Ziggurat Terrace | ZT
| Context Title: | Ziggurat Terrace | ZT |
| Context Name (Publication): | Ziggurat Terrace |
| Context Name (Excavation): | ZT |
| Context Description: | The excavation area abbreviation ZT stands for Ziggurat Terrace. It was used for any portion of the terrace on which the ziggurat stood, though other more specific abbreviations were also used. For example, the abbreviation PDW refers to the northern side of the terrace, west of the Great Nannar Courtyard (PD), and HD refers to the southern part of the terrace. Early references using the abbreviation ZT refer specifically to excavations along the terrace retaining wall itself. Later references, however, mention specific areas on top the terrace such as the so-called 'boat shrine.' The abbreviation also refers to deep clearing of the terrace fill, particularly on the north side in later excavation seasons, though the abbreviation Zig.31 was most often used for this. Woolley uncovered large areas of the retaining wall that supported the platform known as the ziggurat terrace. He found that it was decorated with large wall cones. These cones bore an inscription of Urnamma but there is evidence that the terrace in some form existed in the Early Dynastic period as well. The Urnamma retaining wall was slanted to support the terrace, was 1.7 meters high, 34 meters wide, and was decorated with 5-meter-wide buttresses about 4 meters apart. The inscribed cones dedicate the terrace to the moon god, Nanna, and show that it was called e-temen-ni-gur, which translates as, "house, foundation platform clad in terror." (Woolley read this e-temen-ni-il). |
| Season Number: | 02: 1923-1924 |
| Season Number: | 03: 1924-1925 |
| Season Number: | 05: 1926-1927 |
| Season Number: | 10: 1931-1932 |
| Season Number: | 11: 1932-1933 |
Files
| Object | U Number | Museum Number (UPM Date Reg Number) | Museum Number (BM Registration Number) | Museum Number (UPM B-number) | Description (Catalog Card) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 1631 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Conical seal. Clay. Surface of green glaze; with traces of incised design. Not with photo. [drawing 1:1] |
| 1635 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Fragment of baked clay cylinder of Nabonidus. Duplicate of U.1111, etc., containing last 12 lines of column I. |
| 1658 | (none) | (none) | B15609 | Diorite human head Fragment of, life-size. Shewing from top of neck to base of nostrils, rt side of face only, and back across cheek to below ear; mouth complete and chin nearly so. Very fine work of the Gudea type. |
| 1664 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Fragment of brick, with part of first 5 lines of inscription of Sin-balatsu-igbi. |
| 1696 | (none) | 1924,0920.396 | (none) | Alabaster vase. Fragment. With remains of archaic inscription. |
| 1697 | (none) | 1924,0920.392 | (none) | Fragment of baked clay cone of Warad-Sin duplicate of U.19, U.700, etc. Contains beginnings of Column I lines 8-12. |
| 1700 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Glass paste fragments. Blue and yellow bands. |
| 1701 | (none) | (none) | B15732 | Stone Weight. Black stone. Cigar shaped with 6 incised strokes. Type II |
| 1702 | (none) | (none) | B15812 | Bowl. Fine drab clay; wheelmade; with raised decoration imitating metal form; (in fragments) |
| 1712 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Fragment from middle of a small baked clay cylinder of Nabonidus, containing parts of both columns duplicate of U.1111, etc. |
| 2518 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Bronze safety pin. Pin missing, back only. [drawing] |
| 2523 | (none) | 1935,0113.50 | (none) | Figurine. Light drab clay. Pig. Hand modeled, very rough. [drawing] | |
| 2524 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Vase. Light red clay = Wheel made. Fragment. The outer face decorated, after turning, with a heavy fluting in imitation of metal. Only part of body services and shape is conjectural. [drawing 1:2] |
| 2539 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay bowl. Pinkish drab ware. Type CXXI =RC.3 =P.29 =L.11a |
