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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 1620 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Jar. Reddish clay, drab surface; wheelmadel with single handle. Broken off at neck. |
| 1625A | (none) | (none) | B15620, B15620, B15620 | Three (3) fragments of a black diorite monument, originally in shape of 4-sided pyramid, surmounted by a smaller body of the same shape. Around all sides of the lower pyramid runs a long inscription of New Babylonian date, concerning contracts for the building of a bit apti and the acquisition of the site for it, in the city of Ur. Found on New Babylonian floor level in N. corner between Nabonidus platform and the old wall. |
| 1625B | (none) | (none) | B15620, B15620, B15620 | Three (3) fragments of a black diorite monument, originally in shape of 4-sided pyramid, surmounted by a smaller body of the same shape. Around all sides of the lower pyramid runs a long inscription of New Babylonian date, concerning contracts for the building of a bit apti and the acquisition of the site for it, in the city of Ur. Found on New Babylonian floor level in N. corner between Nabonidus platform and the old wall. |
| 1625C | (none) | (none) | B15620, B15620, B15620 | Three (3) fragments of a black diorite monument, originally in shape of 4-sided pyramid, surmounted by a smaller body of the same shape. Around all sides of the lower pyramid runs a long inscription of New Babylonian date, concerning contracts for the building of a bit apti and the acquisition of the site for it, in the city of Ur. Found on New Babylonian floor level in N. corner between Nabonidus platform and the old wall. |
| 1631 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Conical seal. Clay. Surface of green glaze; with traces of incised design. Not with photo. [drawing 1:1] |
| 1635 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Fragment of baked clay cylinder of Nabonidus. Duplicate of U.1111, etc., containing last 12 lines of column I. |
| 16423 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Head of statue. Dark steatite. Bearded male head with long hair dressed in the Assyrian fashion & long waved beard, both finely engraved. Good work but bad condition. The right side of the face perished and nose and lips gone, and the left side which is better preserved, damaged by rubbing. |
| 1658 | (none) | (none) | B15609 | Diorite human head Fragment of, life-size. Shewing from top of neck to base of nostrils, rt side of face only, and back across cheek to below ear; mouth complete and chin nearly so. Very fine work of the Gudea type. |
| 1664 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Fragment of brick, with part of first 5 lines of inscription of Sin-balatsu-igbi. |
| 1696 | (none) | 1924,0920.396 | (none) | Alabaster vase. Fragment. With remains of archaic inscription. |
| 1697 | (none) | 1924,0920.392 | (none) | Fragment of baked clay cone of Warad-Sin duplicate of U.19, U.700, etc. Contains beginnings of Column I lines 8-12. |
| 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. | |
| 1700 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Glass paste fragments. Blue and yellow bands. |
| 1701 | (none) | (none) | B15732 | Stone Weight. Black stone. Cigar shaped with 6 incised strokes. Type II |
| 1702 | (none) | (none) | B15812 | Bowl. Fine drab clay; wheelmade; with raised decoration imitating metal form; (in fragments) |
| 17114 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Limestone mace-head. Rounded pear-shaped. |
| 1712 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Fragment from middle of a small baked clay cylinder of Nabonidus, containing parts of both columns duplicate of U.1111, etc. |
| 17149 | (none) | 1930,1213.467 | (none) | Clay bowl. Large, with flat base and straight somewhat everted sides. Al 'Obaid ware with a band of decoration in black round the rim and just above the base broken and incomplete, but a considerable fragment. Type aU.51 [Al 'Obaid typology?] [drawing] | |
| 17602 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Statue fragment of White limestone. Back of head, showing type of hair-dressing: all the face in part of the ears broken away. [drawing] |
| 17608 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Copper spearhead. Point broken. |
| 17609 | (none) | 1932,0010.8 | (none) | Fragment of celt. Schist. [drawing 1:1] |
| 17623 | (none) | (none) | (none) | 3 ear studs. Clay. [drawing 1:1] |
| 17624 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Gold sheet. Fairly thick metal. Obviously plating from some object whose character cannot be determined. The surviving fragment comes from a rectangular piece, from the top right corner. Near the bottom of the fragment remains of panel with inscription impressed from the top surface. [drawing] |
| 17624A | (none) | (none) | (none) | (none) |
| 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] |
| 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.