Pit F
| Context Title: | Pit F |
| Context Name (Publication): | Flood Pit; Pit F |
| Context Name (Excavation): | PFT; Pit F |
| Context Description: | Pit F stands apart from the Royal Cemetery pits dug in the preceding year, despite its letter 'F' falling inside the sequence of those pits. The sequence of pit letters was assigned after most had been dug, probably in season 8 as confusion arose over pits I and J. Pit F was originally called PFT to distinguish it from pits in the Royal Cemetery area. The suffix T probably stood for Temenos to show that Pit F was dug in the area inside the early temenos wall. The abbreviation became confusing and Legrain reports PF as 'Flood Pit' and PFT as 'Shaft in town area,' but the two designations are actually identical. The term 'Flood Pit' was often used to refer to Pit F because of the deep layers of silt found near its deepest extent. As much as 3 meters thickness of fine water-lain soil was encountered here, evidence of a great flood. In his books and talks for the general public, Woolley often made the equation of this flood with the biblical flood, but in his academic discussions he never did. Instead, here he referred to the frequent flooding of the Euphrates and how this particular flood must have been large and may have spawned Sumerian legends. Pit F was extremely large and extremely deep. Woolley's intent was to reach the earliest occupation of the site. He chose an already low-lying zone neighboring the excavation area EH and laid out a trench 15x25 meters, though in the southern half he only dug 10 meters width, making the final pit L shaped. He truncated the horizontal extent further as he dug down to avoid collapse and he eventually reached a depth of some 19 meters from the surface of the mound. The top of the pit had already been denuded to the Early Dynastic levels and thus late material was typically not found here. From the surface, Woolley found eight levels of early building remains going deeper and deeper. Beneath this he found pottery kilns and a deep layer of over-fired pottery fragments indicating manufacture. Near the bottom of this stratum he began finding Uruk period graves (that he called Jemdat Nasr period graves). He labeled these not with numbers, but with letters in the sequence PFG/A through PFG/XX. Below this he encountered the flood layer with Ubaid period graves cut into it. Beneath the flood layer he found evidence of Ubaid habitation near sea level and what he believed to be indications of the early marshlands in which Ur had originally been a very low mound. |
Files
| Object | U Number | Museum Number (UPM Date Reg Number) | Museum Number (BM Registration Number) | Museum Number (UPM B-number) | Description (Catalog Card) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 15372 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay cup. TO painted ware. Incomplete. On the sides design. Type CCCXLV. [drawing] |
| 15373 | (none) | 1930,1213.200 | (none) | Clay cup. TO painted ware (incomplete) On the side design. Type CCCXLV. [drawing] | |
| 15375 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay vase. TO painted ware. Black on cream (intact) Type (the base curiously heavy & trimmed with a knife) CCLXIII. =aU.39. |
| 15376 | (none) | 1930,1213.173 | (none) | Clay figurine. TO painted ware. Head missing. Nude female suckling an infant. Dots on the right shoulder & stripes on the left, and she wears a necklace & bracelets & a black girdle. | |
| 15377 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay pot. TO painted ware. Spouted & handled. Type CCCLXII |
| 15378 | (none) | 1930,1213.83, 1930,1213.84, 1930,1213.85 | (none) | Beads: very small rings of black stone & white shell worn at the wrist in many parallel strings, probably sewn on cloth. |
| 15380 | (none) | 1930,1213.172 | (none) | Clay figurine. A nude female with hands on waist. The face is damaged & parts of it have flaked away & left lower arm is missing: on the tall head are remains of a thick coating of bitumen. (found in fragments & restored). | |
| 15381 | (none) | 1930,1213.19 | (none) | Beads: Very small ring of white shell found on the arm of a body (one of a large group) which had no other burial furniture. |
| 15382 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay cup. TO painted ware. Type CCCXLV. 23. [drawing] |
| 15383 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay cup TO painted ware. Type CCCXLV. 23. [drawing] |
| 15384 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay cup. TO painted ware. Chocolate brown on pickish buff. Type CCCXLV. [drawing] |
| 15386 | (none) | 1930,1213.198 | (none) | Clay cup. TO painted ware. Type CCCXLV. 23 [drawing] | |
| 15389 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay cup. TO painted ware. Black on greenish drab. Type CCCXLV. 25. [drawing] |
| 15391 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay cup. TO painted ware. Black on greenish drab. Type CCCXLV. 25. [drawing] |
| 15392 | (none) | 1930,1213.197 | (none) | Clay cup. TO painted ware. Black on greenish drab. Type CCCXLV. 26. [drawing] | |
| 15393 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay cup. TO painted ware. Very thin. Dark brown on greenish cream. Type (too distorted & borken to type accurately). 25. [drawing] |
| 15394 | (none) | 1930,1213.185 | (none) | Clay pot. With spout and handle. painted TO ware. Type CCCLIV. 48. | |
| 15396 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay bowl. TO painted ware. Drab clay with black border & in the interior two cross-hatched triangles. Type CCCLXV. 3a. |
| 15399 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay figurine. Upper part only of painted clay, black on pinkish drab. Female figure (from waist up) nude but with marks (Tattooing?) on shoulders. [drawing 1:1] |
| 15400 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay bowl. Brown clay. Black on surface, very lightly fired & very flakey. Type CCCLXV. 3. |
| 15501 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay tumbler. Fragments. TO PAINTED WARE: Black on greenish drab. Type CCCLXVII. 16. [drawing] |
| 15502 | (none) | 1930,1213.183 | (none) | Spouted clay pot. TO painted ware. [drawing] black on greenish drab. Type CCLXVIII. 44. | |
| 15504 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay cup. To painted ware. Rough and handmade. Black on creamy alip; red body clay. Type CCCLXX. aU.11. [drawing 2:5] |
| 15505 | (none) | 1930,1213.196 | (none) | Clay cup. To painted ware. Chocolate brown on pinkish drab. (red clay) (in fragments, & very full of salt). Type CCCXLV. 25. [drawing] | |
| 15506 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay figurine. A woman holding a serpent. Very light creamy drab clay. Nude figure: on the head a high bitumen wig: grotesque beak-like face: on the shoulders in front & behind, added pellets to represent cicatrices(?): childs head painted black. Figure restored from fragments (the clay is very soft and brittle) and feet of woman missing. |
| Media | Media Title | Title | Label | Author | Omeka Label |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ur Excavations IV; The Early Periods | Ur Excavations IV; The Early Periods | 1955 | Woolley, L. | (none) |
| UPM Field Photo numbers | UPM Field Photo numbers | (none) | (none) | (none) |
- 2 Media
Sibling Locations
AH Site | AH - City Wall | CLW - DP - Dublalmah | LL - EH Site | EH - Ehursag | HT - EM Site | EM - Enunmah | TTB | ES - ESB - FH - Giparu | KP - Great Nanna Courtyard | PD - Harbor Temple - House 34/1 - House 34/2 - House Site - Kassite Fort - KPS Site | KPS - LT - LW - Mausoleum Site | BC - Neo-Babylonian Housing | NH - NNCF - NTB - P/103 - Palace of Bel-Shalti-Nannar | AD - Royal Cemetery | PG - SM - Temenos Wall | TW - TTC - XNCF - Ziggurat Terrace | ZT
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Context
Ur > Pit F
References
Woolley, L. . (1955) Ur Excavations IV; The Early Periods, Oxford: Oxford University Press.