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

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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)
14465A	(none)	1935,0112.130	(none)	Stone bead. Hard white pebble. Circular but cut away at either side. Not in catalog. See text p.32.
13735	(none)	(none)	(none)	Stone bowl. Grey (basic diorite?) Straight-sided. RC150. [drawing]
13747	(none)	(none)	(none)	Stone bowl. Grey stone (basic diorite?) Broken & 1/3 missing. One hole is pierced through the middle of the bottom and two close together near the rim: cf. 13746. [drawing]
13739	31-16-407	(none)	(none)	Stone bowl. Grey stone (basic diorite?) . [Type] RC229. [drawing]
13741	31-16-376	(none)	(none)	Stone bowl. Grey stone (basic diorite?). JN.26 new. [drawing]
13714	31-16-371	(none)	(none)	Stone bowl. Half of: Rather roughly worked in dark grey steatite. Type rough rimless variant of type RC112. Not in field notes. [drawing]
14420	(none)	(none)	(none)	Stone bowl. Veined limestone. ? RC41. JN.9
13757	31-16-435	(none)	(none)	Stone bowl. White limestone (restored from fragments, but imperfect). JN19. Type XV ? RC22b. [drawing]
13756	31-16-434	(none)	(none)	Stone bowl. White limestone (restored from fragments). JN19. Type XV ? RC22b [drawing]
13755	31-16-451	(none)	(none)	Stone Bowl. White limestone (restored from fragments). Jnu. Type X (RC20a) [drawing]
13753	(none)	(none)	(none)	Stone bowl. White limestone. In antiquity broken in half and mended with 3 rivets (rivet-holes very large) The base not clearly defined. JN14 new. [drawing]
13754	31-16-453	(none)	(none)	Stone bowl. White limestone. The edges much chipped. ?[Type] RC20a. Jnu. [drawing]
14975	31-16-422	(none)	(none)	Stone bowl. White limestone. Flattened hemispherical, no base. [drawing]
14500	(none)	(none)	(none)	Stone bowl. Basic diorite (?) Dark grey. Type IX (RC19a) JN12.
14455A	(none)	(none)	(none)	Stone bowl. White limestone. Type XCII. [drawing 2:5]
15585	(none)	(none)	(none)	Stone burnisher. Long round pebble, each end used for rubbing with the tool held at 45o with the object. [drawing]
13724	31-16-476	(none)	(none)	Stone celt. Black pebble: polished, edge chipped. [drawing 1:1]
13725	(none)	(none)	(none)	Stone celt. Black stone. Ground. [drawing 1:1]
13737	(none)	(none)	(none)	Stone celt. Dark grey pebble. Polished. [drawing 1:1]
15583	(none)	(none)	(none)	Stone celt. Polished. Green stone. [drawing 1:1]
15584	(none)	(none)	(none)	Stone celt. Polished. The edge flat, not sharpened. [drawing 1:1]
15587	31-16-478	(none)	(none)	Stone grinder. Grey mottled steatite. [drawing]
14925	31-16-481	(none)	(none)	Stone handle. Perhaps for a drill? [Drawing 1:1] Vol IV: PL. 28 (p.31.16.481) PFT E7-910h-950
13740	(none)	(none)	(none)	Stone lamp(?) Grey stone (basic diorite?) A shallow bowl with trough spout. [drawing]
13746	31-16-489	(none)	(none)	Stone object. Obviously a fragment from a small shallow stone bowl (basic diorite?) rubbed down and pierced with holes. [drawing]

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Media: Pit F Export: JSON - XML - CSV

Media	Media Title	Title	Label	Author	Omeka Label
	UPM Field Photo numbers	UPM Field Photo numbers	(none)	(none)	(none)
	Ur Excavations IV; The Early Periods	Ur Excavations IV; The Early Periods	1955	Woolley, L.	(none)