8 MOUNTING THE HEAD AND PLAQUE ON THE SOUNDBOX

Mervin Martin, in consultation with the conservation staff, designed a mounting system for the head and plaque that would allow for easy removal in the future. The plaque is mounted by sliding it into a groove on the front of the soundbox (see fig. 1b, page 246). The head armature is bolted to a piece of wood that fits into a groove in the front of the soundbox and is held firmly in place with a crosswise dowel (fig. 16, see pge 251).

A soft polyethylene foam spacer was placed between the head and the wood base, bringing the lower edge of the neck out to the level of the armature. The edge of the foam was painted dark brown to look like the bitumen adhesive that had probably been used as part of the original mounting system (fig. 17, see page 251). The lyre was reinstalled in the Mesopotamian Gallery of the University of Pennsylvania Museum in 1980.