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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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). | |
 | 14455 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay bowl. ? Cf. 270 [drawing] |
| 14455A | (none) | (none) | (none) | Stone bowl. White limestone. Type XCII. [drawing 2:5] |
| 14456 | (none) | 1930,1213.177 | (none) | Potsherds. Of Jemdat Nasr type with 3-color decoration all from one pot, but making up only a female fr. of it (see sketch in field notes). [Annotated] Card received from Mallowan, 1976 | |
| 14457 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Potsherds of plain red (plum colored) ware from the same pot, a large open bowl; but making only a small fragment of it. (card received from Mallowan 1976) |
| 14458 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Potsherds. Various examples of painted wares all found near level -800: in Field notes some recorded as high as -7.6m, the bulk as -8.2m. Not in catalog. |
| 14459 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Statuette. In dark grey steatite. Of a wild boar, represented as crouched with the head on the front hoofs: in the top of the back is a circular hole as if for a wooden support: on the sides a sharp groove as if the beast had rested in a stand with curved arms. The work is remarkably fine and naturalistic. |
| 14461 | (none) | 1930,1213.482 | (none) | Copper fish hook. No barb. The top of the shaft flattened & broadened for fastening. | |
| 14462A | (none) | 1930,1213.370 | (none) | Clay spoon. [drawing 1:1] | |
| 14463 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Model clay vase. Reddish drab clay. JN163. Not in catalog. |
| 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. |
| 14466A | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay object. Shaped like a reel. With one end rather smaller than the other-perhaps a stand(?) [drawing] |
| 14467 | (none) | 1930,1213.245 | (none) | Clay pot. Reddish drab clay. Miniature. Cut in text. Not a type. Not in catalog. [drawing 1:1] |
| 14468 | (none) | 1930,1213.365 | (none) | Shell bugle bead. Not in catalog. |
| 14469 | (none) | 1930,1213.151 | (none) | Bead. Blue glazed frit. Double conoid. |
| 14470 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Potsherds. Decorated, various. Not in catalog. |
| 14470A | (none) | (none) | (none) | Silver comb. With 5 prongs each decorated with a lapis lazuli ball bead. |
| 14472 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Pot sherds. Belonging to a single pot, painted, of Jemdet Nasr 3-color type: may for about 1/3 of the pot. |
| 14473 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Potsherds. Various, colored, all collected from stratum between -7.5m & -8.5m, mostly about -8.2m. |
| 14473B | (none) | (none) | (none) | Pot Sherds, Various, colored, all collected from stratum between 750 and 850, mostly about 820. |
| 14475 | (none) | 1930,1213.314 | (none) | Clay pot. Drab clay. Type CCCXIX. Not in catalog. | |
| 14476 | (none) | 1930,1213.139 | (none) | Stamp seal. White marble(?) or pebble. scaraboid shape. Rudely engraved below thus: [drawing 1:1] |
| 14477 | (none) | 1930,1213.513 | (none) | Crystal pendant. [drawing 1:1] |
| 14478 | (none) | 1930,1213.137 | (none) | Cylinder seal. Dark steatite. 3 deep grooves, between which 3 pairs of human figures rough primitive work mostly done with a drill-point. |
| 14480B | (none) | (none) | (none) | [B-F] Beads (5) clay. Imitation of those cut from shell cores with the spiral shewn. (NB, these seem to have been made on a string, not made & then pierced). |
| 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.