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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15358 | (none) | 1930,1213.336 | (none) | Clay figurine. Fragment. [drawing 1:1] | |
| 15348A | (none) | 1930,1213.334 | (none) | Dried clay figurines. Animals (cattle) roughly hand-modeled. | |
| 14979 | (none) | 1930,1213.333 | (none) | Clay figurine. Sheep. [drawing 1:1] | |
| 14958 | (none) | 1930,1213.332 | (none) | Fragment of zoomorphic clay vase. Light red clay. Only the back preserved, which should be restored as above. [drawing] | |
 | 15523 | (none) | 1930,1213.316 | (none) | Clay cup. TO painted ware. Type CCCXLV. 23. [drawing] |
| 14475 | (none) | 1930,1213.314 | (none) | Clay pot. Drab clay. Type CCCXIX. Not in catalog. | |
| 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 | |
| 14966 | (none) | 1930,1213.301 | (none) | Trough drain. Greensih clay (section). Loose in soil by the pottery kiln. Not in catalog. [drawing] | |
| 14938B | (none) | 1930,1213.297 | (none) | Clay tool. ? a potter's smoother. A. flat & shaped. Thus: [drawing 1:1] B. a second similar but smaller |
| 15514 | (none) | 1930,1213.296 | (none) | Clay smoother(?) oval object of greenish drab clay, slightly convex (perhaps cut & ground from a pot fragment): perhaps a smoother: rather like objects found in the kiln level above. | |
| 14945A | (none) | 1930,1213.294 | (none) | Clay ring. Three, found one inside the other. (Also another, D, from about the same level it was found nested with 2 others, both incomplete.) Not in catalog. | |
| 14921B | (none) | 1930,1213.293 | (none) | Two rings of clay [A and B]. One green, one drab. Use uncertain. Found together cf. U.14496. Not in catalog. | |
| 14490 | (none) | 1930,1213.278 | (none) | Clay vase spouted of drab clay. [drawing] Type JN 149 new. Not in cat. vol. IV | |
| 14492 | (none) | 1930,1213.277 | (none) | Clay pot. Spouted. Of light red clay. [drawing] Type JN145. Not in cat. vol. IV. | |
| 13705B | (none) | 1930,1213.271 | (none) | (A) Upper quern-stone. dark grey larve. Set in a round-topped lump of bitumen which served as a handle; (B) A lower saddle quern-stone of dark lava. |
| 14467 | (none) | 1930,1213.245 | (none) | Clay pot. Reddish drab clay. Miniature. Cut in text. Not a type. Not in catalog. [drawing 1:1] |
| 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. |
| 13707 | (none) | 1930,1213.237 | (none) | Stone palette. brown pebble. Flat. [drawing 1:1] |
| 13748 | (none) | 1930,1213.232 | (none) | Pounder. Dark grey stone. Polished. Section at base. Not in catalog. [drawing 1:1] |
| 14906 | (none) | 1930,1213.231 | (none) | Flint hoe (?) [drawing 1:1] |
| 15621 | (none) | 1930,1213.227 | (none) | Clay cup. TO painted ware. Fragments. Type CCCXLV. 25. [drawing] | |
| 14454 | (none) | 1930,1213.224 | (none) | Clay pot, fragments of, a large spouted pot of light red clay decorated on the body with two bands of horizontal lines (3 above and 2 below) joined by pairs of wriggly streamers, done in deep chocolate paint (see sketch in Field Notes). | |
| 15540 | (none) | 1930,1213.222 | (none) | Clay cup. TO painted ware. Black on strong green. Type TO. CIII. 26. [drawing] | |
| 15560 | (none) | 1930,1213.220 | (none) | Clay cup. TO painted ware. Black bands on light red clay. Fragments only not making a complete vessel: all base missing. Type CCCXLV 25. | |
| 15561 | (none) | 1930,1213.219 | (none) | Clay cup. To painted ware. Black on cream. Type CCCXLV. 23. [drawing] |
| 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) |
- 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.