Luxuries Lost: Wood and Other Ligneous Materials for Interior and Architectural Decoration in Ancient Mesopotamia (Chalcolithic and Bronze Age)
Keywords:
Mesopotamian architecture, timber, Ancient MesopotamiaAbstract
Numerous studies have focused on the use of timber in Mesopotamian architecture and rightly concluded that it has to be imported from afar if long beams were required. This short paper is a tentative approach of the use of carpentry wood in architectural and interior decoration which must have been more extensive in monumental buildings than we generally admit. It is also assumed that local resources may have partly supplied the basic raw materials. For this reason, common species of wood were also used, as well as reed, to produce a range of lavish ornamental items, crafted with art, and thence acquiring their luxury status.
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