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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 14443 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay bottle. Red clay. Type CCCXVII. Not in catalog. |
| 15608 | 31-17-316 | (none) | (none) | Clay bowl (fragments: imperfect) TO painted ware. Brownish black on drab. Type CCCXCI(?). 19. [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] | |
| 15517 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay bowl, or platter. TO painted ware. Black on light drab. Type CCCLXVI. 4. [drawing] |
| 15400 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay bowl. Brown clay. Black on surface, very lightly fired & very flakey. Type CCCLXV. 3. |
| 14949 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay bowl. Drab clay. Type CCCXXII. =JN19. Not in catalog. |
| 15610 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay bowl. Fine light drab ware. Thin walled. Type CCCXCIII. |
| 15564 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay bowl. Fragments. TO painted ware. Black on drab. Type CCCLXXVL. aU.21. [drawing] |
| 15565 | (none) | 1930,1213.193 | (none) | Clay bowl. Fragments. TO painted ware. Black on greenish drab. Type CCCLXV. 3a. [drawing] | |
| 15363 | (none) | 1930,1213.201 | (none) | Clay bowl. Handmade: rough light reddish-drab clay with black paint; a band round the rim & interior pendants, hemispherical. Type aU.20 [drawing] | |
| 15572 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay bowl. Light drab clay. Handmade, very rough. Type CCCXCI |
| 14955 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay bowl. Light drab ware. Flattened hemispherical. One hole through the bottom and 4 holes in two groups of 2 each close together on one side. JN65. [drawing] |
| 15371 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay bowl. On ring base of TO ware: greenish drab clay with band of black paint round rim. The interior is deeply combed, pres. for the bruising of grain ( a piece missing) Much distorted in firing. Type CCCLXI. |
| 15528 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay bowl. Painted ware. Pinkish drab with design very roughly done in a fugitive red paint now mostly flaked off. Type CCCLXXIII. 22. [drawing] |
| 15573 | (none) | 1930,1213.00 | (none) | Clay bowl. TO painted ware ( in fragments) Black on cream. Type CCCLXXVI. 21. [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] |
| 15632 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay bowl. TO painted ware. 2 black lines round rim on drab ground. (broken & imperfect) Type [CCCXXVIII crossed out] 4, but with slight rim not strongly accentuated |
| 15535 | 31-17-313 | (none) | (none) | Clay bowl. TO painted ware. Black bands on greenish buff. Type CCCLXXVI. 21. [drawing] | |
| 15546 | (none) | 1930,1213.208 | (none) | Clay bowl. TO painted ware. Black border, body of red clay with creamy slip. Type CCCLXXVIII. 6. | |
| 15548 | 31-17-295 | (none) | (none) | Clay bowl. TO painted ware. Black rim on green. The inside of the bowl is roughened with impressed combing, probably for the bruising of grain. Type CCCLXI. 7. | |
| 15554 | 31-17-292 | (none) | (none) | Clay bowl. TO painted ware. Chocolate brown on light red clay, handmade. Type CCCLXV. 3a. | |
| 15557 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay bowl. TO painted ware. Chocolate brown on pink. Type CCCLXV. 3a. [drawing] |
| 15396 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay bowl. TO painted ware. Drab clay with black border & in the interior two cross-hatched triangles. Type CCCLXV. 3a. |
| 15629 | 31-17-284 | (none) | (none) | Clay bowl. TO painted ware. Fragments: the centre missing. Plain black border on light drab ground. Type CCCLXV. [drawing] | |
| 15558 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay bowl. TO painted ware. Plain black border on greenish drab clay. Type CCCLXXVII. 8. |
| 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.