Pit W

General

Context Title:	Pit W
Context Name (Publication):	Pit W
Context Name (Excavation):	Pit W
Context Description:	Pit W was excavated from the bottom of area PG near Pits Y and Z in order to more fully explore the Seal Impression Strata discovered running across the cemetery. Since these strata contained so many early seals and tablets it was clear that they were essential for dating the graves and for learning more about the administration of the city of Ur. In order to observe the strata more clearly, Pit W was much larger than most exploratory pits in the cemetery region, laid out to be 15x7 meters. It was dug from the northeast side of PG/1631 but its horizontal extents were not mapped and Benati (2015) believes that PG/1631 was mistaken for PG/1648, placing Pit W somewhat farther SE. Its published stratigraphic profile shows that PG/1631 (possibly 1648) was actually somewhere near the middle of the long side of the trench and Woolley states that Pit W was placed so as to virtually fill the gap between Pits Y and Z, but was set a few meters northeast of them. This allows for a relatively accurate placement of the pit. Pit W quickly ran through the seal impression strata but Woolley continued it down much farther, as he had with Pits Y and Z, to reach about a meter below sea level. He thus uncovered many graves earlier than the main Royal Cemetery, and because he believed them to be from the Jemdet Nasr period, he began JNG numbers for them. This discovery, combined with early graves in Pit Y, spawned the conception of a Jemdet Nasr cemetery running beneath and south of the Royal Cemetery, and in season 12 Woolley would seek to expose it in Pit X.

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General

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U Number	Museum Number (UPM Date Reg Number)	Museum Number (BM Registration Number)	Museum Number (UPM B-number)	Description (Catalog Card)
(none)	(none)	1935,0113.425	(none)	(none)
18328	(none)	(none)	(none)	Whetstone. Lapis lazuli, on a gold ring. Stone square in section with levelled corners: The ring is of fairly thick gold wire the ends of which have been thinned and twisted round each other.
18369	(none)	(none)	(none)	Stone bowl. White limestone. On square pedestal like a four-legged bath, the legs broken off. [drawing 1:2]
18370	(none)	(none)	(none)	Clay object. Baked clay with incised design. [drawing 1:1]
18415A	(none)	1933,1013.224	(none)	Clay figurines. Crudely hand-modelled in dark clay. Nude female figures, steatopygous, the heads very small, the arms thick and short. The lower part of the legs of B missing.
18424	(none)	1933,1013.231	(none)	Clay owl's head. Baked clay. Hand-modelled with spike below for attachment.
18425	(none)	1933,1013.163	(none)	Beads. Carnelian rings.
18426	(none)	(none)	(none)	Copper pin.
18427	33-35-149	(none)	(none)	Beads. Carnelian polished rings.
18428	(none)	(none)	(none)	Beads. Carnelian rings.
18429	(none)	(none)	(none)	Limestone bowl. [drawing]
18430	(none)	1933,1013.169	(none)	Beads. Carnelian rings and white shell tubes and rings.
18431	(none)	(none)	(none)	Stone bowl. Basic diorite. [Type] 20 [drawing]
18432	(none)	(none)	(none)	Beads. Polished carnelian rings.
18433	33-35-148	(none)	(none)	Beads. Carnelian tumbler.
18434	(none)	(none)	(none)	Stone bowl. Fine limestone. JN8 [drawing 2:5]
18435	(none)	(none)	(none)	Stone bowl. Fine limestone. JN12 [drawing 2:5]
18436	(none)	(none)	(none)	Bowl alabaster. [Type] 50. [drawing]
18437	(none)	(none)	(none)	Bowl. Alabaster. [Type] 55. [drawing 2:5]
18438	(none)	1933,1013.166	(none)	Beads. Carnelian tubes, large and small. Lapis cylindrical, balls and flattened balls, one chalcedony flattened oval, one carneliandate shaped, on agate date-shaped.
18438	(none)	1933,1013.166	(none)	Beads. Carnelian tubes, large and small. Lapis cylindrical, balls and flattened balls, one chalcedony flattened oval, one carneliandate shaped, on agate date-shaped.
18439	(none)	(none)	(none)	Beads. Large shell tubular bead, date-shaped calcite head flattened on one end, carnelian rings and very small small rings and a few large ditto and one large ring of black stone.
18440	(none)	(none)	(none)	Beads. Large carnelian rings and 2 shell curved tubes.
18441	(none)	(none)	(none)	Beads. Carnelian rings and two barrel-shaped of black steatite and 1 shell cylindrical.
18442	(none)	(none)	(none)	Stamp seal. Button type: pierced horizontally grey steatite. In the convex top are 6 shallow holes drilled, partly to take inlay: on the flat base is a roughly engraved subject.