Ur Excavations II; The Royal Cemetery | Ur Excavations II; The Royal Cemetery

General

Title:	Ur Excavations II; The Royal Cemetery
Date:	1934
Author:	Woolley, Leonard
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication place:	Oxford

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General

Objects: Ur Excavations II; The Royal Cemetery | Ur Excavations II; The Royal Cemetery 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)
(none)	30-12-574	(none)	(none)	(none)
(none)	(none)	(none)	(none)	unknown
(none)	(none)	(none)	B17581	Unknown
(none)	(none)	(none)	(none)	(none)
(none)	30-12-522	(none)	(none)	(none)
10000	(none)	(none)	(none)	Gold Wig. Of Mes-kalam-dug. A casque of hammered gold with engraved detail representing the hair and beard. The hair on top of the head is in long combed and slightly waved tresses coming from a parting which goes right across from front to back down to the ears: it has a long tress bound round the head by a narrow ribbon, and below this are two rows of looped curls: at the back it is gathered into a small chignon: below the looped curls come formal pendant curls 2 rows at the back of the head and 4 rows (for whiskers) in front of the ears. The interior was fitted with a padded cap fastened on by small holes round the edge of the metal: fragments of wool and cloth were found inside. [drawing]
10001	(none)	(none)	(none)	Gold Cup Oval calabash type, with rib at end On the side, inscr: Mes-Kalam-dug
10002	(none)	(none)	(none)	Gold Cup Hemispherical (nearly) with simple ridge round rim On one side inscription: Mes-Kalam-dug
10003	(none)	(none)	(none)	Gold Cup Oval, calabash type Decorated with fluting and engraved patterns round the edge and on the base. The handles are vertical knobs of lapis lazuli between gold plates, secured by rivets.
10004	(none)	(none)	(none)	Gold Lamp Ordinary flat shell type At the tip of the spout the metal is bent into a coil On the base inscr. "Mes-Kalam-dug"
10005	(none)	(none)	(none)	Gold Pin With lapis lazuli ball head capped with gold Type V
10006	(none)	(none)	(none)	Beads Double conoids of gold and lapis The larger gold beads are of foil over bitumen, the smaller more solid: the largest are unusually large, both in gold and lapis
10007	(none)	(none)	(none)	Beads Triangles of 11 gold and 11 lapis
10008	(none)	(none)	(none)	Frog Amulet. Lapis [drawing]
10009	(none)	(none)	(none)	Amulet Lapis In form of a seated ram [drawing] 1:1
10010	31-18-8	(none)	(none)	Gold Monkey Miniature, on a copper stick (probably a decorative pin), the stick broken [drawing]
10011	(none)	(none)	(none)	Cylinder Seal White shell Only the remains of it, completely decayed It hung on the silver belt with the gold dagger and whetstone
10013	(none)	(none)	(none)	Gold Drinking-cup (electrum?) apparently lathe spun: base formed by adding a small circular plate. Found with U.10,034
10014	(none)	(none)	(none)	Gold Dagger The blade is of gold, leaf shaped with central rib The hilt has a gold guard studded with gold nails: the grip was of silver-plate over wood, the pommel of silver-plate studded with gold. The sheath was of silver. The silver of the hilt has perished altogether: the sheath is preserved in poor condition. It was fixed to a silver belt
10015	(none)	(none)	(none)	Whetstone Lapis lazuli Hung on a thin gold ring which was attached to the silver belt
10018	(none)	(none)	(none)	Gold Axe Double lunate type Made of a rather low grade electrum [drawing] Type A15
10019A	(none)	(none)	(none)	[A-P] Earrings. Gold and Silver. Spirals of wire. [A-D] 4 of gold, [E-P] 12 of silver. There were other silver examples too broken to be kept: all the silver is much corroded. Two of the gold rings were inside silver ones (the latter a good deal broken).
10020	(none)	(none)	(none)	Dagger Copper blade Gold handle and silver grip The blade leaf-shaped with central rib the handle of gold over wood (decayed) with lunate pommel: the handle is broken and distorted: the silver grip (attached by gold studs) is much decayed Blade in poor condition
10021	(none)	(none)	(none)	Dagger Copper blade Handle of some material now wholly perished (silver?) with gold guard studded with gold nails and gold nails on the point of the pommel [drawing]
10022	(none)	(none)	(none)	Dagger Copper blade, handle of silver-plate over wood In very bad condition, blade decayed and broken, and the silver all persished [drawing 2:5]

