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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 15604 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Fragments. (incomplete) of a clay cup. TO painted ware. Black on greenish drab. Type CCCXLV. aU23. [drawing] |
| 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] | |
| 15602 | 31-17-297 | (none) | (none) | Clay pot. Spouted. Red clay with dark reddish purple paint, in fragments. & full of salt (see Field Notes: too broken to type). aU43. [drawing] | |
| 15601 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay bowl. TO painted ware (imperfect) Plain black rim with 4 strips of pattern on drab ground. Type CCCLXV. 3a. [drawing] |
| 15600 | (none) | 1930,1213.207 | (none) | Clay platter. TO painted ware. Broad black border on green, fragments, incomplete. Type CCCLXXVII. aU.8 | |
| 15599 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay jug. Light red ware (broken & in bad condition) Handmade. Type CCCXCII. |
| 15598 | 31-16-590 | (none) | (none) | Clay sickle (complete) | |
| 15597 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Painted sherds. Fragments of two cups. TO painted ware. Both certainly imperfect. Found all mixed up together. Type CCCXLV. |
| 15596 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay pot. Miniature. TO painted ware (but too encrusted for any design to be seen). Type CCCLXXII. 30. |
| 15595 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Potsherds. 2 from the same pot. TO painted ware with pictures of gazelles feeding, apparently with net in front of them. From a cup of Type CCCXLV. |
| 15594 | (none) | 1930,1213.186 | (none) | Clay cup. TO painted ware (in fragments) Black paint on light drab. Type CCCXLV. Broken. [drawing] | |
| 15593 | 31-17-291 | (none) | (none) | Clay bowl or platter. TO painted ware. Black paint, poor & powdery. on light drab. Type CCCLXV. 3. [drawing] | |
| 15592 | 31-17-355 | (none) | (none) | Clay cup. TO painted ware (fragmentary & in v. bad comdition) Black on greenish drab. Type CCCXLV. 23. [drawing] | |
| 15591 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay platter. TO painted ware. Narrow black border, drab ground. Type CCCLXVI. Type 4. |
| 15590 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay ring. Probably the foot of a vase, never used as such: Dark greenish-grey ware. TO type. [drawing] |
| 15589 | (none) | 1930,1213.204 | (none) | Clay platter. TO painted ware (broken but complete) Plain black border ong reen ground. Type CCCLXXVII. 8. | |
| 15588 | 31-17-310 | (none) | (none) | Clay cup. TO painted ware (in fragments) Black or dark brown on creamy drab flared in places to pink. Type CCCXLV. 23. [drawing] | |
| 15587 | 31-16-478 | (none) | (none) | Stone grinder. Grey mottled steatite. [drawing] |
| 15586 | (none) | 1935,0112.70 | (none) | Stone pestle or pounder mottled stone (like a kind of granite?) [drawing] |
| 15585 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Stone burnisher. Long round pebble, each end used for rubbing with the tool held at 45o with the object. [drawing] |
| 15584 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Stone celt. Polished. The edge flat, not sharpened. [drawing 1:1] |
| 15583 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Stone celt. Polished. Green stone. [drawing 1:1] |
| 15582 | 31-16-473 | (none) | (none) | Hematite (?) Lump. Found by the head of the body in a TO grave. | |
| 15581 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay cup. TO painted ware (in fragments). Black on cream. Type CCCXLV. [drawing] |
| 15580 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay platter. TO painted ware. Plain black border on green ground (much of the black paint has flaked off). (in fragments) Type CCCLXVI. 4. |
| 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.