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)
1752 (none) 1924,0920.130 (none) Rattle. Clay. Normal type, two serrated wheels.
1753 (none) 1924,0920.95 (none) Relief disk. Moulded in greenish-white clay. A grotesque face. The eyes are pierced and so are 2 holes near the place for the ears, as it is for suspension: the disk face is conves, and hollow behind.
1755 (none) 1924,0920.68 (none) Figure. Moulded. Reddish clay. On a chair or throne, (broken) upright female (?) figure, full face. Hands on breasts, body apparently draped: on head, a mural (?) crown: heavy curls over shoulders.
1756 (none) 1924,0920.75 (none) Relief. Moulded clay. Grotesque male figure, full face: Bes-like head, right arm raised, left to breast, body nude, large genital organs, bowl legs. Feet together.
1757 (none) 1924,0920.69 (none) Relief. Light red clay. Moulded. Female figure seated figure right: intact from same mould as U.1375.
1758 (none) 1924,0920.84 (none) Relief. Light drab clay. Moulded. Female(?) figure seated left; long robe to feet; hgih horned (?) headdress; from the shoulders rise rays or wings represented by 3 strokes.
1759 (none) 1924,0920.67 (none) Figurine. Light red clay. Moulded. Nude female figure seated, full face, wears full-bottomed wig and bead-collar: with both hands holds infant to left breast. Roughly modeled in relief: two legs behind enable relief to stand up.
1766 (none) 1924,0920.146 (none) Terracotta figurine. Green clay. Fragment. Head only, much damaged, of ram. [drawing 1:1]
1767 (none) 1924,0920.376 (none) Figurine. Drab clay. Female, nude, upright, feet broken. [drawing 1:1]
1768 (none) 1924,0920.373 (none) Figurine. Red clay. Female, robed, arms raised, feet, broken, worn. [drawing 1:1]
1769 (none) 1924,0920.378 (none) Figurine. Red clay. Head and shoulders only. [drawing 1:1]
1770 (none) 1924,0920.380 (none) Figurine. Red clay. Female, head and trunk only, holding tamborine. [drawing 1:1]
1771 (none) 1924,0920.370 (none) Figurine. Drab clay. Female with headdress and flounced skirt. [drawing 1:1]
1772 (none) 1924,0920.377 (none) Figurine. Drab clay, female, nude,. Head, trunk and thighs only. [drawing 1:1]
1773 (none) 1924,0920.372 (none) Figurine. Drab clay, robed and bearded: head and trunk only. [drawing 1:1]
1774 (none) 1924,0920.381 (none) Figurine. Drab clay. Head only, tiered headdress. [drawing 1:1]
1775 (none) 1924,0920.371 (none) Figurine. Drab clay. Male, head and torso only. Bearded and mitred. [drawing 1:1]
1776 (none) 1924,0920.369 (none) Figurine. Red clay. Flounced robes, with hands raised and carrying pots. [drawing 1:1]
1777 (none) 1924,0920.374 (none) Relief. Drab clay with lion in relief, skirt of god superimposed. [drawing 1:1]
2501 (none) 1927,1003.8 (none) Inscribed tablet. Brown limestone. Fragment. Incomplete Semitic text. Obverse: 7 lines. Reverse: weather worn. Ink-drawing. Neo-Babylonian.
2502 (none) (none) (none) Cylinder seal. Inscribed. Glass paste. Bluish white. Broken. Fragments missing. Two lines nearly illegible: ( )-bi-a; ( ) -il. Figures worn, indistinct. Neo-Babylon - Persian Period.
2503 (none) (none) (none) Cylinder seal. Not inscribed. greyish soapstone. Weather worn. Presentation to a seated goddess. Worshipper led by the hand. Flat crescent. Pillar-shaped altar [shown in drawing] (double). 24 x 33mm. Babylonian. About BC 2500. [drawing]
2504 (none) (none) (none) Cylinder seal. Fragment. Brown limestone. Fragment. One worshipper - one standing figure - of a god: Between them the crescent [shown in drawing] on a short support. About BC 2300
2505 (none) (none) (none) Doubtful cylinder seal. greyish limestone. Unpierced fragment. A few lines of figures or signs [shown in drawing]. Period ? [drawing]
2506 (none) (none) (none) Earring. Gold. Crescent lunar type. Heavy - hollow metal. [drawing 1:1]

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