Emery abrasive in the lapidary craft of the Ur III period? Some further remarks on the stone ú-na4-gug and its Old Babylonian counterpart

• Autores: Krisztián Simkó
• Localización: Aula Orientalis: Revista de estudios del Próximo Oriente Antiguo, ISSN 0212-5730, Vol. 33, Nº. 1, 2015, págs. 141-156
• Idioma: inglés
• Enlaces
  • Texto completo (pdf)
• Resumen

  • The aim of this paper is to discuss whether emery abrasive had already been used in the lapidary craft of the Ur III period or it was an innovation taking place in the following Old Babylonian period, when hard stones became more commonly utilised. First, attention will be drawn to six Ur III administrative documents containing the unusual stone name ú-na4-gug. Then, the Old Babylonian attestation of the stone called na4ú and its relevance to the Ur III material will be discussed. As it will be argued, both stone names represent the same context: the use of emery abrasive by the lapidaries of Ancient Mesopotamia