tain clean food, instead of
returning to disturb the living as they searched for the remnants of
the feast, like the Scottish Gunna,

perched alone
On a chilly old grey stone,
Nibbling, nibbling at a bone
That we'll maybe throw away.

Some bodies which were laid in Sumerian graves were wrapped up in reed
matting, a custom which suggests that the reeds afforded protection or
imparted magical powers. Magical ceremonies were performed in
Babylonian reed huts. As we have seen, Ea revealed the "purpose" of
the gods, when they resolved to send a flood, by addressing the reed
hut in which Pir-napishtim lay asleep. Possibly it was believed that
the dead might also have visions in their dreams which would reveal
the "purpose" of demons who were preparing to attack them. In Syria it
was customary to wrap the dead in a sheep skin.[256] As priests and
gods were clad in the skins of animals from which their powers were
derived, it is probable that the dead were similarly supposed to
receive inspiration in their skin coverings. The Highland seer was
wrapped in a bull's skin and left all night beside a stream so as to
obtain knowledge of the future. This was a form of the Taghairm
ceremony, which is referred to by Scott in his "Lady of the
Lake".[257] The belief in the magical influence of sacred clothing
gave origin to the priestly robes. When David desired to ascertain
what Saul intended to do he said, "Bring hither the ephod". Then he
came to know that his enemy had resolved to attack Keilah.[258] Elisha
became a prophet when he received Elijah's mantle.[259]

Sometimes the bodies of the Sumerians were placed in sarcophagi of
clay. The earlier type was of "bath-tub" shape, round and
flat-bottomed, with a rounded lid, while the later was the
"slipper-shaped coffin", which was ornamented with charms. There is a
close resemblance between the "bath-tub" coffins of Sumeria and the
Egyptian pottery coffins of oval shape found in Third and Fourth
Dynasty tombs in rock chambers near Nuerat. Certain designs on wooden
coffins, and tombs as early as the First Dynasty, have direct
analogies in Babylonia.[260]

No great tombs were erected in Sumeria. The coffins were usually laid
in brick vaults below dwellings, or below temples, or in trenches
outside the city walls. On the "stele of victory", which belongs to
the period of Eannatum, patesi of Lagash, the dead bodies on the
battlefield are piled up in pair