Wreath

Shubad, now Puabi.

CBS Register: U.10936-10934 (ribbon) Queen Shubad's headdress. fourth crown. 14 gold flowers. inlaid petals. blue lapis and paste. 13 groups of willow leaves of gold, with tip of carnelian, 3 strings, gold, laps and ribbon.

This wreath was found above the other wreaths on the skull of Queen Puabi in grave 800 in the Royal Cemetery at Ur. Here three willow leaves are gathered 11 times, and two are gathered twice. In between the gathered leaves are lapis and paste flowers (13 of them) which have alternating lapis and paste petals around a gold center with a lapis bead at the center of that. The flowers themselves are gold. All of the willow leaves are tipped in a carnelian ring, but for one which is missing it. [and one, which is broken] . Unlike the poplar leaves on her other crowns, these are not one piece of gold, but the central leaf seems to be the solid one that is folded over on itself for the bead joiner. There are three holes created, which mean there are three strings of beads between each element. There are also three holes through the flowers, again, creating three strands between element. the pattern appears to be: top strand, alternating gold and lapis balls; middle strand: alternating gold and lapis squat biconical beads; and the bottom strand has alternating gold and lapis pendants separated by a small lapis ball. There are clearly acceptions to this throughout, but this is the basic pattern.

The two cuneiform signs that compose her name were initially read as "Shub-ad" in Sumerian. Today, however, we think they should be read in Akkadian as "Pu-abi."