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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15542 | 31-17-356 | (none) | (none) | Clay goblet. Plain drab clay. Thin-walled. Type CCCLXXI. [drawing] | |
| 14413 | 31-16-235 | (none) | (none) | Clay goblets. Type CCCXII. (TO.VII) [Tel Obaid typology] Not in Catalog. | |
 | 15359 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay hollow cones. 2 types, probably of the same class. [drawing 1:5] |
| 13708 | 31-17-370 | (none) | (none) | Clay jar. Fragments of. With nicked ornament on rim & shoulder-line, and combed or scrabbled ornament on shoulder (see field notes for drawing). Type RC.116 variant. | |
| 13736 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay jar. Type CCCII. Pl. 101. Not in catalog. |
| 15599 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay jug. Light red ware (broken & in bad condition) Handmade. Type CCCXCII. |
| 15529 | 31-17-358 | (none) | (none) | Clay jug. TO painted ware. Black on drab. The paint fugitive & much of the design gone. Type CCCLXXIV. 50. [drawing] | |
| 14414 | 31-16-757 | (none) | (none) | Clay mace head. Fragment. Drab clay burnt black in the inside: the shape was the normal globular or oviform with vertical flutings: the surface treated with plum-red paint. [drawing] diam 006, ht 008 Vol IV PFT C6 Level -700 | |
| 14993 | (none) | 1930,1213.351 | (none) | Clay model of axe.(broken) [drawing] | |
| 13718 | 31-16-724 | (none) | (none) | Clay model wheel. Not in Catalog 7. | |
| 14948B | (none) | 1930,1213.340, 1930,1213.339 | (none) | Clay object (use unkown) baked drab clay. (B) similar to A. | |
| 14948A | (none) | 1930,1213.379 | (none) | Clay object (use unkown) baked drab clay. [drawing 1:1] | |
| 15346 | 31-16-344 | (none) | (none) | Clay object. Apparently a rubber, judging by the striations on the flat under surface. [drawing] | |
| 14466A | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay object. Shaped like a reel. With one end rather smaller than the other-perhaps a stand(?) [drawing] |
| 14954 | 31-16-778 | (none) | (none) | Clay object. Uncertain use. Pierced through centre. [drawing 1:1] | |
| 14982 | (none) | 1930,1213.383 | (none) | Clay object. Use uncertain. Flat clay (baked). [drawing] | |
| 15328 | (none) | 1935,0113.64 | (none) | Clay object. [drawing 1:1] | |
| 13715A | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay pans. Low straight sides. 3 broad ribbon loop handles which bend down inwards and are attached to the base of the bowl inside about halfway between the center and the circumference. A = 2 handles broken and missing. Red clay with whitish slip. B Complete except for a chip : greenish clay. Not in Cat of Vol. IV |
| 13715B | (none) | 1930,1213.302 | (none) | Clay pans. Low straight sides. 3 broad ribbon loop handles which bend down inwards and are attached to the base of the bowl inside about halfway between the center and the circumference. A = 2 handles broken and missing. Red clay with whitish slip. B Complete except for a chip : greenish clay. Not in Cat of Vol. IV | |
| 15340 | 31-17-369 | (none) | (none) | Clay pedestal bowl. Light red clay with cream slip, inside the bowl. (broken). Type CCCXLII | |
| 15341 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay pedestal bowl. Red clay with drab surface (broken). Type CCCXLVII. |
| 15339 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay pedestal bowl. Red clay, drab surface (broken). Type CCCXVII. |
| 15342 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay pedestal. Light red ware with drab slip. Type CCCXLVII. Variant. =aU.24. |
| 15397 | 31-17-289 | (none) | (none) | Clay Plate. TO painted ware. Drab clay with black edge to rim, black border to bowl, & 3 triple loops of black on rim. Type CCCLXVI. 4. | |
| 15538 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay plate. TO painted ware. Very broad black border on green ground. Type CCCLXXVII. 8. |
| 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.