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.     

Objects: Pit F Export: JSON - XML - CSV

Object U Number Museum Number (UPM Date Reg Number) Museum Number (BM Registration Number) Museum Number (UPM B-number) Description (Catalog Card)
15369F 31-17-43 (none) (none) Beads. Rings of white shell, a great quantity found forming 4 strings round the neck
14474 31-17-380 (none) (none) Pot sherds. Plain red, finely burnished all belonging to a single pot but forming together only a small part of it. (see field notes) (Card received from Mallowan 1976)
14480C (none) (none) (none) 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).
14480D (none) (none) (none) 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).
14480E (none) (none) (none) 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).
14480F (none) (none) (none) 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).
15369G 31-17-44 (none) (none) Beads. Rings of white shell, a great quantity found forming 4 strings round the neck
15369H (none) 1930,1213.113 (none) Beads. Rings of white shell, a great quantity found forming 4 strings round the neck
15369I (none) 1930,1213.121 (none) Beads. Rings of white shell, a great quantity found forming 4 strings round the neck
15369J (none) 1930,1213.122 (none) Beads. Rings of white shell, a great quantity found forming 4 strings round the neck
15369K (none) 1930,1213.123 (none) Beads. Rings of white shell, a great quantity found forming 4 strings round the neck
15369O (none) 1930,1213.124 (none) Beads. Rings of white shell, a great quantity found forming 4 strings round the neck
15369L (none) 1930,1213.125 (none) Beads. Rings of white shell, a great quantity found forming 4 strings round the neck
15369M (none) 1930,1213.126 (none) Beads. Rings of white shell, a great quantity found forming 4 strings round the neck
15369N (none) 1930,1213.127 (none) Beads. Rings of white shell, a great quantity found forming 4 strings round the neck
(none) 31-17-378 (none) (none) unknown
(none) 31-17-404 (none) (none) [U number not assigned in field]
(none) (none) 1930,1213.174 (none) (none)
(none) 31-17-171 (none) (none) (none)
13645 (none) (none) (none) (none)

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)
  • 2 Media

Child Locations

C.4 - C.5 - C.6 - C.7 - C.8 - D.4 - D.5 - D.6 - D.7 - D.8 - E.4 - E.5 - E.6 - E.7 - E.8 - F.6 - F.8 - Graves

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Ur > Pit F

References

UPM Field Photo numbers, .

Woolley, L. . (1955) Ur Excavations IV; The Early Periods, Oxford: Oxford University Press.