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.     

Objects: Pit F Export: JSON - XML - CSV

Object U Number Museum Number (UPM Date Reg Number) Museum Number (BM Registration Number) Museum Number (UPM B-number) Description (Catalog Card)
14438 31-16-492 (none) (none) Stone roundel. Dark grey slate or schist. Flat below, above a shallow truncated cone: small hole through centre. (chipped at edge).
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]
15511 31-16-486 (none) (none) Stone palette. A disk of reddish-brown pebble: in the centre a patch of red color (ground powder) of exactly the tint used to paint the face of the figurinee 15398. (chipped, and a piece of the rim missing).
13717 31-16-483 (none) (none) Fragment of a small bowl. (Steatite?) Round the side in very low relief is a moulded rope pattern: from this rise imitation loop handles modeled in low relief, the tops of the loops comming to the rim of the bowl. [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
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
15587 31-16-478 (none) (none) Stone grinder. Grey mottled steatite. [drawing]
13724 31-16-476 (none) (none) Stone celt. Black pebble: polished, edge chipped. [drawing 1:1]
14968 31-16-474 (none) (none) Celt. Polished. Coarse black stone. [drawing 1:1]
15582 31-16-473 (none) (none) Hematite (?) Lump. Found by the head of the body in a TO grave.
13738 31-16-471 (none) (none) Pounder. White limestone. Not in catalog. [drawing]
13730 31-16-470 (none) (none) Pounding-stone or hand hammer. Pebble. A flattened sphere; on one flattened side bruises due to hammering.
13754 31-16-453 (none) (none) Stone bowl. White limestone. The edges much chipped. ?[Type] RC20a. Jnu. [drawing]
13755 31-16-451 (none) (none) Stone Bowl. White limestone (restored from fragments). Jnu. Type X (RC20a) [drawing]
14450 31-16-450 (none) (none) Clay pot. Drab clay flared on 1 side to red. Type TO LXXX. Not in catalog.
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]
14975 31-16-422 (none) (none) Stone bowl. White limestone. Flattened hemispherical, no base. [drawing]
13739 31-16-407 (none) (none) Stone bowl. Grey stone (basic diorite?) . [Type] RC229. [drawing]
14481 31-16-392 (none) (none) Stone vase. Grey marble(?) (translucent) Miniature. (rim all chipped away). Type RC.106 [drawing 1:1]
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]
14451C 31-16-347 (none) (none) [B-C] Brick. Jus. (gypsum burnt & slaked) rectangular, flat on top, made in a wooden mould set on a piece of matting, the impression of which remains on the underside of the brick. Though different in size it is identical in technique & fabric with those at Muraijib (14452-3)
15346 31-16-344 (none) (none) Clay object. Apparently a rubber, judging by the striations on the flat under surface. [drawing]
15631 31-16-342 (none) (none) Spouted pot. Plain light drab clay (much broken) Type CCCXXVII. aU.47.

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)
  • 2 Media

Child Locations

C.4 - C.5 - C.6 - C.7 - C.8 - D.4 - D.5 - D.6 - D.7 - D.8 - E.4 - E.5 - E.6 - E.7 - E.8 - F.6 - F.8 - Graves