Above the head, the workmen began to find small squares and triangles made of shell and lapis lazuli. Then, they began finding small figures carved out of shell. As they cleared away the dirt, they saw many more fragments of shell and stone in a pattern on the floor.

The fragments were all taken back to the workroom and studied. It seemed that the fragments had originally been attached to a small wooden box which had disintegrated. Woolley thought that it was a standard because it was found above and just to the right of the man's head as though it had been held high up on a pole. Woolley called this object the 'Standard of Ur'.

How did they remove the pieces from the ground?

Click on the picture above to explore the 'Standard of Ur'.