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)
1129 (none) (none) (none) Bowl. Light brown clay. Wheelmade: somwhat unsymmetrical. Type XXVI.
1735 (none) (none) B15768 Bowl. Light red clay with creamy slip. P. [drawing 1:1]
17681 32-40-142 (none) (none) Bowl. Pink limestone. Not RC or L [drawing]
1501 (none) (none) (none) Box lid. Fragment. Drab clay. With boss handle and snake in relief. [drawing 2:5]
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]
1541B (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]
17350 (none) (none) (none) Box lid. Terracotta. Top decorated with a coiled serpent in relief bossin center.
17351 (none) 1931,1010.517 (none) Box lid. Terracotta. Top decorated with a serpent in relief. Round boss in center.
1703 (none) (none) (none) Box-lid. Fragment, with boss handle and spotted snake decoration. [drawing 1:4]
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]
1540B (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]
7823 (none) (none) (none) Brick not identified about 26 lines.
7796 (none) (none) (none) Brick Siniddinam inscription, and marked [drawing of two crescents] = U3115, the only other example?
2880C (none) (none) B16536 Brick of Dungi. "Dun-gi, mighty hero, king of Ur, king of Sumer and Akkad, E-har-sag, his beloved house, has built." H.C.
13003 (none) (none) (none) Brick of Nam-Mah-Ni. New. HC 122.
3374 (none) (none) (none) Brick of Warad-Sin, recording his cutting of the canal called Nannar-hul.
7704 (none) 1928,1009.3 (none) Brick. Bur-Sin. Concerning Ki-en-nu-ga Uri^ki-ma = Watch house of Uri (inscription on edge). HC.6.
7715 (none) 1928,1009.4 (none) Brick. Siniddinam, inscription on edge = U.3115 (some variants?), incomplete and without showing the 2 crescents of U.3115. HC.15.
18250 (none) (none) (none) Bronze (?) spatula. Not RC type [drawing]
6063E (none) (none) (none) Bronze arrowheads. 3 petal shaped grooves running to a point.
409 (none) (none) (none) Bronze fibula. Broken. Poor condition. 9th-5th cent BC type. [drawing 1:1]
1657 (none) (none) (none) Bronze implement or weapon. Square in section, tapering to point at one end, thinned out to chisel-edge at other. Broken in two.
1429 (none) (none) (none) Bronze implement. Spoon shaped. P. [drawing]
1428 (none) (none) (none) Bronze implement. With edge at rounded end. [drawing 1:1]
1650 (none) (none) (none) Bronze pin, pierced below head. Point broken off. [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