PUABI SETTINGS · PG 800 · ON-SITE ORNAMENTS

Puabi headdress

The headdress: gold placed on a royal head

Puabi's headdress was made up of several pieces of gold and stones, not a single crown.

Museum documentation · free public access, no account required.

Museographic reconstruction of components of the Puabi headdress on a black background — **DECLARED VISUAL RECONSTRUCTION · EXISTING EDITORIAL RESOURCE · TRACEKEEPERS**
Generated reconstruction · Declared visual hypothesis
Declared visual reconstruction for museographic context; it is not a photograph of the original nor documentary evidence.

History and context

A large comb, gold leaves and flowers, ribbons, earrings, necklaces and thousands of beads that could have covered a cape or a garment were preserved on Puabi's body. The archaeological position allows us to reconstruct an extraordinary set of brilliance and movement.

The famous "Puabi diadem" assembled by Leonard Woolley probably mixed pieces of several jewels and was disassembled by the Penn Museum. The image that accompanies this sheet is, therefore, a visual hypothesis deliberately labeled as reconstruction.

Evidence and interpretation

The components and part of their position are safe; the exact sequence of all the pendants and the shape of any reconstructed diadem are not.

Catalogue facts

Date: ca. 2600–2450 BCE
Location: PG 800 · Royal Cemetery of Ur
Materials: Gold, lapis lazuli, carnelian, agate and lost organic supports
Visual status: Contemporary recomposition; exact order not assured

A SHARED TOPIC, DIFFERENT MOMENTS

Objects connected through time

Follow a topic across the collections. A shared tag is a way to compare objects, not proof that one culture influenced another.

The order uses the midpoint of each approximate date range; ranges can overlap. Spacing does not represent elapsed time. Swipe, scroll or use the arrows. With the sequence focused, use ← / →, Home or End.

You are viewing

ca. 2600–2450 BCE

Puabi headdress

Sumer

Approximate dating according to the record.

Current record

Gold32 dated objects

2 / 32In the centre: Puabi headdress

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Jewellery and adornment

Hohle Fels · ≈40,000 years · Aurignacian · Prehistory
'Jamila's' necklace · ≈7250–7000 BCE · Prehistory
The Gold of Varna · Towards 4600–4200 BCE · Thracians
Puabi headdress · ca. 2600–2450 BCE · Sumer — You are viewing
Cemetery R-37 · ca. 2550–2030 BCE · Indus civilisation
Carnelian beads · ca. 2600–1900 BCE · Indus civilisation
Grave Circle A and Chrysolakkos · 18th–16th centuries BCE · Greek worlds
Burial at K IV · circa 1750–1550 BCE · Nubia, Kerma and Kush
Tutankhamun's grave goods · death towards 1323 BCE · Ancient Egypt
Fu Hao’s burial goods · ca. 1200 BCE · Ancient China
Before the Iberias · Final Bronze, c. 1000 BCE · Iberians
Tomb 1 at Kuntur Wasi · c. 800 BCE · Pre-Inca cultures
Beads from Cerro de los Vientos · 8th–7th centuries BCE · orientalizing · Iberians
Gold at Kuntur Wasi · c. 800–550 BCE · Pre-Inca cultures
Regolini-Galassi tomb · ca. 675–650 BCE · Etruscans and Rome
Condomina Earring · 6th century BCE · Iberians
Steppe kurgans · 7th–4th centuries BCE · Scythians and Saka
Vix Tomb · c. 500 BCE · Celtic worlds
La Venta grave goods · ca. 600–400 BCE · Maya worlds
Ezerovo Ring · 5th century BCE · chronology discussed in the bibliography · Thracians
Grave goods of Baza and Toya · First half of the 4th century BCE · Iberians
Treasure of Jávea · 4th century BCE · Iberians
Susa grave goods · c. 350 BCE · Achaemenid Persia
Punic head pendant · Mid 4th–3rd centuries BCE · Phoenicians
Treasure of Cheste · Jewellery from the 4th–3rd centuries BCE; concealment at the end of the 3rd century BCE. · Iberians
Marina Alta Hoard · Jewellery: 5th–2nd centuries BCE; concealment probably around 80–73 BCE. · Iberians
Golyamata Kosmatka · End of the 4th century – beginning of the 3rd century BCE; ritual burial at the beginning of the III according to Iskra. · Thracians
Mairena Hoard · 3rd century BCE · Iberians
Chão de Lamas pectoral · 3rd–2nd centuries BCE · concealed in the early 1st century BCE · Iberians
Fibula from Lancia · ≈300–100 BCE · Iberians
Northern mound · 2nd–1st centuries BCE · Yayoi Japan
Horse fibula · 2nd century BCE · disputed chronology · Iberians
Simancas-type belt buckle · Second half of the IV century–V century CE · Iberians
Pakal’s grave goods · sealed on 28 August 683 CE · Maya worlds
Missing grave goods · 13th–15th centuries according to the heritage overview · Bantu-speaking worlds

Without a comparable date (not part of the chronological order):

Dressing to be seen · 6th–1st centuries BCE · Iberians

Ornamental stones

'Jamila's' necklace · ≈7250–7000 BCE · Prehistory
Puabi headdress · ca. 2600–2450 BCE · Sumer — You are viewing
Standard of Ur · ca. 2600–2400 BCE · Sumer
Statue of Ebih-Il · Towards 2400 BCE · Sumer
Carnelian beads · ca. 2600–1900 BCE · Indus civilisation
Beads from Cerro de los Vientos · 8th–7th centuries BCE · orientalizing · Iberians

Without a comparable date (not part of the chronological order):

Meluhha · ca. 2600–1900 BCE · Indus civilisation

Funerary contexts

Without a comparable date (not part of the chronological order):

