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)
16792 (none) 1931,1010.138 (none) Black stone celt. Slightly convex. [drawing]
17074A (none) 1931,1010.132 (none) Whetstone. (A) Facetted 6 sided. (B) Facetted 4 sided. Pierced for suspension. [Drawing A]
17387 (none) 1931,1010.131 (none) Whetstone. Large rectangular block. Sandstone (?) Broken in 2 pieces.
16418 (none) 1931,1010.112 (none) Fragment of duck weight Grey limestone, right side broken away. Type VI.
16927A (none) 1931,1010.11 (none) Group: objects found together and belonging to a manufacturer of cylinder seals. (A) Limestone fragment, a trial piece with first sketches of 3 standing figures; (B) Limestone fragment, a trial piece with one standing figure nearly finished; (C) Uncut and unpierced cylinders of shell, steatite and limestone; (D) Unfinished beads of rock crystal; (E) Part of an eye of a statue; etc. (F) Limestone fragment a trial piece with the lower parts of 2 standing nude male figures (this was brought in separately, cf. U.16994) (G) Square of red limestone, sculptors trial pieces with unfinished figures of man and dog. [These objects were relettered on the card as follows: C=E, D=F, E=G, F=C, and G=D. Entries in this database, however, follow original lettering]
16927B (none) 1931,1010.10 (none) Group: objects found together and belonging to a manufacturer of cylinder seals. (A) Limestone fragment, a trial piece with first sketches of 3 standing figures; (B) Limestone fragment, a trial piece with one standing figure nearly finished; (C) Uncut and unpierced cylinders of shell, steatite and limestone; (D) Unfinished beads of rock crystal; (E) Part of an eye of a statue; etc. (F) Limestone fragment a trial piece with the lower parts of 2 standing nude male figures (this was brought in separately, cf. U.16994) (G) Square of red limestone, sculptors trial pieces with unfinished figures of man and dog. [These objects were relettered on the card as follows: C=E, D=F, E=G, F=C, and G=D. Entries in this database, however, follow original lettering]
15783 (none) 1930,1213.41 (none) Copper adze.
15732 (none) 1930,1213.327 (none) Terracotta figurine. Nude female wearing voluminous wig, done in 5 big bundles of curls one on top of head and 2 on either side. 4 necklaces.
15801 (none) 1930,0012.13 (none) Cylinder seal. Black steatite. Fragment. Inscribed.
12683 (none) 1929,1017.587 (none) Copper steelyard [leg of a stool has been crossed out]. Top missing? Square in section. [drawing 1:5]
12687 (none) 1929,1017.457 (none) Copper crescent. Miniature. [drawing 1:1]
12631 (none) 1929,1017.326 (none) [A] Beads. A motley collection including: rock crystal balls, hematite balls, shell and (Chrysoprase?) [chalcedony] bugles (broken), [B.1-.3] 2 unpierced steatite cylinders (for seals). 1 - unpierced marble cylinder (ditto) and [C] fragment of an obsidian mace head. (truncated pear shaped).
12763 (none) 1928,1010.812 (none) Clay figurine. Moulded. Fragment of female figure. [drawing 1:1]
12497 (none) 1928,1010.809 (none) Clay model bed. With string or reed mattress - no head. (broken into 2).
7898 (none) 1928,1010.243 (none) Cylinder seal. Steatite. Black. Presentation scene to seated Nannar. Minor deity leads votary by the hand. Criss-cross markings. IIIrd Ur Dynasty.
7690 (none) 1928,1009.57 (none) Flat seal. Pyramidal. 5 round cavities on flat side [drawing of pattern]
7683 (none) 1928,1009.56 (none) Flat seal. Rectangular base with rounded corners. Half cylinder pierced superimposed. Steatite. Mottled grey. Inscribed. Powerful bull=like animal with head bent downwards. In style of Mohenjo Daro seals.
7632 (none) 1928,1009.54 (none) Cylinder seal. Black steatite. Rampant lion followed by 2 rampant rams? Between the rams a standing figure, and behind the lion a palm tree.
7914 (none) 1928,1009.474 (none) Terracotta dog? Black lines painted down back and sides. Traces of harness? Projecting ridge over head and top of back and horizontal band round top of tail. Horizontal ridges below neck running across back and beneath belly. [drawing 1:1]
7676 (none) 1928,1009.466 (none) Terracotta plaque. Fragment. Top portion missing. 2 maile figures clad in short tunics and standing on either side of entrance to shrine? Each grasps the ribbed door post in one hand. [drawing 1:1]
7537 (none) 1928,1009.465 (none) Terracotta plaque. Fragmentary and in poor condition. 2 gods in profile facing one another. God bearded and wearing high headdress, supports an axe? with a curved handle, head of axe resting on left shoulder left forearm parallel with ground. God has a very pronounced Jewish nose. Upper part of goddess fragmentary, both wear flounced kaunakes skirt, left shoulders bare. [drawing 1:1]
8555 (none) 1928,1009.463 (none) Terracotta relief Head missing: male figure, bearded, a dancer right: club in right hand: short skirt to knees. Surface poor. [drawing 1:1]
7640 (none) 1928,1009.43 (none) Cylinder seal. Steatite. Black. Inscribed? In the middle a palm tree rising from a font, on either side of the font a snake? head touching the basin. Also, on either side of the font a male figure one hand upraised as if in ceremony. Possibly the curved markings at the side of the font may represent running water or handles fixed at the top and free below. cf. U.7628.
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.
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.

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