Meskalamdug helmet: One of the oldest helmets in the world depicts the bread of a prince man of Mesopotamian

This gold helmet is tackyly decorated to look like the wavy hairstyle and the wearer’s ears, and was discovered in 1927 by British archaeologist Sir Leonard Woolley.

The artifact was recovered from the tomb in the royal cemetery, along with an Alabaster vase, a gold dagger and a Golden Bowl. However, since the tombs were not as large or richly decorated as other royal tombs, Woolly suggested that the deceased was probably a prince rather than a king.

Two copies of the helmet were made within years of discovery. One went to the British Museum and the other went to the Penn Museum. The original helmet, hidden before the first Gulf War and protected from looting until it was retrieved in late 2003, is located in the Iraq Museum in Baghdad.

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According to the Penn Museum, the helmet is 8.9 inches tall (22.7 cm) and 8.3 inches wide (21 cm). And according to James Ogden, a goldsmith from the early 20th century who created two exact replicas in 1928, the original helmet was made from one piece of 15 carats of gold.

Ogden described the helmet as a “lifestyle” and a “probably a ritual headdress” in his personal notes. The small holes around the edges were likely used to secure the quilted fabric lining, and Ogden noted that he found the traces inside.

The hand-made gold was modeled and carved to represent the hair tied up with a ribbon and drawn into the small pan on the back. The ears had holes that allowed the wearer to hear through the helmet, and the additional holes under the ears were probably due to the attachment of the chin strap.

Meskalamdug helmets are quite different from the regular copper helmets worn by private soldiers, Woolley wrote in a 1928 report on Meskalamdug’s grave. However, it resembles the hairstyles and helmets, also known as the rulers of Mesopotamia Iannatam and Sargon the Great, Akkad’s Sargon, and in the 25th and 24th centuries BC, the helmets of Meskalamudug BC were one of the oldest ever.

There is evidence from the Royal Cemetery that a man named Mescalamudag is a Sumerian king, but this particular Mescalamudag was not identified as king by the artifacts of his tomb. Therefore, the helmet may have belonged to the son or grandson named after King Meskalamdag, part of the first dynasty of Ur, whose second wife was Queen Puabi.