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      

Objects: Ziggurat Terrace | ZT Export: JSON - XML - CSV

Object U Number Museum Number (UPM Date Reg Number) Museum Number (BM Registration Number) Museum Number (UPM B-number) Description (Catalog Card)
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.
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]
17689A (none) (none) (none) Lid of jar. Al Obaid ware. [drawing 1:1]
17704 (none) (none) (none) Grinder. Diorite. Great toe of left foot of statue sawn off and used as grinder. [drawing 1:1]
17714 (none) (none) (none) Arrowhead. Flint. Point missing. [drawing 1:1]
17731 (none) (none) (none) Bead clay. [drawing 1:1]
17755A (none) (none) (none) [A-B] Ear studs. [drawing 1:1]
17756 (none) (none) (none) [A-B] Ear studs. Clay. [drawing 1:1]
17764 (none) (none) (none) Ear studs. Clay. [drawing 1:1]
17766 (none) (none) (none) Fragment of obsidian vase. [drawing 1:1]
17819A (none) 1932,1008.237 (none) Terracotta figurine. Nude seated woman suckling a child.
17830 (none) (none) (none) Door socket. Diorite. With inscription of Ur-Engur.
17831 (none) (none) (none) Door socket. Diorite. With inscription of Ur-Engur.
17833 (none) (none) (none) Statuette of reclining dog (?). Calcite. Originally, colored bright red (some of color left) with eyes filled in with black. The beast has a ruff and a bushy tail. A hole is pierced from the top of the back to the stomach. On the under side a seal cutting (much perished) showing animals mostly cut with the drill.
17834 (none) (none) (none) Figurine of seated calf. White calcite. Usual attitude, body in profile. Left hand turned over shoulder to face outwards.
17835B (none) (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]
17836 (none) (none) (none) Object. Of white calcite. Shaped like a cow-bell with two rings for suspension: in the holes were traces of what seemed to be reed or fiber
17837 (none) (none) (none) Toilet vase. White calcite. Two small jars joined together each contains yellow pigment. [drawing]

Media: Ziggurat Terrace | ZT Export: JSON - XML - CSV

Media Media Title Title Label Author Omeka Label
Field Photographs Field Photographs GN0097 GN0097 (none)
Field Photographs Field Photographs GN0098 GN0098 (none)
Field Photographs Field Photographs GN0099 GN0099 (none)
UPM Field Photo numbers UPM Field Photo numbers (none) (none) (none)
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_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