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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 17885 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay cones. Fragments of. |
| 17892B | (none) | (none) | (none) | Cone fragment. Unidentified. Mentions religion - their god. |
| 17894 | (none) | 1932,1008.190 | (none) | Terracotta figurine. Fragment of painted Al Obaid ware. The face, the arms and the lower part of the body are missing (details are suggested). [drawing 1:1] | |
| 17945B | 32-40-154 | (none) | (none) | Miniature copper objects. Crescent moons; bellums; staves. In catalog. [drawing 1:1] |
| 17981 | (none) | 1933,1013.175 | (none) | Cones. Clay. [drawing 1:1] | |
| 17982 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Cones. Clay. [drawing 1:2] |
| 18222 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Fragment of sculpture. Diorite. Right shoulder, upper arm and breast of a man wearing closely fitting shirt which passes straight across the front of the body and under the armpit. About 1/3 life size and very good work of about IIIrd dynasty period. |
| 18224 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Stone vase fragment. Black and white marble with fragment of inscription. Probably belongs to U.1455. H.C. |
| 18225 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Gold bar. Rectangulare in section, one end hammered flat, the other bent and broken. |
| 18226 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Sheet gold. a strip of fairly heavy metal bent double lengthways as if to form an edging, but the sharp point is solid. |
| 18232 | (none) | 1933,1013.1 | (none) | Stone vase. Fragments of stalagmitic calcite with deeply colored veining. Type. On it, part of an inscription. |
| 18236 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Gold foil. Fragment of folded up into a sort of rod: no real shape: very thin metal. |
| 18237 | 33-35-13 | (none) | (none) | Terracotta figurine. Fragment of male figure, archaic type. [drawing 1:1] | |
| 18245 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Amulet. Dark grey steatite. Puzuzu head. Good minute work. |
| 18251 | (none) | 1933,1013.90 | (none) | Fragment of inlay. Shell. On one side, plain grooving, part of a hair pattern (probably for the flounce of a skirt): on the other side, very faint, a human figure, from the neck downwards, wearing a kaunakes and advancing right. Top missing. The inlay has been reused and the figure design seems to be the earlier. |
| 18253 | 33-35-189 | (none) | (none) | Clay seal impression. Archaic. Broken and incomplete. A naked man fighting, two heraldically crossed animals: a crouched bull and a seated goddess. | |
| 18260A | (none) | (none) | (none) | Fragments of inlay. Shell, with traces of red paint design of scles thus: [reference to drawing] [drawing 1:1]. (A) As drawn. (B) [measurements] (C) [measurements] |
| 18260B | (none) | (none) | (none) | Fragments of inlay. Shell, with traces of red paint design of scles thus: [reference to drawing] [drawing 1:1]. (A) As drawn. (B) [measurements] (C) [measurements] |
| 18260C | (none) | (none) | (none) | Fragments of inlay. Shell, with traces of red paint design of scles thus: [reference to drawing] [drawing 1:1]. (A) As drawn. (B) [measurements] (C) [measurements] |
| 18264 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Cylinder seal. White frit once glazed but the glaze all perished. Gazelle and man. |
| 18280 | 33-35-258 | (none) | (none) | Clay label. Dark blackish-brown clay. Oval, with string hole through its leng and side plain, one roughly incised on the dry or nearly dry clay, thus: [reference to to drawing] [drawing 1:1] | |
| 18292A | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay counters (?) (A) Disk: incised on both sides with criss-cross lines. (B) Disk: incised on one side with dotted pattern. |
| 18292B | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay counters (?) (A) Disk: incised on both sides with criss-cross lines. (B) Disk: incised on one side with dotted pattern. [drawing] |
| 18294 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Bitumen mace head. [drawing] |
| 18297 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay nail? Of painted Obaid ware. The top is broken and seems to have been cup shaped. [drawing] |
| Media | Media Title | Title | Label | Author | Omeka Label |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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) | |
| 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) |
- 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.