Context Title: Diqdiqqeh | DQ     
Context Name (Publication): Diqdiqqeh     
Context Name (Excavation): Digdiggah; DQ     
Context Name (Excavation): Railway site     
Context Description: Essentially a suburb of the ancient city, this area is located about 2 km to the northeast of the ziggurat of Ur. The precise extents of Diqdiqqeh were never defined, but Woolley referred to it as the low ground between the main railway line and the branch that went to Nasiriyeh. The train lines no longer run in the same place they did in Woolley's day, but Corona images allow us to recreate their paths. This makes the general boundaries west, south, and east somewhat known but how far it stretched north is not completely clear. From the first season workers walking across this area picked up surface finds and brought them to Woolley. At that time the location did not have a fixed name in Woolley's mind and thus first season references sometimes say 'near the railway' or 'near Munshid's water engine.' In the second season Woolley decided to investigate more systematically, but after two days of excavation he decided there was not enough remaining architecture to reward further work. Instead, he continued to allow the workers to gather finds over the next ten seasons, and many later catalog cards state "brought in: Diqdiqqeh" The finds from Diqdiqqeh indicate that the ancient suburb played a role in manufacturing and perhaps in commerce. Canals seem to have met in the area and boats may have unloaded goods here. Many figurines, tools, moulds and other crafting items are among the finds, suggesting that Diqdiqqeh may have been an industrial area away from the main habitation. The so-called Treasury of Sin-Iddinam was also excavated in this general area in season 5. In the Antiquaries Journal of January 1925, Woolley described Diqdiqqeh as follows: “A mile and a half NE. of the ziggurat, between the main railway line and the Nasiriyah branch, there is a patch of low-lying ground, occasionally cultivated, which the natives call Diqdiqqeh... a happy hunting-ground for treasure-seekers, and I took advantage of this fact to collect from the natives the scattered antiquities which they might bring to light.”     
Season Number: 01: 1922-1923      

Objects: Diqdiqqeh | DQ 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)
1502 (none) 1924,0920.184 (none) Stone plumb bob. Black stone, polished : with hole at end and 2 at side, and remains of copper wire within. P. [drawing]
1503 (none) (none) (none) Plumb bob. Drab clay. With hole at end, and one at side. [drawing]
1505 (none) 1924,0920.182 (none) Weight (?) Black stone. Blunt-end cigar-shaped. Type II. [drawing 2:5]
1506 (none) 1924,0920.183 (none) Stone weight (?) Mottled mauve-black stone. Like U.1505 (smaller) Type II.
1508 (none) 1924,0920.185 (none) Weight (?) Black stone, with groove cut round the middle. Like U.1507, more elongated. Type III.
1510 (none) (none) (none) Seal. Black stone. Conical; deity(?) and crescent on pole.
1511 (none) (none) (none) Earring. Broken. Thin gold: boat shaped. [drawing]
1512 (none) 1924,0920.140 (none) Juglet. Brown clay; handmade. With incised herring-bone pattern below neck. [drawing 1:1]
1513 (none) (none) (none) Wheel. Drab clay; plain edge. Like U.1294.
1514 (none) 1924,0920.137 (none) Jar-stopper(?) red drab clay; egg-cup shape, unsymmetrical. [drawing 1:1]
1516 (none) (none) (none) Clay cone. Ur-Nammu, commemorating his construction of the canal of Ur.
1519 (none) (none) (none) Small account tablet tablet. Apparently undated, but of 3rd Dynasty of Ur.
1522 (none) (none) (none) Cylinder seal. Dark stone. Half. With trace of an archaic inscription.
1523 (none) (none) (none) Cylinder seal. Black steatite. One side much damaged. Device is in 2 registers. Introduction scene above and crude design of swans below. Inscription: ahat-i-li-lugal-usum-(gal)-la PA. For design and inscription compare U.1268 and U.1267.
1525 (none) (none) (none) Wheel. Red clay, plain edge. Like U.1513.
1526 (none) (none) (none) Figurine. Greenish clay: moulded. 2 seated figures, female, clothed, of very unequal size; weathered.
1530 (none) 1924,0920.97 (none) Figurine. Fragment, waist upwards only only. Red drab, clay: moulded. Female figure, clothed with conical headdress, bracelets and necklace.
1532 31-16-880 (none) (none) Figurine. Fragment. Waist upwards only. Yellow clay: moulded. Female figure, with necklace, weathered. P. 31-16.880
1533 (none) (none) (none) Figurine. Reddish clay, drab surface: moulded. Female figure, nude, with left arm raised. Broken away from knees downwards.
1534 (none) 1935,0113.42 (none) Figurine. Fragment. Head and legs below knees broken off, drab clay: moulded. Female figure, nude, with bracelets, left arm raised.
1538 (none) (none) (none) Figurine. Red clay: moulded. Female figure with threefold necklace. Broken off below waist.
1539 (none) (none) (none) Figurine. Red-brown clay: moulded. Female figure, nude, with necklace. The feet broken off.
1540A (none) (none) (none) Box. Red drab clay. Adorned with spotted snakes in relief. One end and most of one side broken away, remaining portion broken in 2 pieces (A and B) [drawing: not to scale]
1541A (none) (none) (none) Box lid. Red clay, with boss handle and adorned with snakes. Part missing, the remainder in 2 pieces (A and B). Found with and probably belonging to box U.1540. [drawing: not to scale]
1542 (none) 1924,0920.131 (none) Pot. Red drab clay; handmade. With double neck, and suspension hole, between the 2 openings. [drawing 2:5]

Media: Diqdiqqeh | DQ Export: JSON - XML - CSV

Media Media Title Title Label Author Omeka Label
Ur Excavations VII; The Old Babylonian Period Ur Excavations VII; The Old Babylonian Period 1976 Woolley, L. and M. Mallowan (none)
  • 1 Media