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)
14464	31-16-559	(none)	(none)	Spindle whorl. Greenish drab clay with incised decoration (conical top) [drawing 1:1]
14466A	(none)	(none)	(none)	Clay object. Shaped like a reel. With one end rather smaller than the other-perhaps a stand(?) [drawing]
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.
14471	31-17-102	(none)	(none)	Beads. 12 various. Not in catalog.
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.
14479A	31-17-25	(none)	(none)	Necklaces [A-L]. Lapis lazuli and carnelian double conoids and gold beads. Lapis & gold fluted balls. Smaller beads were from cloak.
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).
14481	31-16-392	(none)	(none)	Stone vase. Grey marble(?) (translucent) Miniature. (rim all chipped away). Type RC.106 [drawing 1:1]
14482	(none)	(none)	(none)	Pendant. Grey & white marble. Decorated with 2 rows of drill-point holes (the top is broken). [drawing 1:1]
14483	31-17-95	(none)	(none)	Beads. Eleven various. Including one of black obsidian (?) shape thus: [drawing] Not in Catalog Vol. IV. [drawing]
14486	(none)	(none)	(none)	Potsherds. Various. Representing the painted & decorated wares.
14487A	(none)	(none)	(none)	[A-B] Two rubbing stones. Lava (pumice?). Mounted in bitumen for holding. Not in catalog.
14487B	(none)	(none)	(none)	[A-B] Two rubbing stones. Lava (pumice?). Mounted in bitumen for holding. Not in catalog.
14488	(none)	(none)	(none)	Clay drain pipe. Plain pipe with expanded & flattened rim at one end. 1st Dynasty date. Not in catalog.
14489	31-17-16	(none)	(none)	Cylinder seal. Dark steatite.
14491	(none)	(none)	(none)	Clay vase. Drab clay. Type RC83C. [drawing] Not in catalog.
14493	31-17-359	(none)	(none)	Clay pot. Greenish clay. With round handles. Type CCCXX. Not in catalog.
14494	31-17-87	(none)	(none)	Amulet of pink pebble. Rudely cut in form of a bird. [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.
14496	(none)	(none)	(none)	Clay ring of uncertain use. Not in catalog. [drawing]
14498	(none)	(none)	(none)	Copper pin(?). One end sharply pointed, the haft round in section, the other end slightly pointed.
14499	(none)	(none)	(none)	Copper spatula. Slender rod with flattened disk head.(broken).

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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)