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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 17838 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Stone vase. White calcite. Miniature. Type RC 113 new. [RC.67 variant crossed out] [drawing 1:1] |
| 17839 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Copper instrument (possibly a razor?) The tang fairly thick; all edges thin and apparently cutting edges [drawing 1:1] |
| 17840 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Copper disk. (probably a mirror) of very thin metal : the rim neatly turned over as if there had been a wooden (?) backing. To it is attached by corrosion a second copper instrument similar to U.17839. |
| 17841 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Figurine? Of veined reddish calcite. (broken = and the surface badly decayed). Apparently a human figure very summarily represented with drilled eye-holes. [drawing 1:1] |
| 17842A | (none) | 1932,1008.117 | (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. |
| 17842C | (none) | 1932,1008.6 | (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. |
| 17855 | (none) | 1932,1008.254 | (none) | Terracotta head of a ram? Crudely hand modelled. Broken off at the shoulders. Kassite. | |
| 17858 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Disks. Of black or green stone (shale and basic diorite) the face is smooth, the sides slope like those of a truncated cone, the back is rough and is loop-pierced for a copper wire attachment. |
| 17866 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Cylinder seal. White limestone. 2 registers: below, 2 seated figures drinking through tubes. Above, spread eagle and 2 animals (? Gazelles) Archaic style. |
| 17878 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Copper tumbler (?) straight-sided cylinder (slightly disturbed). |
| 17885 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay cones. Fragments of. |
| 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] | |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 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] |
| 18264 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Cylinder seal. White frit once glazed but the glaze all perished. Gazelle and man. |
| 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. |
| 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
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.