of Neo-Assyrian kings. Given this, dedicating the Southern Section as the resting place for such royal women is fitting. The overall architectural aesthetic of the Northwest Palace is regarded as Gesamtkunstwerken and very artistic in nature. There is vast evidence to suggest that the palaces of Nimrud were decorated with intricate wall reliefs, blue Mosul marble, paintings, glazed-brick, strips of ivory, and bronze. The Northwest Palace contained many state apartments, as well as courtyards, spacious suites, and a throne room. The large rooms thought to be royal suites for the king and/or queens were surrounded by the courtyards, and rooms were linked together by long corridors, so it is likely that these features gave the palace a feeling of openness and spaciousness. Structural techniques The Northwest Palace and the four tombs were made in part with mud-brick, a brickmaking technique popular in Mesopotamian architecture. The most common Near East building material, mud-brick is made of earth, straw, and water, which is blended into a mixture, shaped, and dried in the sun for up to two weeks. This same mixture is used while wet as a bonding agent between the bricks. Vaulting was a very common architectural technique in ancient Mesopotamia used to build a strong roof over a room, and vaults were used to build all four queens’ tombs in the Northwest Palace. It is commonly believed that vaulting originated in ancient Greece and Rome, but the Egyptians and Mesopotamians were using mud-brick vaults before Europe. The vaults used in the queens’ tombs were likely designed to protect the sarcophagus from water and structural damage. Objects of adornment Overview One of the most well-known aspects about the Queen's Tombs excavation was the discovery of jewelry and other objects of adornment. The finds included hundreds of earrings, neck pieces, and vessels. In addition, there were clothes, headdresses, erotic figurines, beads, amulets, mirrors, hair ornaments, pendants, stamps, fibula, seals, bracelets, armlets, anklets, clothing ornaments and more. Many of the objects were gold, however, others were shaped out of silver, copper, bronze, stone, wood, ivory, ceramic, and crystal. Some of the jewelry and clothing remained in the positions they would have been worn in at the time of burial. Scholars have analyzed the materials, craftsmanship, design, arrangement, and origins of these objects in order to learn more about Neo-Assyrian culture, relations, social structure, and ways of life. The jewelry finds help scholars understand