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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 14919 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Potsherds. Various. Representing the decorated pottery from this stratum. |
| 14947 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Potsherds. Various. Collected from this stratum between -10m and 10.4m. Not in catalog. |
| 14910 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Potsherds. Various. Collected from level -9m to -9.2m and reperesenting the painted pottery of that level. |
| 14458 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Potsherds. Various examples of painted wares all found near level -800: in Field notes some recorded as high as -7.6m, the bulk as -8.2m. Not in catalog. |
| 14903 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Potsherds. Various decorated examples collected from level -9m these fairly represent the contents of the stratum in colored pottery. Not in catalog. |
| 14936 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Potsherds. Various & representing the decorated wares of that stratum. Not in catalog. |
| 14470 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Potsherds. Decorated, various. Not in catalog. |
| 15595 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Potsherds. 2 from the same pot. TO painted ware with pictures of gazelles feeding, apparently with net in front of them. From a cup of Type CCCXLV. |
| 14457 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Potsherds of plain red (plum colored) ware from the same pot, a large open bowl; but making only a small fragment of it. (card received from Mallowan 1976) |
| 14474 | 31-17-380 | (none) | (none) | Pot sherds. Plain red, finely burnished all belonging to a single pot but forming together only a small part of it. (see field notes) (Card received from Mallowan 1976) | |
| 14472 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Pot sherds. Belonging to a single pot, painted, of Jemdet Nasr 3-color type: may for about 1/3 of the pot. |
| 14473B | (none) | (none) | (none) | Pot Sherds, Various, colored, all collected from stratum between 750 and 850, mostly about 820. |
| 14482 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Pendant. Grey & white marble. Decorated with 2 rows of drill-point holes (the top is broken). [drawing 1:1] |
| 15597 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Painted sherds. Fragments of two cups. TO painted ware. Both certainly imperfect. Found all mixed up together. Type CCCXLV. |
| 14412 | 31-16-219 | (none) | (none) | Paint. The lower part of a plain clay cup containing plum-colored paint in powder form. Not in catalog. | |
| 13709 | (none) | 1928,1010.880 | (none) | Offering-table. Drab clay. Fragments of with incised decoration. The design is remarkable. Round the base, incised chevrons and cross-hatched triangles. The stem has two long vertical slots on each side of which are the door-symbols: on one side is a tree flanked by the dotted triangle of the female organ: on the other side is a tree on one side of which is a house(?) either built on piles or with the lower part of its walls of channelled masonry. Field note says much smashed. No drawing. [drawing] | |
| 14942 | 31-16-516 | (none) | (none) | Obsidian. Triangular instrument. Roughly chipped. [drawing 1:1] |
| 14479A | 31-17-25 | (none) | (none) | Necklaces [A-L]. Lapis lazuli and carnelian double conoids and gold beads. Lapis & gold fluted balls. Smaller beads were from cloak. |
| 14463 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Model clay vase. Reddish drab clay. JN163. Not in catalog. |
| 13713 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Model boat. In bitumen (broken). [drawing] |
| 15329 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Miniature clay nails. Resembling those of obsidian. One has the shaft pierced near the point. |
| 15353 | 31-16-479 | (none) | (none) | Mace-Head. White marble, pear-shaped but rather squat. Found by one of the heads which lay close to each other in confusion in square E7 |
| 14974 | (none) | 1930,1213.238 | (none) | Mace head. Pear-shaped. Very dark green pebble. Rather roughly cut but will polished type of Egyptian 2nd pre-dynastic. |
| 14983 | 31-16-512 | (none) | (none) | Long-shanked stud(?) or nail. White obsidian. [drawing 1:1] |
| 13710 | 31-17-402 | (none) | (none) | Libation vase drab clay. Type ?12CXLIV [unclear] Not published [ This contradicts publication info on same catalog card] |
| 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.