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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 14424 | 31-16-739 | (none) | (none) | Fragment. Figurine (?male) Green clay with black paint, the figure nude except for a black belt. [drawing 1:1] |
| 14426 | 31-16-222 | (none) | (none) | Clay pot. Type [CCCXIV crossed out] RC.67. Not in cat. vol. IV | |
| 14427 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay pot. Spouted. Drab clay (broken & repaired) Type TO LXXX (a rathered full-bellied variant). Not in cat. Vol. IV. |
| 14428 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay pot. Drab clay, pinkish. Good fine clay well potted & smoothed. On the shoulders 4 small lugs pierced horizontally. Type CCCXV. Not in catalog. |
| 14429 | 31-17-368 | (none) | (none) | Clay pot. Reddish drab clay. On the shoulders 3 small lugs pierced horizontally (2broken). Type CCCXV. | |
| 14430 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay stand. Greenish drab clay. Solid: slightly concave on top: round the lower rim a band of crinkled ornament. JN160 new. [drawing 1:5] |
| 14431 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Brick. Kiln-baked. Triangular, with 2 straight sides at right-angles & a curved side: a shaped brick for rounding off a corner. One face is straight side flat, the other slightly concave. |
| 14432 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay pot. Fragmentary, and parts missing of very light-colored drab clay. Type CCCXVI. =JN132 new. Not in catalog. | |
| 14437 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Stone roundel. Black (diorite?) Flat below, convex above, a small hole in the centre of the flat side, not going all through the stone. Not in cat. Vol IV |
| 14438 | 31-16-492 | (none) | (none) | Stone roundel. Dark grey slate or schist. Flat below, above a shallow truncated cone: small hole through centre. (chipped at edge). |
| 14440 | 31-17-225 | (none) | (none) | Copper arrowhead. Flat hammered blade & square tang. Broken but complete. [drawing 1:2] | |
| 14441 | 31-16-141 | (none) | (none) | Clay pot. Red clay. Type ? RC50.A. Not in Catalog. Vol. IV. [drawing] | |
| 14442 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay pot. Whitish drab clay. Broken but nearly complete. Type TO LXXXV but with no base ring. Not in cat. Vol. IV |
| 14443 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay bottle. Red clay. Type CCCXVII. Not in catalog. |
| 14444 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay pot. Spouted. Drab clay. Type CCCXVIII. Not in cat. Vol IV |
| 14446 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Rosette. Black steatite. With shell centre. Worked on both side: the face convex. [drawing 1:1] |
| 14450 | 31-16-450 | (none) | (none) | Clay pot. Drab clay flared on 1 side to red. Type TO LXXX. Not in catalog. |
| 14451C | 31-16-347 | (none) | (none) | [B-C] Brick. Jus. (gypsum burnt & slaked) rectangular, flat on top, made in a wooden mould set on a piece of matting, the impression of which remains on the underside of the brick. Though different in size it is identical in technique & fabric with those at Muraijib (14452-3) |
| 14451B | (none) | (none) | (none) | [B-C] Brick. Jus. (gypsum burnt & slaked) rectangular, flat on top, made in a wooden mould set on a piece of matting, the impression of which remains on the underside of the brick. Though different in size it is identical in technique & fabric with those at Muraijib (14452-3) |
| 14455 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay bowl. ? Cf. 270 [drawing] |
| 14455A | (none) | (none) | (none) | Stone bowl. White limestone. Type XCII. [drawing 2:5] |
| 14457 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Potsherds of plain red (plum colored) ware from the same pot, a large open bowl; but making only a small fragment of it. (card received from Mallowan 1976) |
| 14458 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Potsherds. Various examples of painted wares all found near level -800: in Field notes some recorded as high as -7.6m, the bulk as -8.2m. Not in catalog. |
| 14459 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Statuette. In dark grey steatite. Of a wild boar, represented as crouched with the head on the front hoofs: in the top of the back is a circular hole as if for a wooden support: on the sides a sharp groove as if the beast had rested in a stand with curved arms. The work is remarkably fine and naturalistic. |
| 14463 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Model clay vase. Reddish drab clay. JN163. Not in catalog. |
| 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.