The lyre was excavated in the Royal Cemetery at Ur during the 1926–1927 season of an archeological dig carried out in what is now Iraq jointly by the University of Pennsylvania and the British Museum.

[1] It is one of several lyres and harps unearthed at the cemetery which date to the Early Dynastic III Period (2550–2450 BCE).

The Mesopotamian sun god Utu/Shamash was often taken to assume the form of a bull, particularly in his role at sunrise, and is the figure most frequently described in some cuneiform texts as having a lapis lazuli beard.

[5] The lyre has a front panel which depicts four scenes linked to Early Mesopotamian funerary rituals.

[7][8] That same year, plans to clean and enhance the appearance of the head and plaque led to the discovery of extensive deterioration.

[3] The head was dismantled and reassembled to expose more of the original work, straighten the ears, and preserve the integrity of the construction.

[1] Additional fragments from the field which had been mistakenly omitted from the lyre's parts-list were re-incorporated into the design, and plaster from the first restoration was removed.

[4] Following some experimentation a type of polyethylene glycol wax found to fill the head, which preserves its strength and is removable.