most likely mineral supplier for the lead metal from Ur.