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)
14997B	31-16-255	(none)	(none)	Clay pots. Small "cornets" A. Dark Clay [Drawing] B. red clay, no rim, base broken ? recalling the stone 'cornets' of Susa Not in cat. vol IV
14934	31-16-254	(none)	(none)	Crucible (?) Of green clay. The bottom missing. Not in cat. Vol. IV [drawing]
14935	31-16-252	(none)	(none)	Clay pot. Cut down from a tall cylindrical vessel of light and coarse ware: the pot was sawn into at various points of the circumference, cut nearly through and then snapped off: the saw marks are quite distinct. Not in catalog. [drawing]
14413	31-16-235	(none)	(none)	Clay goblets. Type CCCXII. (TO.VII) [Tel Obaid typology] Not in Catalog.
14426	31-16-222	(none)	(none)	Clay pot. Type [CCCXIV crossed out] RC.67. Not in cat. vol. IV
14412	31-16-219	(none)	(none)	Paint. The lower part of a plain clay cup containing plum-colored paint in powder form. Not in catalog.
13743	31-16-217	(none)	(none)	Clay funnel. Light drab clay. Type RC17. [drawing]
14417	31-16-206	(none)	(none)	Clay pot. Pinkish drab clay, spouted. Type TO LXXX. Not in cat. Vol. IV
14950A	31-16-162	(none)	(none)	Drain-pipes. Plain terracotta tubes found together forming a drain which ran out through the house-wall into the street. Not in catalog.
14989	31-16-149	(none)	(none)	Clay pot. Greensih drab clay. Type CCCXXXII.
14976	31-16-148	(none)	(none)	Clay pot. Green-drab clay. Type CCCXXXII. Not in catalog.
14441	31-16-141	(none)	(none)	Clay pot. Red clay. Type ? RC50.A. Not in Catalog. Vol. IV. [drawing]
14419	31-16-121	(none)	(none)	Clay bottle. Drab clay. Type CCCXIII. JN.67 new. Not in catalog.
15141	31-16-111	(none)	(none)	Baked clay vase. Light drab. Type CCCXXVII. Not in catalog.
14952	30-12-415	(none)	(none)	Copper pin. Straight and pointed at each end.
13615	(none)	(none)	(none)	Seal impression. Presentation scene and Inscription (scribe of Dungi). HC.201.
13616	(none)	(none)	(none)	Seal impression. Probably from same cylinder. Presentation. Inscription: (Scribe of Dungi) HC.202.
13617	(none)	(none)	(none)	Seal impression. Probably from same cylinder. Presentation. Inscription: (Scribe of Dungi) HC.202.
13618	(none)	(none)	(none)	Seal impression. Presentation scene. Inscriptiuon. Reference to a King (Perhaps Dungi) cf. 13615-17)
13619	(none)	(none)	(none)	Seal impression. Presentation. Inscription of Za-an-za-an, Scribe , servant of ? HC.203
13620	(none)	1948,0423.431	(none)	Seal impression. On two fragments. Presentation (between introductor and seated god a small kneeling figure). Inscriptioin: A-gu servant of Lu dNannar. HC.204.
13621	(none)	(none)	(none)	Seal impression. On two fragments. Presentation (between introductor and seated god a small kneeling figure). Inscriptioin: A-gu servant of Lu dNannar. HC.204.
13624	(none)	(none)	(none)	Seal impression. Presentation scene.
13625	(none)	(none)	(none)	Tablet. Receipt of clothes. HC.501.
13626	(none)	(none)	(none)	Tablet. Note of receipt. Barley. Oval. HC.502.

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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)