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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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] | |
 | 17625C | (none) | (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] |
| 17625D | (none) | 1932,1008.34 | (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] |
| 17625E | (none) | 1932,1008.35 | (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] |
| 17625F | (none) | (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] |
| 17626A | 32-40-437, 32-40-437 | (none) | (none) | [A-B] Copper cylinders. A pair. Solid metal, entirely carved with inscription in vertical lines. Name of NUR-ADAD. | |
| 17626B | (none) | (none) | (none) | [A-B] Copper cylinders. A pair. Solid metal, entirely carved with inscription in vertical lines. Name of NUR-ADAD. |
| 17627A | (none) | 1932,1008.8 | (none) | [A-B] Copper cylinders. A pair. Solid metal, entirely covered with inscription in vertical lines (not the same size). Name of NUR-ADAD. |
| 17627B | (none) | (none) | (none) | [A-B] Copper cylinders. A pair. Solid metal, entirely covered with inscription in vertical lines (not the same size). Name of NUR-ADAD. |
| 17628 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Foundation Cone. Fragmentary. (Larsa type) 1/3 of stem and virtually all of base missing = UR RI#131 (Warad-Sin). |
| 17631 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Pin. Obsidian. [drawing 1:1] |
| 17635 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Celt. Schist. [drawing 1:1] |
| 17640 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Amulet bead. Steatite. [drawing 1:1] |
| 17641 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Tablet. Unbaked = complete. | |
| 17644 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay cone. Inscribed. Lower part only: small both with no 'head' to the nail but flattened and like Ur-Engur type: but this later. |
| 17648 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Terracotta figurine. Red Clay. Young nude female with hands clasped below breasts : feet and face missing and head broken off in antiquity but found with the body. |
| 17651 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay roundel, a label = on the face, part of a cylinder impression, geometrical design. [drawing 1:1] |
| 17652 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Mudbrick. Fragment of bearing the stamp of (Warad-Sin?). The rest of the bricks in the wall are 390mm square. |
| 17654A | (none) | (none) | (none) | Wall cones. Two [A-B] of Warad-Sin = complete. Cf. Ur inscription 131. (A) is intact (B) is broken, and a large flake has come away from the stem, so that about 1/3 of the inscription is missing: this happened before the cone was set in the wall. |
| 17654B | 32-40-429, 32-40-429 | (none) | (none) | [A-B] Wall cones. Two of Warad-Sin = complete. Cf. Ur inscription 131. (A) is intact = (B) is broken, and a large flake has come away from the stem, so that about 1/3 of the inscription is missing: this happened before the cone was set in the wall. | |
| 17658 | (none) | 1935,0113.407 | (none) | Copper dagger blade. With 3 rivets : tip of tang with 3rd rivet broken. Type not RC. Cf knife RC 4. | |
| 17659 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Copper spearhead. Broken but complete. Type not RC [drawing] |
| 17664 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Celt. Schist. [drawing 1:1] |
| 17680A | (none) | (none) | (none) | [A-B] 2 obsidian ear studs. [drawing 1:1] |
| 17680B | (none) | (none) | (none) | [A-B] 2 obsidian ear studs. [drawing 1:1] |
| 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.