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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 2769 | (none) | 1927,1003.32 | (none) | Clay cone fragment. King of Larsa? Last lines of Column I -e-bar-bar-ra sul dUtu sa(g) azag gza-a. H.C. |
| 2539 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay bowl. Pinkish drab ware. Type CXXI =RC.3 =P.29 =L.11a |
| 17149 | (none) | 1930,1213.467 | (none) | Clay bowl. Large, with flat base and straight somewhat everted sides. Al 'Obaid ware with a band of decoration in black round the rim and just above the base broken and incomplete, but a considerable fragment. Type aU.51 [Al 'Obaid typology?] [drawing] | |
| 17635 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Celt. Schist. [drawing 1:1] |
| 17664 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Celt. Schist. [drawing 1:1] |
| 18356 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Cat's eye. Fragment of inscribed across middle and round the side: less than half the stone preserved. Ningal. Kurigalzu. |
| 3037 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Bur-Sin. Door-socket. Blue stone. Flaking off. To Ningal. Builts Gig-par azag. Duplicate of U.3031. In text: Neo-Babylonian period (8). |
| 1398 | (none) | 1924,0920.232 | (none) | Bronze spatula. [drawing 1:1] | |
| 2518 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Bronze safety pin. Pin missing, back only. [drawing] |
| 1400 | (none) | 1924,0920.409 | (none) | Bronze ring. Small. [drawing 1:1] | |
| 3026 | (none) | 1927,1003.91 | (none) | Bronze implement. Genus unknown : both ends flattened. In text: Neo-Babylonian period (10) and Fig. | |
| 3243 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Bronze dress pin. Long and thin with sharp point and slightly flattened head. Present length (highly bent): 156mm. Diameter: 4mm. |
| 643 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Bronze arrowhead. Normal, 3-flanged 8th-7th cent. type. |
| 2728 | (none) | (none) | B16562 | Broken brick with graphic plan or game? P.35. In text: 3rd Dynasty Terrace (13) and Fig. [drawing 1:2] | |
| 3148A | (none) | (none) | B16559 | Brick of Sinbalatsu igbi. Fragment. H.C. |
| 3148B | (none) | (none) | (none) | Brick of Sinbalatsu igbi. Fragment. H.C. |
| 3161 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Brick of Sin-balatsu-igbi. 12 lines inscription. |
| 3299C | (none) | (none) | B16558 | Brick of Sin balalsu iqbi 2 stamps: face and side. Same text as U.3250. Except var. 11.6-7: "E As-an-bur, the shrine of Enlil." |
| 2669 | (none) | 1927,1003.267 | (none) | Brick of Silli-Adad. Fragment. Text: To nannar, his king. Si-li dAdad caretaker of Nippur, patesi of Ur, Larsa, Lagash, and the land ( )-al-lakia (the E)temen-ni-il?. Silli-Adad of Larsa predecessor of Arad Sin about BC 2168 (Th.D) H.C. |
| 3252 | (none) | (none) | B16477 | Brick of Kurigalzu. To Nannar, his king, dKurigalzu mighty hero, king of Ur, king of Sumer and Akkad E-kish-shir-gal, his beloved temple, has restored. H.C. in text: Kassite period(13) | |
| 3316 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Brick - Time of Sin-balatsu-iqbi. With counting board of 6 by 10 squares. In text: neo-Babylonian period (6) in Cat.[drawing] |
| 7822 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Brick with game board? |
| 1702 | (none) | (none) | B15812 | Bowl. Fine drab clay; wheelmade; with raised decoration imitating metal form; (in fragments) |
| 2574 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Bone stilus? Writing end broken. Depth 2m-5m. |
| 2585 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Black clay tablet. Pillow shape. Dated: 29th Siwan, 5th year of Cambyses - BC 524. Text: ?barley regular ration (bal-la) for 3 bulls, ?ga barley, fodder (kissatta) For 13 sheep, total 20 1/2 qa barley (for the day) Obverse 5 lines. Reverse 1 line. H.C. |
| Media | Media Title | Title | Label | Author | Omeka Label |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Woolley's Field Note Cards | Woolley's Field Note Cards | Ur_Notes_v2_p160 | Ur_Notes_v2_p160 | (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_p212 | Ur_Notes_v2_p212 | (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_p214 | Ur_Notes_v2_p214 | (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_p219 | Ur_Notes_v2_p219 | (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_v4_p218 | Ur_Notes_v4_p218 | (none) | |
| Ur Excavations V: The Ziggurat and its Surroundings | Ur Excavations V: The Ziggurat and its Surroundings | 1939 | Woolley Leonard | (none) |
| Ur Excavations IV; The Early Periods | Ur Excavations IV; The Early Periods | 1955 | Woolley, L. | (none) |
| UPM Field Photo numbers | UPM Field Photo numbers | (none) | (none) | (none) |
| Field Photographs | Field Photographs | GN0097 | GN0097 | (none) | |
| Field Photographs | Field Photographs | GN0098 | GN0098 | (none) | |
| Field Photographs | Field Photographs | GN0099 | GN0099 | (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.