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)
13645A	(none)	1948,0423.433	(none)	[A-B] 2 seal impressions. Presentation scene. Inscribed: Ur-Dungi-sa dub-sar arad dNannar . HC.205. (UET/III:1802)
13620	(none)	1948,0423.431	(none)	Seal impression. On two fragments. Presentation (between introductor and seated god a small kneeling figure). Inscriptioin: A-gu servant of Lu dNannar. HC.204.
13662	(none)	1948,0423.370	(none)	Tablet. Dungi 45 clothing stuff??? and sheep ?? from Adab. HC.506.
15603	(none)	1935,0113.70	(none)	Clay figurine. Fragment. With traces of paint: nude female figure of normal type but very flatly modeled. Two large tresses of hair at the back . Hands originally planted on sides. [drawing 1:1]
15355	(none)	1935,0113.68	(none)	Dried clay figurine. Most primitive type. [drawing 1:1]
15354B	(none)	1935,0113.67	(none)	Figurine. Fragment. Baked clay animal. Green clay with black bands. (A) Striped body, very long, of a tiger(?) head & forelegs missing. [1:2 drawing] (B) Hind quarters. [1:2 drawing] (C) Forepart of buffalo. [1:2 drawing] (D) Pig. [1:2 drawing]
15348D	(none)	1935,0113.66	(none)	Dried clay figurines. Animals (cattle) roughly hand-modeled.
15334	(none)	1935,0113.65	(none)	Figurine. Dried clay. Human figure. Head missing. [drawing 1:1]
15328	(none)	1935,0113.64	(none)	Clay object. [drawing 1:1]
15325	(none)	1935,0113.63	(none)	Clay figurine. A pig(?) Crudely modeled by hand. [drawing 1:1]
14996	(none)	1935,0113.61	(none)	Clay figurine. Fragment of (forepart only) of a bull(?). Drab clay with black markings.
14937	(none)	1935,0113.393	(none)	Clay saucer. Drab clay. Type CCCXXI =JN5 new. Not in catalog.
14445	(none)	1935,0113.392	(none)	Clay pot. Miniature. Red clay. Roughly made. JN91. Not in catalog. [drawing]
14410	(none)	1935,0113.391	(none)	Clay pot. Light red clay. Rather rough. Type CCCX.
15586	(none)	1935,0112.70	(none)	Stone pestle or pounder mottled stone (like a kind of granite?) [drawing]
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.
15378	(none)	1930,1213.83, 1930,1213.84, 1930,1213.85	(none)	Beads: very small rings of black stone & white shell worn at the wrist in many parallel strings, probably sewn on cloth.
13654	(none)	1930,1213.612	(none)	Tablet. Fragment of Presargonic accounts (sheep). HC.402. UET II: 3 supp).
13762	(none)	1930,1213.577	(none)	Clay vase. miniature Type ? [drawing] not in cat. vol. IV
14978	(none)	1930,1213.576	(none)	Clay vase. miniature spouted. of very light drab clay. Type CCCXXXIII = JN118 new. Not in cat. Vol. IV
13728A	(none)	1930,1213.551	(none)	Clay sling bolts. Normal pointed type.
13728B	(none)	1930,1213.551	(none)	Clay sling bolts. Normal pointed type.
13727	(none)	1930,1213.546	(none)	Bead. Dark grey pebble. Lentoid flattened on 1 side like a stamp seal, but plain underneath. [drawing]
15520	(none)	1930,1213.533	(none)	Bone stylus ? With arrow-like head, flattened. [drawing 1:2]
14484	(none)	1930,1213.532	(none)	Bone pin with decorated head (point broken). [drawing 1:1]

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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)