Pit X

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.

Objects: Pit X Export: JSON - XML - CSV

Object U Number Museum Number (UPM Date Reg Number) Museum Number (BM Registration Number) Museum Number (UPM B-number) Description (Catalog Card)
18996A (none) (none) (none) Beads: [A-B] Two steatite frog amulets [C] carnelian tube with bleached bands, very small glazed frit rings.
18996B (none) (none) (none) Beads: [A-B] Two steatite frog amulets [C] carnelian tube with bleached bands, very small glazed frit rings.
19056 (none) (none) (none) Beads: carnelian balls and long dated-shaped and cylindrical; lapis ovals and cylinders; shell date-shaped; jasper date-shaped and paste ditto, and paste rings; steatite frog amulets.
18933 (none) (none) (none) Beads: lapis lazuli diamonds and cylinder and ring. (a few only)
19014 (none) (none) (none) Beads: Small lapis tubes and balls and one rectangular with convex sides.
19039 (none) (none) (none) Beads: carnelian cylinders and one double conoid, ball and rings; paste tube and balls, silver balls, etc.
19044 (none) (none) (none) Beads: carnelian date-shaped (4) and very small tubes and rings of paste and lapis(?)
19047 35-1-92 (none) (none) Beads: carnelian large date-shaped (broken) and rings; steatite barrel; agate tubular; small paste tubes and date-shaped; and 3 frog amulets, steatite. (22 in all).
19054 (none) (none) (none) Beads: carnelian rings and truncated triangles and one diamond: lapis diamonds and balls: paste long date-shaped.
19055 (none) (none) (none) Beads: carnelian rings, cylindrical and balls and double conoids: lapis balls, ovals, and double conoids: ribbed paste: steatite frog amulet, and mother-of-pearl bird amulet [drawing 1:1]
19030 (none) (none) (none) Beads: carnelian tubes and date-shaped; 1 lapis double conid; small carnelian rings; paste balls and some silver.
19021 (none) (none) (none) Beads: flattened oval agate, lapis tubes and double concoid, crystal balls, carnelian date-shaped and carnelian ball with bleached concentric circles.
18887 (none) 1935,0112.78 (none) Beads: Gold, two nasturtium seeds and five four-flanged beads: 6 carnelian date-shaped, 4 lapis ditto., and 1 lapis cylinder.
19027 (none) (none) (none) Beads: lapis double conoids and ovals; 1 large lapis date-shaped; carnelian rings.
19012 35-1-97 (none) (none) Beads: lapis lazuli double conoids (gradated sizes).
18995 (none) (none) (none) Beads: large chalcedony date-shaped, chalcedony balls, granite flattened date-shaped, limestone ditto, crystal ditto, crystal, carnelian and chalcedony balls, silver balls.
18997 (none) (none) (none) Beads: large lapis double conoid, flattened oval, chalcedony, crystal rings.
18932 (none) (none) (none) Beads: large steatite barrel, carnelian double conoids, date-shaped and balls; agate barrels and date-shaped; crystal date-shaped; carnelian tubular, long steatite, long date-shaped, engraved paste rings. Restrung in original order. [drawing]
18740 35-1-78 (none) (none) Beads: of glazed frit and glass paste mostly yellow and green, many of the beads being green with a yellow tip; these are pear-shaped or date-shaped; there are also plain yellow ring beads, a lapis scaraboid and a green-glazed frit scarab, and yellow date-shaped beads.
18990 (none) (none) (none) Beads: one very long carnelian tubular, carnelian date-shaped and rings, lapis balls, chalcedony barrel. crystal ring.
19035 (none) (none) (none) Beads: small lapis barrels, balls, and double conoids; carnelian rings, barrels and tubes, two of the latter with white bleached patterns of concentric circles.
19028 (none) (none) (none) Beads: small paste lentoids.
18962 (none) (none) (none) Beads: small string of lapis diamonds, carnelian rings and tubular (one square in section, one round), steatite cylinder and diamond.
19051 (none) (none) (none) Beads: two or three carnelian barrels; lapis tubes, 4 small balls or barrels; and small rings of glazed frit; three lapis frog amulets.
19053B (none) (none) (none) Beads; (A) A set of lapis triangular spacers from a small dog-collar (silver spacers decayed); (B) A long string of carnelian and lapis beads (and some silver) balls, tubes and rings.

Media: Pit X Export: JSON - XML - CSV

Media Media Title Title Label Author Omeka Label
Ur Excavations IV; The Early Periods Ur Excavations IV; The Early Periods 1955 Woolley, L. (none)
  • 1 Media

Sibling Locations

Pit Y

Child Locations

Jemdat Nasr Graves - PJB - PJG

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Context

Ur > Royal Cemetery | PG > PJ > Pit X

References

Woolley, L. . (1955) Ur Excavations IV; The Early Periods, Oxford: Oxford University Press.