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

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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)
15533	(none)	1930,1213.195	(none)	Clay bowl. TO painted ware. Rough & handmade. Black paint on drab. Type CCCLXV. 3a. [drawing]
15553	(none)	(none)	(none)	Clay bowl. TO painted ware. Very wide black border on greenish drab. Type CCCLXXVII. 8.
14960	(none)	(none)	(none)	Clay bowl. Very roughly made of coarse lgiht red clay. Masses of examples of this type occur between -8.5m and -10.4m, especially in the lower part: they were being made in the kiln found at -9.1m. Not in catalog.
14455	(none)	(none)	(none)	Clay bowl. ? Cf. 270 [drawing]
14911	(none)	(none)	(none)	Clay bowl. Flat and oval. Not in catalog. [drawing]
15519	31-17-10	(none)	(none)	Clay cone. Drab clay. Use unknown. [drawing]
14500A	(none)	1930,1213.355	(none)	Clay cone. For wall decoration: the blunt end painted black, unusually large.
14425	(none)	1930,1213.356	(none)	Clay cone. For wall decoration: the blunt end painted black. Not in catalog.
15383	(none)	(none)	(none)	Clay cup TO painted ware. Type CCCXLV. 23. [drawing]
15335	(none)	(none)	(none)	Clay cup TO-ware. Light drab with black bands. Virtually complete. Type CCCXLV. [drawing]
15607	31-17-303	(none)	(none)	Clay cup. Fragments. Incomplete. TO painted ware. Black on drab. Type CCCXLV. aU24. [drawing]
15570	(none)	(none)	(none)	Clay cup. (fragments) Black on cream. Broken. Type CCCXLV. 23. [drawing]
15344	(none)	(none)	(none)	Clay cup. Clay dead black in body, greenish drab on surface. (distorted in firing) Type CCCXLVI.
15345	(none)	(none)	(none)	Clay cup. Creamy drab ware. Type CCCXLVI.
15337	(none)	(none)	(none)	Clay cup. Drab clay (broken) Type CCCXLVI.
15336	(none)	1930,0012.13, 1930,1213.292	(none)	Clay cup. Drab clay. Type CCCXLVI.
15343	(none)	(none)	(none)	Clay cup. Light drab clay. Rim much chipped. Type CCCXLV.
15563	31-17-314	(none)	(none)	Clay cup. Plain light drab ware. (thin walled) intact. Type. CCCXLV.
15512	(none)	(none)	(none)	Clay cup. Plain white clay. Very fine quality. In fragments. Type CCCXLV.
15559	(none)	(none)	(none)	Clay cup. Plain. creamy drab ware. Type CCCLXV.
15592	31-17-355	(none)	(none)	Clay cup. TO painted ware (fragmentary & in v. bad comdition) Black on greenish drab. Type CCCXLV. 23. [drawing]
15579	(none)	(none)	(none)	Clay cup. TO painted ware (fragments) Paint & fugitive red paint on cream buff. Type CCCXLV. 23. [drawing]
15569	(none)	(none)	(none)	Clay cup. TO painted ware (in fragments) Deep brown-black paint on light drab. Type CCCLXV. 23. [drawing]
15571	31-17-301	(none)	(none)	Clay cup. TO painted ware (in fragments) Black on cream. Broken. Type CCCXLV. 23. [drawing]
15568	31-17-309	(none)	(none)	Clay cup. TO painted ware (in fragments) black on greenish drab. Type CCCLXV. 25. [drawing]

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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)