Pit F

General

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

General

UE 4 Pit F.pdf - Download

UE 4 Pit F.2.pdf - Download

Objects: Pit F Export: JSON - XML - CSV

U Number	Museum Number (UPM Date Reg Number)	Museum Number (BM Registration Number)	Museum Number (UPM B-number)	Description (Catalog Card)
14952	30-12-415	(none)	(none)	Copper pin. Straight and pointed at each end.
14954	31-16-778	(none)	(none)	Clay object. Uncertain use. Pierced through centre. [drawing 1:1]
14955	(none)	(none)	(none)	Clay bowl. Light drab ware. Flattened hemispherical. One hole through the bottom and 4 holes in two groups of 2 each close together on one side. JN65. [drawing]
14956	(none)	(none)	(none)	Clay pot. Situla shape. Light red clay. Rough. Type CCCXXIII. =JN69. Not in catalog.
14957	(none)	(none)	(none)	Clay pot. Clay light red to drab. Type CCCXXIV = JN.29 new.
14960	(none)	(none)	(none)	Clay bowl. Very roughly made of coarse lgiht red clay. Masses of examples of this type occur between -8.5m and -10.4m, especially in the lower part: they were being made in the kiln found at -9.1m. Not in catalog.
14961	(none)	(none)	(none)	Seal impression. Conjoined crossed animals.See Vol. IV for other [illegible] of this pit.
14963	(none)	(none)	(none)	Clay pot. Drab clay. Type CCCXXX. Not in catalog. JN131 new.
14964	(none)	(none)	(none)	Clay vase. Drab ware. Type CCCXXXI. Not in catalog. JN70 new.
14965	31-17-100	(none)	(none)	Beads. Small ring beads of white shell.
14967	(none)	(none)	(none)	Clay pot. Cylinder. Type CCCXIII. Not in catalog.
14968	31-16-474	(none)	(none)	Celt. Polished. Coarse black stone. [drawing 1:1]
14970	(none)	(none)	(none)	Shell stud. [drawing 1:1]
14971	(none)	(none)	(none)	Stone vase. Type RC110 (new)
14972	(none)	(none)	(none)	Clay pot. roughly made of whitish drab clay. Type CCCXXXII. not in catalog vol.IV
14973	31-17-71	(none)	(none)	Beads. Very small white shell rings. Found with the body in early grave below kilns.
14975	31-16-422	(none)	(none)	Stone bowl. White limestone. Flattened hemispherical, no base. [drawing]
14976	31-16-148	(none)	(none)	Clay pot. Green-drab clay. Type CCCXXXII. Not in catalog.
14977	(none)	(none)	(none)	Clay disk. With large hole towards one edge. Of the sort sometimes called thumb-guards (but the hole here is too small for the thumb). [drawing 1:1]
14980	(none)	(none)	(none)	Copper spearhead. [drawing 1:1]
14981	(none)	(none)	(none)	Seal impression. On baked clay.
14983	31-16-512	(none)	(none)	Long-shanked stud(?) or nail. White obsidian. [drawing 1:1]
14985	31-16-588	(none)	(none)	Clay axe (imprefect). [drawing 1:1]
14989	31-16-149	(none)	(none)	Clay pot. Greensih drab clay. Type CCCXXXII.
14990	(none)	(none)	(none)	Stone axe-head. Polished black stone.

Previous
Page 9 of 22
Next
25 of 545 Objects

Media: Pit F Export: JSON - XML - CSV

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)