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)
1375 (none) (none) B15633 Figurine. Greenish grey clay: moulded. Female(?) figure seated on chair, (legs in profile) wearing horned headdress and flounced skirt. P.
1377 (none) (none) B15647 Figurine. Drab clay: moulded figure, chair modeled. Bearded figure with headdress, seated facing. P
1381 (none) (none) (none) Figurine. Fragment, waist upwards. Red clay: moulded. Nude female figure, with hair dressed in curls.
1382 (none) (none) (none) Figurine. Yellow clay: moulded, broken away below waist. Female figure.
1383 (none) (none) (none) Figurine. Fragment, waist upwards. Drab clay. Moulded. Bearded figure with horned headdress.
1386 (none) (none) (none) Figurine. Fragment, waist upwards only; red drab clay. Rudely modeled figure, with eyes separately attached.
1387 31-16-832 (none) (none) Figurine. Red clay: moulded. Nude female figure, chipped, and feet broken off.
1390 31-16-806 (none) (none) Drab clay fragment. Skirt of seated figure between 2 birds. Moulded.
1392 (none) (none) B15643 Drab clay relief. Moulded. 2 figures standing, wearing flounced skirts, one with horned headdress. Crescent of moon and stars above. P.
1406 (none) (none) B15694 Mask. Red drab clay. Moulded. Grotesque head.
1409 (none) (none) B15725 Mask. Faience, traces of blue glaze. Small grotesque head. P.
1410 (none) (none) (none) Cylinder seal. Hematite. Introduction to a god seated facing right. Inscription in 2 lines obliterated.
1411 (none) (none) (none) Cylinder seal. Black marble (?) Eagle with outspread wings clutching the backs of 2 rampant ibexes which turn their heads backward. Between the heads of the 2 creatures is a palm-tree or symbol. No inscription.
1412 (none) (none) (none) Cylinder seal. Bluish-black marble. Introduction to a god, seated right, with crescent moon before him. Space for inscription left blank..
1413 (none) (none) (none) Cylinder seal, broken. With device of the owner being led forward, facing left, to the presence of a deity who stands with left leg raised (upon a mountain?) and holds a spear in left hand. Traces only of inscription.
1414 (none) (none) (none) Cylinder seal. Black stone. Introduction to a god seated right with crescent moon before him. Space for inscription blank.
1415 (none) (none) (none) Cylinder seal. Black stone. 2 human figures slaying a lion which leaps between them, facing right. No inscription.
1416 (none) (none) (none) Cylinder seal. Black stone. Small. With indistinct device of a human figure, striding right, followed by two others with hands clasped and upheld. No inscription.
1417 (none) (none) (none) Cylinder seal. Black stone. 2 human figures slaying a lion, which leaps between them facing right.
1418 (none) (none) (none) Cylinder seal. Black stone. Half. Portions of 2 human figures and an uncertain object.
1419 (none) (none) (none) Cylinder seal. Terracotta. Broken. Rough incised device apparently of 2 animals rampant on either side of a tree.
1420 (none) (none) (none) Cylinder seal. Terracotta. 2 human figures slaying a lion, rampant, facing right, between them. Illegible remains of a 2 line inscription.
1421 (none) (none) (none) Cylinder seal. Terracotta. Rough incised designs of a palmette, and leaves and branches.
1422 (none) (none) (none) Cylinder seal. Terracotta. With 2 incised bars, otherwise plain. A slight depression in each end; pierced.
1423 (none) (none) B15596 Stamp seal. Square button in terracotta with rude incised device of a bird standing among plants. [drawing]

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