Used by

Sumer Sumer () is the earliest known civilization, located in the historical region of southern Mesopotamia (now south-central Iraq), emerging during the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age, early Bronze Ages between the sixth and fifth millennium BC. ...

ians and other

Mesopotamian Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary o ...

cultures beginning in the third millennium BC, clay nails, also referred to as dedication or foundation pegs, cones, or nails, were cone-shaped nails made of

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...

, inscribed with

cuneiform Cuneiform is a Logogram, logo-Syllabary, syllabic writing system that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Near East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. Cuneiform script ...

, baked, and stuck into the

mudbrick Mudbrick or mud-brick, also known as unfired brick, is an air-dried brick, made of a mixture of mud (containing loam, clay, sand and water) mixed with a binding material such as rice husks or straw. Mudbricks are known from 9000 BCE. From ...

walls to serve as evidence that the

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

or building was the divine property of the

god In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...

to whom it was dedicated. Versions were also made of metal, including

casting Casting is a manufacturing process in which a liquid material is usually poured into a mold, which contains a hollow cavity of the desired shape, and then allowed to solidify. The solidified part is also known as a casting, which is ejected or ...

s with figurative designs, such as the Hurrian foundation pegs (Syria, c. 2300 – c. 2159 BCE). Additionally, uninscribed clay cones painted in different colors were used by Sumerians to create decorative

mosaic A mosaic () is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/Mortar (masonry), mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and ...

patterns on walls and pillars of buildings, which also offered some protection against weathering. The similar funerary cones of

ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt () was a cradle of civilization concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in Northeast Africa. It emerged from prehistoric Egypt around 3150BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology), when Upper and Lower E ...

used the cone base as the major writing surface.

Foundation nail examples

As some of the oldest 'documents' in history, the sponsor, responsible for the construction, or dedication of a work, some of the oldest histories, and/or intrigues are recorded. (Boasting sometimes led to historical inaccuracies, or misstatements of facts.)

King Entemena

King

Entemena Entemena, also called Enmetena (, ; ), was a son of Enannatum I who re-established Lagash as a power in Sumer. He defeated Il in a territorial conflict through an alliance with Lugal-kinishe-dudu of Uruk, successor to Enshakushanna, who is in ...

's nail is a prime example of a clay nail in excellent condition, as well as possessing a detailed story. He was king of

Lagash Lagash (; cuneiform: LAGAŠKI; Sumerian language, Sumerian: ''Lagaš'') was an ancient city-state located northwest of the junction of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers and east of Uruk, about east of the modern town of Al-Shatrah, Iraq. Lagash ( ...

towards the late-middle of the 3rd millennium BC.

King Hammurabi

One of King

Hammurabi Hammurabi (; ; ), also spelled Hammurapi, was the sixth Amorite king of the Old Babylonian Empire, reigning from to BC. He was preceded by his father, Sin-Muballit, who abdicated due to failing health. During his reign, he conquered the ci ...

's clay nails was acquired in March 1938 from an antique dealer. The nail “head,” although fully preserved, is missing almost the entire shaft. The head has a diameter of 187 millimeters. In comparison, the shaft at the base is 110 millimeters in diameter. Both the head and shaft are inscribed with cuneiform writing in Akkadian. There are three columns of text on the head of the nail; the first column on the upper half having dulled over the course of centuries, and the lower half of the third column broken off. The clay nail bears the number A 24645 at the Oriental Institute, the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

's archaeology museum. There are two replicas of the clay nail with the same inscription located at the

University of Pennsylvania Museum A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

and the Oxford Museum. However, each were transliterated and translated differently. The Philadelphia version is filled with missing text, although the complication was solved with the help of the Chicago version. Simultaneously, the Oxford text gives the Sumerian version. All three clay nails are now preserved in each of their respected locations. They are easily recognized to be from the Hammurabi period due to their distinct style of having a mushroom shape, broad heads, and short shafts.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Clay Nail Mesopotamian religion Cuneiform Archaeology of the Near East Ancient Near East art and architecture Archaeological artefact types Ancient Near and Middle East clay objects 3rd-millennium BC works

Foundation nail examples

King Entemena

King Hammurabi

See also

References

External links