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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2621 | 29-174-27 | (none) | (none) | Glazed bowl. Reconstructed: drab clay, on low base: straight-sided. [drawing 1:2] | |
| 3334 | 29-174-28 | (none) | (none) | Glazed bowl. Fragmentary and unornamented: with plain transparent glaze. | |
| 3122A | 29-174-3 | (none) | (none) | [A] Pottery vase. Of pinkish ware with narrow base opening out to splayed foot. Type CXCIII. =RC.74, =L9b. (B) Thinner. | |
 | 15804 | 31-16-520 | (none) | (none) | Stone hoe. [drawing 1:1] |
| 15796 | 31-17-91 | (none) | (none) | Amulet(?) Terracotta animal. Possibly a tortoise(?). [drawing 1:1] | |
| 16981 | 31-43-227 | (none) | (none) | Gold wire. Square or rectangular in section, twisted, and one end thickened and flattened to a head = the other end broken. | |
| 17752 | 32-40-127 | (none) | (none) | Weight. Haematite. Square cut. Type II. [drawing 1:1] ZT. not req_d for vol. V | |
| 17712A | 32-40-138.1 | (none) | (none) | [A-B] Nail. Obsidian. [drawing 1:1] | |
| 17712B | 32-40-138.2 | (none) | (none) | [A-B] Nail. Obsidian. [drawing 1:1] |
| 17945B | 32-40-154 | (none) | (none) | Miniature copper objects. Crescent moons; bellums; staves. In catalog. [drawing 1:1] |
| 17857B | 32-40-213 | (none) | (none) | [A-E] Copper nails. | |
| 17857D | 32-40-217 | (none) | (none) | [A-E] Copper nails. | |
| 17842G | 32-40-237 | (none) | (none) | Beads. A mixed lot. 192 carnelian bugles. 56 carnelian double conoids, lentoids and barrels. 11 large carnelian double conoids and facetted lentoids. 421 carnelian rings. 81 larger carnelian rings. 41 glazed frit balls. 43 lapis lazuli, rings, bugles, ovoids, small mixed beads, apatite (?) quartzite, shell, agate and crystal. | |
| 17842H | 32-40-238 | (none) | (none) | Beads. A mixed lot. 192 carnelian bugles. 56 carnelian double conoids, lentoids and barrels. 11 large carnelian double conoids and facetted lentoids. 421 carnelian rings. 81 larger carnelian rings. 41 glazed frit balls. 43 lapis lazuli, rings, bugles, ovoids, small mixed beads, apatite (?) quartzite, shell, agate and crystal. | |
| 17856 | 32-40-239 | (none) | (none) | Beads. Very small rings of white shell and dark steatite in bad condition. | |
| 17842I | 32-40-240 | (none) | (none) | Beads. A mixed lot. 192 carnelian bugles. 56 carnelian double conoids, lentoids and barrels. 11 large carnelian double conoids and facetted lentoids. 421 carnelian rings. 81 larger carnelian rings. 41 glazed frit balls. 43 lapis lazuli, rings, bugles, ovoids, small mixed beads, apatite (?) quartzite, shell, agate and crystal. | |
| 17842J | 32-40-241 | (none) | (none) | Beads. A mixed lot. 192 carnelian bugles. 56 carnelian double conoids, lentoids and barrels. 11 large carnelian double conoids and facetted lentoids. 421 carnelian rings. 81 larger carnelian rings. 41 glazed frit balls. 43 lapis lazuli, rings, bugles, ovoids, small mixed beads, apatite (?) quartzite, shell, agate and crystal. | |
| 17842K | 32-40-242 | (none) | (none) | Beads. A mixed lot. 192 carnelian bugles. 56 carnelian double conoids, lentoids and barrels. 11 large carnelian double conoids and facetted lentoids. 421 carnelian rings. 81 larger carnelian rings. 41 glazed frit balls. 43 lapis lazuli, rings, bugles, ovoids, small mixed beads, apatite (?) quartzite, shell, agate and crystal. | |
| 17835A | 32-40-308 | (none) | (none) | [A-B] Two lion's heads. Silhouetted in profile. White calcite, originally painted red, but the color gone: both are really stamp seals with rough designs drill-cut on the flat lower surface. Both are pierced for suspension from the top of the head to the bottom of the mane. [drawing] | |
| 17693 | 32-40-312 | (none) | (none) | Bead. Steatite. Pierced lengthwise; series of scratchings. [drawing 1:1] | |
| 17743 | 32-40-313 | (none) | (none) | Bead. Steatite. [drawing 1:1] | |
| 17625A | 32-40-317 | (none) | (none) | Inlay. Shell: [A-F] Six fragments of white shell cut in strips 38mm wide and decorated with 3 horizontal rows of 'mountain' design: the top and bottom rows are merely outlined with a double incised line which was filled in with black: the middle row is champleve and filled in with bright red paste of which a good deal is preserved. [drawing] |
| 17625B | 32-40-318 | (none) | (none) | Inlay. Shell: [A-F] Six fragments of white shell cut in strips 38mm wide and decorated with 3 horizontal rows of 'mountain' design: the top and bottom rows are merely outlined with a double incised line which was filled in with black: the middle row is champleve and filled in with bright red paste of which a good deal is preserved. [drawing] | |
| 17872 | 32-40-334 | (none) | (none) | Cylinder seal. Diorite. Damaged, and part of the surface gone. Design worked entirely with the drill: a standing figure with arms raised and two seated figures, and an object which may be a libation vase. |
| 17734 | 32-40-4 | (none) | (none) | Incense burner. Clay. [drawing] 008 x 008 x 006 |
| Media | Media Title | Title | Label | Author | Omeka Label |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UPM Field Photo numbers | UPM Field Photo numbers | (none) | (none) | (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) |
| Field Photographs | Field Photographs | GN0097 | GN0097 | (none) | |
| Field Photographs | Field Photographs | GN0098 | GN0098 | (none) | |
| Field Photographs | Field Photographs | GN0099 | GN0099 | (none) | |
| 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) |
- 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
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Context
Ur > Ziggurat Terrace | ZT
References
Woolley, L. . (1955) Ur Excavations IV; The Early Periods, Oxford: Oxford University Press.