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)
777 (none) 1923,1110.112 (none) Terracotta mask fr. of. in pinkish-drab clay. [drawing 1:1]
843 (none) (none) (none) Clay figurine of red clay, snowman technique. A goddess with elaborate headdress seated on chair; hands clasped below breasts. New Babylonian style. [drawing 1:1:]
844 (none) (none) (none) Clay boat. Front part of . [drawing]
845 31-16-908 (none) (none) Clay relief. Fragment, lower part only on a chair, a woman, preserved from the waist downwards, in elaborately flounced skirt. One peg survives behind for propping up the figure. [drawing 1:1]
847 (none) (none) (none) Cylinder seal. Black steatite. Gilgamesh and his friend killing their favorite winged gryphon. Fairly good work.
893 (none) (none) (none) Clay pot. Reddish clay with drab engobbage. Wheelmade. Type LVII. =RC.75. not P.
915 (none) 1923,1110.97 (none) Clay relief. Goddess seated on a chair: flounced skirt, horned headdress, 2 pegs behind to make it stand up. [drawing]
916 (none) (none) (none) Limestone figurine. of a recumbent doe. [drawing 1:1]
917 (none) (none) (none) Fragment of small clay cone. Duplicate of Ur-Engur's inscription concerning the canal of Ur, U.169. Placed in IN/No. 4
918 (none) (none) (none) Small clay cone, base and side slightly damaged. Inscription of Ur-Engur recording his digging of a canal called ID-UN. Placed in IN/No. 4.
997 (none) (none) (none) Clay Rattle of Greenish white clay. Pierced across, rim double and scalloped. [drawing]
1007 (none) 1923,1110.101 (none) Terracotta relief, moulded. Male figure, bearded with horned cap, holding two objects against shoulders in Osirid fashion: flounced skirt. Full length: broken and mended, chip missing out of skirt. Whitish clay.
1008A (none) 1923,1110.100 (none) Terracotta relief. Whitish clay. Moulded, female figure, nude with hands to breasts bead necklace, organs dotted, big earrings and very prominent features. Lower part of leg missing but feet preserved separately.
1009 (none) 1923,1110.104 (none) Terracotta relief. Moulded Female figure, upper part of: nude, against a cloak which comes over shoulders in part & is thrown back to cover field behind body. Elaborately dressed hair: necklaces, coiled bracelets: hands on breasts. Whiteish clay.
1012 (none) 1923,1110.99 (none) Terracotta relief. Red clay. Moulded, in a rectangular frame (shrine?) a female figure wearing turreted headdress, heavy cloak with big rosettes on shoulders, flounced skirt. In each hand a bottle (?): 4 large rosettes in field above shoulders. Features pinched and not recognizable. Broken off at knees.
1015 (none) 1923,1110.103 (none) Terracotta relief. Moulded. Upper part of bearded male figure wearing tall horned cap and carrying against his shoulders two objects like axes (?) (Osirid style of U.1007, which is of a different mould). Broken below elbows and surface much destroyed. Greenish white clay.
1017 (none) 1923,1110.108 (none) Terracotta relief. Moulded. Upper part of bearded male figure in profile head uncovered, with heavy hair: cloak over left shoulder; right hand carries over shoulder a flail. Whitish clay.
1022 (none) (none) (none) Terracotta relief. Moulded. Upper part of group of 2 figures, bearded male figure wearing high lunar headdress: in field, above, crescent; behind male figure a staff with crescent top.
1025 (none) 1923,1110.114 (none) Terracotta figure. Drab clay. Hand modeled. A donkey? On its back object incomplete either panniers and saddle or legs of rider(?). One hind leg missing.
1027B (none) 1923,1110.119 (none) Wheels. Clay. With pierced projecting hubs and cogged edges. (A) Reddish clay. (B) Greenish clay.
1028 (none) (none) (none) Terracotta figure. Fragment, grotesque head and shoulders. Snowman technique. Whitish clay.
1029 (none) 1923,1110.118 (none) Rattle. Wheel form with double rim cogged and small central hole. Small stone(?) inside.Greenish clay.
1030 (none) (none) (none) Rattle. Broken and incomplete. Same type as U.1029 but with holes all over. Pinkish drab clay.
1031 (none) (none) (none) Clay Cullender. Shallow dish form pierced with 3 rows of holes and one central hole. Greenish white clay.
1033 (none) 1923,1110.91 (none) Model boat. of Green clay. Side chipped and stern peak missing. Flat bottomed.

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