Context Title: Temenos Wall | TW     
Context Name (Excavation): TW     
Context Name (Publication): Temenos Wall     
Context Description: The excavation area abbreviation TW stands for Temenos Wall, a wall that surrounded the ziggurat terrace and its extended sacred space in the northern central portion of the city of Ur through much of its history. The wall may have begun in the Early Dynastic period, as Woolley found some indication of what he believed to be its earliest foundation. There was clearly an Ur III period version that ran south of the giparu and then further southeast to encompass the ehursag. This was the general line of the wall through the Isin-Larsa/Old Babylonian and into the Kassite period, though the Kassites made some changes in the northern portion. Finally, the Neo-Babylonians changed the wall greatly, expanding the area encompassed to the north and south and adding several gateways. The foundations of this later, quite massive, wall often destroyed earlier remains. Woolley explored parts of the temenos wall in many seasons and frequently used the TW abbreviation for the wall in any of its building periods. Other excavation area abbreviations include parts of the temenos, particularly NCF, PDW and BC. The temenos wall built by Urnamma was 6 meters thick and built of mud brick with a baked brick facing. Most of the baked brick had been removed, probably for later building. The Nebuchadnezzar and Nabonidus temenos wall had chambers within it and sported six gates into the temenos area. This area was known as e-gish-nu-gal (Woolley read this e-gish-shir-gal). At least one later interpretation conflates TW with the phrase Town Wall, but the wall surrounding Ur was always referred to as the city wall, (CLW).     
Season Number: 01: 1922-1923      
Season Number: 03: 1924-1925      
Season Number: 05: 1926-1927      
Season Number: 11: 1932-1933      
Season Number: 12: 1933-1934      

Objects: Temenos Wall | TW 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)
13041 (none) (none) (none) Clay bowl. Baked. Light drab clay. Very thin egg shell ware. Broken and part missing. Type 3 P.
13042 (none) 1929,1017.324 (none) Necklace. Carnelian, quartzite and steatite double conoid beads.
13043 30-12-503 (none) (none) 6 ring beads. Bone.
13044 (none) (none) (none) Silver diadem. Elliptical. Bent to rest flat on forehead. Broken in 2 pieces.
13045 (none) (none) (none) Clay bottle. Glazed. Blue. Color has bleached.
13046 (none) (none) (none) Clay bottle. Glazed. Blue. Color has bleached.
13047 (none) 1929,1017.732 (none) Stone bowl. Steatite. Black. Decorated with incised concentric circles and zig zags. Not wanted.
13048 (none) (none) (none) Stone bowl. White limestone. Type. See field note.
13049 (none) (none) (none) Beads. Carnelian ring beads, glazed frit and a minute glazed frit amulet in shape of a male head - grotesque. [drawing]
13055 30-12-602 (none) (none) Bead. Carnelian double conoids and diamonds and flat carnelian beads. Agate square. 1 cat's eye (?) Chalcedony facetted barrels. Diamonds.
13056 (none) (none) (none) Clay vase. Glazed ware. Blue - bleached white. Type =new type P89. [drawing 2:5]
13057 (none) (none) (none) Clay vase. Glazed ware. Blue, bleached white. Type 103 new [The following typology notes were crossed out Type 748, This is type 110 variant but cf new type 103. =No (3) on field notes) [drawing]
13058 (none) (none) (none) Clay vase. Glazed ware. Type 103. ? = new 110b but cf new type 103b. [drawing]
13059 30-12-524 (none) (none) Hematite weight. Flat on one side, convex on the other. Type ? XIV.
13060 (none) (none) (none) Clay vase. Miniature. Glazed ware. Blue bleached white. Type 103 [748 crossed out]. Cf new type 103a.
13061 30-12-120 (none) (none) Cowrie shell.
13062 (none) (none) (none) Clay bottle. Glazed ware. Blue: bleached white. Type 91 =183 [drawing]
13063 (none) (none) (none) Clay bowl. Glazed ware. Blue bleached white. Type same as U.13058. New type 103 [illegible, looks like 75 7b or 76? unclear.]
13064 (none) (none) (none) Clay vase. Glazed ware. Blue bleached white. Type 168new [133(?) and ?Type 203variant Ur yes have been crossed out]
13065 (none) 1929,1017.325 (none) Beads. Carnelian double conoids and decorations. Chalcedony double conoids giving a diamond shaped secition 1 glazed ball bead.
13066 (none) (none) (none) Clay bottle. Glazed ware. Blue bleached white. Type same as U.13046.
13506 33-35-44 (none) (none) Terracotta figurine. Bearded male figure carrying a monkey on his shoulders. Monkey, head and arms of man in profile, torso of man full face. Arms bent at elbow, forearm parallel with ground. In his left hand the man holds a rope which is attached to the monkey's neck. Figure missing below waist but probably the man was leading a second monkey. Example is of importance chronologically for it was found in the Larsa filling and against the inner face of the SE wall of the Nebuchadnezzar Temenos. The rubbish stratum is well dated to the _Larsa_ Period. It seems therefore that this figure is also represented on the Asshur-Nasir-Pal reliefs was already in the Assyrian period a cult object of a considerable antiquity and was not simply (as formerly supposed) a man leading in tribute to the king. Common type.
15070 (none) (none) (none) Clay cone. Fragment (15662) Rim-Sin HC.17
15071 (none) (none) (none) Clay cone. Fragment. A Larsa king, unidentified or new. HC.18
17825 (none) (none) (none) Clay instrument. Flat and thin, toothed along one edge like a carder. On one side, a painting, in black paint, of a similar object (?) [drawing 1:1]

Media: Temenos Wall | TW Export: JSON - XML - CSV

Media Media Title Title Label Author Omeka Label
Ur Excavations IX; The Neo-Babylonian and Persian Periods Ur Excavations IX; The Neo-Babylonian and Persian Periods 1962 Woolley, L. and Mallowan, Max (none)
Ur Excavations V: The Ziggurat and its Surroundings Ur Excavations V: The Ziggurat and its Surroundings 1939 Woolley Leonard (none)
Ur Excavations VIII; The Kassite Period and the period of the Assyrian Kings Ur Excavations VIII; The Kassite Period and the period of the Assyrian Kings 1965 Woolley, Leonard (none)
  • 3 Media