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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 14491 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay vase. Drab clay. Type RC83C. [drawing] Not in catalog. |
| 14418A | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay vase. Glazed. Originally blue? Type CCCLVIII |
| 13661A | (none) | (none) | (none) | Cone . Fragment. Ibi-Sin = (RIU 291) + U11659, 11672 (nothing new). Another fragt (nothing new) (=U15026) |
| 13661B | (none) | (none) | (none) | Cone. Fragment. Ibi-Sin = (RIU 291) + U11659, 11672 (nothing new). Another fragt (nothing new) (=U15026) |
| 14440 | 31-17-225 | (none) | (none) | Copper arrowhead. Flat hammered blade & square tang. Broken but complete. [drawing 1:2] | |
| 14924 | 31-17-267 | (none) | (none) | Copper fish hook (?) 1 barb. No sign of hafting. [drawing 1:1] | |
| 14447 | (none) | 1930,1213.481 | (none) | Copper fish hook. Barbed (the shaft incomplete above).. [drawing 1:1] | |
| 14461 | (none) | 1930,1213.482 | (none) | Copper fish hook. No barb. The top of the shaft flattened & broadened for fastening. | |
| 14497 | (none) | 1930,1213.485 | (none) | Copper fish hook. One barb. The haft flattened to a curve & pierced. [drawing 1:1] | |
| 14439 | (none) | 1930,1213.480 | (none) | Copper fish hook. Top flattened & rolled over for attachment, the shaft square. point round with no barb. [drawing 1:1] | |
| 14923 | (none) | 1930,1213.483 | (none) | Copper fish hook. No barb: haft broken. [drawing 1:1] | |
| 14969 | (none) | 1930,1213.484 | (none) | Copper fish hook. No barb: the haft flattened at the end for attachment. On the haft are traces of the binding. [drawing1:1] | |
| 14498 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Copper pin(?). One end sharply pointed, the haft round in section, the other end slightly pointed. |
| 14460A | 31-17-268 | (none) | (none) | Copper pin. | |
| 14952 | 30-12-415 | (none) | (none) | Copper pin. Straight and pointed at each end. | |
| 14922 | 31-17-270 | (none) | (none) | Copper spatula (?) Slender metal rod with flattened disk head. [drawing 1:1] | |
| 14499 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Copper spatula. Slender rod with flattened disk head.(broken). |
| 14992 | 31-17-233 | (none) | (none) | Copper Spearhead. From 1 of the early graves. | |
| 14980 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Copper spearhead. [drawing 1:1] |
| 13701 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Copper tool (1 barb missing) Cast? And then the blade hammered. Cutting edge on both sides of the blade; the haft thick and with rectangular section. [drawing 1:1] |
| 14415 | 31-17-249 | (none) | (none) | Copper tool. (a narrow chisel or engraving-tool) round stem flattened to narrow chisel blade. [drawing 1:1] | |
| 14934 | 31-16-254 | (none) | (none) | Crucible (?) Of green clay. The bottom missing. Not in cat. Vol. IV [drawing] | |
| 14477 | (none) | 1930,1213.513 | (none) | Crystal pendant. [drawing 1:1] |
| 14495 | 31-17-18 | (none) | (none) | Cylinder seal of white shell. The decoration consists simply of drill-point holes irregularly spaced over the whole surface. | |
| 14489 | 31-17-16 | (none) | (none) | Cylinder seal. Dark steatite. |
| 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
Share
Context
Ur > Pit F
References
Woolley, L. . (1955) Ur Excavations IV; The Early Periods, Oxford: Oxford University Press.