Pit X

General

Context Title:	Pit X¹
Context Name (Excavation):	Pit X
Context Name (Publication):	Pit X
Context Description:	Pit X was excavated as a large southern extension of the Royal Cemetery area, likely originally conceived as an extension of Pit Y (Pit J) at the southwest corner. Its main purpose was to uncover the earliest burials in the area, the so-called Jemdat Nasr cemetery first encountered in pits Y and Z. Pit X measured approximately 30x15 meters, though it may originally have been laid out to be 35x20. Woolley reports it as a rectangle covering 1000 square meters, but even the largest indication on the plan map and satellite images is at most 700 square meters and not truly rectangular. Nevertheless, it is a very large space that reached sea level some 20 meters below the surface of the mound. In the Antiquaries Journal for 1934 Woolley reports a total of 13,160 cubic meters of dirt having been removed from this pit. Some minor building remains of the Neo-Babylonian and Kassite periods were found near the surface but most of the area was apparently used as a dumping ground in the Late Bronze Age and later. Woolley knew that the Royal Cemetery area extended to the south of his main area PG but believed he would find few graves of the Akkadian and EDIII period. He discovered more than he expected, but none were overly rich in finds. These graves did not receive PG numbers since the UE2 Royal Cemetery volume had already been published. Instead, they received PJ numbers. The series PJG applied to graves in Pit X Woolley felt to be Akkadian or later and PJB applied to those of the EDIII period. The break between these two sequences came at around 10 meters above sea level. In all, Pit X added some 250 to the more than 1000 burials of these periods that Woolley had already uncovered in area PG. Beneath the graves of the Royal Cemetery (starting at around 6 meters above sea level) Woolley reached the earlier graves of what he called the Jemdat Nasr cemetery. Graves at this depth were given JNG numbers. In fact, JNG eventually applied to all of the early graves discovered in pits W, X, Y, and Z. Some of those excavated in Y and Z had received PG numbers but they were renumbered for publication in the JNG sequence. Most of these graves actually date to the Early Dynastic I period. The area near the base of the pit was smaller than that at the top. Only around 400 square meters was exposed near sea level, yet more than 200 early graves were discovered. Although Ubaid period pottery fragments were found, only two Ubaid burials were discovered here. The large area excavation stopped at 2 meters above sea level, but a test pit at the bottom reached down to sea level itself.

[1] Imported from BM list of contexts.

Files

General

UE 4 Pit X.pdf - Download

UE 4 Pit X.3.pdf - Download

UE 4 Pit X.2.pdf - Download

Objects: Pit X Export: JSON - XML - CSV

U Number	Museum Number (UPM Date Reg Number)	Museum Number (BM Registration Number)	Museum Number (UPM B-number)	Description (Catalog Card)
19745	(none)	(none)	(none)	Alabaster lamp. In the form of a shell. The five projections serving as spouts. On the under side at one end is carved a bat's head.
18851	35-1-31	(none)	(none)	Amulet. Blue glazed frit. Im-dugud (?) figure. The blue glaze has perished on the front but is well preserved behind. [drawing 1:1]
18788	(none)	(none)	(none)	Animal's head. Terracotta. modeled in the round, partly with snow-man technique. [drawing 1:1]
15778	31-17-12	(none)	(none)	Baked clay vase. Spouted. Light drab. Covered by a lead tumbler. Clay vase is badly broken. Type same as 15758.
18862	(none)	1935,0112.57	(none)	Bead, half of: flattened date-shaped, carnelian, artifcially bleached white all over (the bleaching has penetrated deep into the stone) and then etched with a black pattern. [drawing 1:1]
19577	(none)	(none)	(none)	Beads 3 very long shell tubes, shell cylinders, small shells pierced, large black hematite barrels, carnelian rings.
18901	(none)	(none)	(none)	Beads. 3 large crystal flattened date-shaped; 1 limestone ditto; 1 agate barrel; 3 steatite rings.
19249	(none)	(none)	(none)	Beads. Balls of frit, originally blue-glzed, now mostly bleached, a few carnelian and one steatite rings.
19236	(none)	(none)	(none)	Beads. Carnelian ball, date-shaped and cylindrical, lapis facetted date-shaped and date-shaped, shell square, shell double conoids.
19094	(none)	(none)	(none)	Beads. Carnelian balls and lapis double conoids.
19251	35-1-94	(none)	(none)	Beads. Carnelian cylinders, quartzite cylinders, lapis cylinders, balls and ovals.
19237	(none)	1935,0112.84	(none)	Beads. Carnelian cylinders, shell cylinders and lapis rings.
19185	(none)	(none)	(none)	Beads. Carnelian date-shaped (short): lapis date-shaeped, double conoid and one flattened cylinder.
19255	(none)	(none)	(none)	Beads. Carnelian rings and a few lapis beads, small balls and flattened ovals.
19127	35-1-73	(none)	(none)	Beads. Carnelian rings and balls and very small glaze balls and tubes.
19182	(none)	(none)	(none)	Beads. Carnelian rings and balls; lapis double conoids, ovals and tubes; lapis diamond (large) and one large carnelian.
19203	(none)	(none)	(none)	Beads. Carnelian rings and one flattened rectangular, small tubes, ovals and date-shaped. These were strung together in groups, about 8 of each together.
19233	(none)	(none)	(none)	Beads. Carnelian rings and one shell tube.
19256	(none)	(none)	(none)	Beads. Carnelian rings, black steatite rings (large), shell and black steatite tubes(large), calcite button, very small shell (or paste) rings.
19076	(none)	(none)	(none)	Beads. Carnelian rings, date-shaped and tubular; paste date-shaped(1); lapis double conoid, barrel and tube; and small paste rings; 2 lapis frog amulets.
19232	(none)	1935,0112.83	(none)	Beads. Carnelian rings, one cylindrical, and a few lapis balls.
19252	35-1-81	(none)	(none)	Beads. Carnelian rings.
19258	35-1-80	(none)	(none)	Beads. Carnelian rings.
19259	(none)	(none)	(none)	Beads. Carnelian rings.
19231	(none)	(none)	(none)	Beads. Carnleian rings and two steatite(?) barrels.