A Kerma vessel deposited at Abydos · Second Intermediate Period · Ancient Egypt
A vase travels; the rite changes · No individual dating published on this record · Iberians
Cemetery · ca. 2600–1900 BCE · Indus civilisation
Daegok-ri grave goods · from c. 5th century BCE · Gojoseon and early Korea
Four panoplies · No individual dating published on this record · Iberians
Livestock and mounds · c. 2050–1500 BCE · Nubia, Kerma and Kush
Shum Laka · c. 8,000 and 3,000 years before present · Bantu-speaking worlds
The quarry remained visible · Mainly 6th–5th centuries BCE · Gojoseon and early Korea
Three hundred lives in the sand · Mainly 4th century BCE–3rd century CE · Yayoi Japan
Urns from Adichanallur · Iron Age · samples towards 665 and 467 BCE · Vedic and later Indian worlds

Kingship and power

Narmer Palette · ca. 3100 BCE · Ancient Egypt
Puabi headdress · ca. 2600–2450 BCE · Sumer — You are viewing
Ur-Nanshe relief · Mid-3rd millennium BCE · reign of Ur-Nanshe · Sumer
Stele of the Vultures · Towards 2450–2425 BCE · Sumer
Akkadian sovereign head · Akkadian period · 23rd century BCE · Sumer
Naram-Sin Stele · Reign of Naram-Sin, 2254–2218 BCE · Sumer
Sumerian King List · Towards 1800 BCE · Sumer
Stele of Hammurabi · Towards 1750 BCE · Sumer
Grave Circle A and Chrysolakkos · 18th–16th centuries BCE · Greek worlds
Burial at K IV · circa 1750–1550 BCE · Nubia, Kerma and Kush
Tutankhamun's grave goods · death towards 1323 BCE · Ancient Egypt
Fu Hao’s burial goods · ca. 1200 BCE · Ancient China
Tribute to Assyria · c. 848 BCE · Phoenicians
Black Obelisk · 825 BCE · Sumer
Lamassu of Khorsabad · Reign of Sargon II · 721–705 BCE · Sumer
Kushite king · c. 721–664 BCE · Nubia, Kerma and Kush
Stele of Esarhaddon · 7th century BC C. · 671 campaign BCE · Sumer
Ashurbanipal Hunt · 645–635 BCE · Sumer
Ishtar Gate · 7th–6th centuries BCE · work of Nebuchadnezzar II · Sumer
Twenty-three delegations · 6th–5th centuries BCE, mainly under Darius and Xerxes · Achaemenid Persia
Sarcophagus of Eshmunazar · first quarter of the 5th century BCE · Phoenicians
The archer in gold · Type introduced from the late 6th century; specimen from the 4th century BCE. · Achaemenid Persia
Susa grave goods · c. 350 BCE · Achaemenid Persia
Golyamata Kosmatka · End of the 4th century – beginning of the 3rd century BCE; ritual burial at the beginning of the III according to Iskra. · Thracians
Denarius of Carisius · ≈25–23 BCE · Iberians
The date of 292 · 292 CE · Maya worlds
Pakal’s grave goods · sealed on 28 August 683 CE · Maya worlds
Catalan Atlas · after 1375 and before November 1380 · Mande Worlds
Kuba ndop · ca. 1760 · Bantu-speaking worlds

Without a comparable date (not part of the chronological order):

Before Persia · Central core c. seventeenth century BCE; Neo-Elamite additions between the ninth and sixth centuries BCE · Achaemenid Persia
Cyrus speaks as king of Babylon · After the conquest of Babylon in 539 BCE · Achaemenid Persia
Rome learns in terracotta · End of the sixth century BCE · Etruscans and Rome
The Banquet of Seuthes II · Towards 400 BCE. Anabasis episode · Thracians

A closer look

About 1 min to read · 1 section. Further reading and sources · free access. Editorial review recorded: September 5, 2026.

A piece of jewellery counted by its components

Penn describes twenty gold leaves, two rows of lapis lazuli and carnelian beads, and a large comb. The earrings are crescent-shaped and were combined with decorations around the neck. Counting these elements allows us to imagine the manufacturing and assembly work that a frontal photograph usually hides. The overall appearance depends on many independent units, each with its own weight and position. The reconstruction of the headdress begins in that documented materiality, before proposing the hairstyle that could support it.

Museum · Penn Museum · Queen Puabi’s HeaddressAccess recorded: September 5, 2026.

Where it is held

Penn Museum

Component of the group · Documented collection

Components and reconstruction of the Puabi headdress preserved by the Penn Museum.

The holding institution is documented; public display may change. Check its official record before visiting.

Sources and references

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History and context

Evidence and interpretation

Catalogue facts

Puabi headdress

The Gold of Varna

Puabi headdress

The goat from PG 1237

Before Phoenicia

Tutankhamun's grave goods

Stag Vessel

Valchitran

Before the Iberias

Tomb 1 at Kuntur Wasi

Kushite king

Gold at Kuntur Wasi

Regolini-Galassi tomb

Condomina Earring

Uni was also Astarte

Ezerovo Ring

Coțofenești helmet

A battle on a comb

The Kul-Oba vase

The Solokha gold comb

The archer in gold

Treasure of Jávea

Susa grave goods

Thoth in the form of a baboon

Faces of the Steppe

Poroina Mare Rhyton

Treasure of Cheste

Marina Alta Hoard

Panagyurishte

Mairena Hoard

Patera from Perotito

Moulds for gold

Gold rhinoceros

A closer look

A piece of jewellery counted by its components

Where it is held

Penn Museum

Sources and references

Did you enjoy this exhibit?