| 2542 | (none) | 1927,1003.146 | (none) | Terracotta dog. Red ware: seated, part of hind quarters missing. [drawing] | |
| 2549 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Copper Animal. Genus unknown: head, near foreleg and parts of other legs missing. [drawing 1:1] |
| 2550 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Fragment of inlay. Lapis-Lazuli, pierced for wiring and engraved to represent flower petal (?) [drawing 1:1] |
| 2556 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay tablet. Inscribed. Fragment of Syllabary. 21 lines. End of one column of obverse signs: DI. TAK. A.DIR.NE.LAL.GUB? KUL. ES. BE. BAT. UG. IG. IG. IG. DA. TUM? AL? IB. BA. SIG. 21 lines. |
| 2557 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay tablet. Letter Unto Nabu-sag-ga, so speaks?. x his brother: Na-dug son of Ma-kam(?) ?unto the 5 brothers, ?son of Makam, ? ki-ma son of the calker (Ad-kib), he has brought Neo-Babylonian Period? 10 lines writing. H.C. |
| 2558A | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay vases. Drab. Found with U.2538. Type CXIV =P.76a. Type drawing in album. |
| 2558B | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay vases. Drab. Found with U.2538. Type CXIV =P.76a. Type drawing in album. |
| 2559 | (none) | 1927,1003.128 | (none) | Clay vase. Drab clay with incised pattern at rim and base. Rim broken. Type CXXV =L38 (not p). | |
| 2562 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay jug. Drab clay. Handle broken. Type CXXVI. Type drawing in album. |
| 2563 | (none) | 1927,1003.256 | (none) | Fragment of lapis-lazuli. From inlay: representing man's curled beard. Pierced at back for fixing. [drawing 1:1] |
| 2564 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Nabonidus cylinder. Fragment. Column II, 1-3 and 24-31. prayer for Belshazzar his son. |
| Media | Media Title | Title | Label | Author | Omeka Label |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ur Excavations IV; The Early Periods | Ur Excavations IV; The Early Periods | 1955 | Woolley, L. | (none) |
| Ur Excavations V: The Ziggurat and its Surroundings | Ur Excavations V: The Ziggurat and its Surroundings | 1939 | Woolley Leonard | (none) |
| Woolley's Field Note Cards | Woolley's Field Note Cards | Ur_Notes_v4_p218 | Ur_Notes_v4_p218 | (none) | |
| Woolley's Field Note Cards | Woolley's Field Note Cards | Ur_Notes_v4_p121 | Ur_Notes_v4_p121 | (none) | |
| Woolley's Field Note Cards | Woolley's Field Note Cards | Ur_Notes_v2_p219 | Ur_Notes_v2_p219 | (none) | |
| Woolley's Field Note Cards | Woolley's Field Note Cards | Ur_Notes_v2_p215 | Ur_Notes_v2_p215 | (none) | |
| Woolley's Field Note Cards | Woolley's Field Note Cards | Ur_Notes_v2_p214 | Ur_Notes_v2_p214 | (none) | |
| Woolley's Field Note Cards | Woolley's Field Note Cards | Ur_Notes_v2_p213 | Ur_Notes_v2_p213 | (none) | |
| Woolley's Field Note Cards | Woolley's Field Note Cards | Ur_Notes_v2_p212 | Ur_Notes_v2_p212 | (none) | |
| Woolley's Field Note Cards | Woolley's Field Note Cards | Ur_Notes_v2_p211 | Ur_Notes_v2_p211 | (none) | |
| Woolley's Field Note Cards | Woolley's Field Note Cards | Ur_Notes_v2_p160 | Ur_Notes_v2_p160 | (none) | |
| Field Photographs | Field Photographs | GN0099 | GN0099 | (none) | |
| Field Photographs | Field Photographs | GN0098 | GN0098 | (none) | |
| Field Photographs | Field Photographs | GN0097 | GN0097 | (none) | |
| UPM Field Photo numbers | UPM Field Photo numbers | (none) | (none) | (none) |
- 15 Media
Sibling Locations
AH Site | AH - City Wall | CLW - DP - Dublalmah | LL - EH Site | EH - Ehursag | HT - EM Site | EM - Enunmah | TTB | ES - ESB - FH - Giparu | KP - Great Nanna Courtyard | PD - Harbor Temple - House 34/1 - House 34/2 - House Site - Kassite Fort - KPS Site | KPS - LT - LW - Mausoleum Site | BC - Neo-Babylonian Housing | NH - NNCF - NTB - P/103 - Palace of Bel-Shalti-Nannar | AD - Pit F - Royal Cemetery | PG - SM - Temenos Wall | TW - TTC - XNCF
Child Locations
Courtyard BB - Ningal Temple | HD - PDW - Room FF - Room GG - Room SW 2 - Ziggurat
Share
Context
Ur > Ziggurat Terrace | ZT
References
Woolley, L. . (1955) Ur Excavations IV; The Early Periods, Oxford: Oxford University Press.