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Locations: Ur Excavations II; The Royal Cemetery | Ur Excavations II; The Royal Cemetery Export: JSON - XML - CSV

Context Title	Context Description	Description (Modern)
Burial 53	(none)	(none)
Burial 54	(none)	(none)
Burial 55	(none)	(none)
Burial 56	(none)	(none)
Burial 57 \| Burial G	(none)	(none)
Burial 58	(none)	(none)
Burial 59	(none)	(none)
Burial 6	(none)	(none)
Burial 60	(none)	(none)
Burial 61	(none)	(none)
Burial 62	(none)	(none)
Burial 7	(none)	(none)
Burial 8	(none)	(none)
Burial 9	(none)	(none)
Private Graves Area \| PGA	In season 6, Woolley expanded his trial trenches in area PG opening up a much larger space in the Royal Cemetery proper. The northeastern extents in TTG had been revealing fewer and fewer graves, so he expected many more to the southeast; indeed, he found an increasing density here. He no longer considered this to be trial exploration, but a true excavation area, and thus began to call the space the Private Graves Area, abbreviated PGA. He also began mapping individual graves, establishing at least 4 mapping points from which he took angular measures to pinpoint locations. Unfortunately he never showed where these stakes were placed on any map so we can no longer utilize the recorded angles. Cards from this season that bear the abbreviation PGA all concern textual material. Grave goods or other finds were recorded under their individual PG numbers rather than the general PGA abbreviation. It appears that the only material collected in the area but not associated with graves directly were inscribed objects and thus these were the only ones to garner the PGA designation.	(none)
TTA	TTA is shorthand for Trial Trench A, one of two exploratory trenches excavated in Woolley's first season at Ur in 1922. This one was about 4 meters wide by about 40 meters long as revealed by an aerial photograph taken at the end of the 1922 season. The trench encountered a few scattered finds of jewelry and materials that led Woolley to suspect they were from a graveyard, but he felt his team of local diggers was not yet ready to excavate such sensitive contexts. Thus, he decided to concentrate on TTB for the first few seasons, according to his various publications. One of the primary reasons for concentrating on TTB initially, however, may have been that Woolley discovered no architecture in TTA but had struck the enunmah building in TTB. Woolley returned to TTA in season 5, when he expanded with new trial trenches and eventually opened up the entire area of the Royal Cemetery. No individual graves are reported in TTA and any that might have been encountered did not receive PG numbers. Those in the following trial trenches expanding TTA (TTE, TTF, TTG) did receive these numbers and gave their abbreviation (PG) to the entire Royal Cemetery area.	(none)
TTD	TTD is shorthand for Trial Trench D, one of two initial trenches dug in season 5 to extend TTA from season 1. Woolley dug TTD and TTE to search for graves in what he believed was a potentially vast cemetery. Neither of these trenches were ever mapped and no aerial photos show them, as by the time of the 1930 RAF photograph the trial trenches had been so extended that most of the Royal Cemetery area had already been exposed. Luckily, Woolley's field records allow us to reconstruct the direction and extents of the trench. He states that it ran from the head (northeast end) of TTA and extended southeastward to the east corner of the Neo-Babylonian temenos wall, making it about 65 meters in length. Though he does not tell us its width it is likely that it was about 4 meters, the same as the measurable trial trenches A, B, and C. TTD did not reveal much, but it was only excavated to a depth of around 2 meters. As Woolley reports in the Antiquaries Journal volume 7 page 1: "The trench to the temenos angle produced no sign of buildings, but for the greater part of its length a floor of beaten mud, lying about 1.75 m. below the present surface, at which level we stopped short." It had just missed the south corner of the Mausoleum of the Ur III kings, and when area PG was expanded beneath the level of TTD in season 8, many graves were recorded here.	(none)
TTE	TTE is shorthand for Trial Trench E, one of two initial trenches dug in season 5 to extend TTA from season 1. Woolley dug TTE and TTD at right angles to each other in order to search for graves in what he believed was a potentially vast cemetery. These trenches were never mapped and no aerial photos show them, as by the time of the 1930 photograph the trial trenches had been so extended that most of the Royal Cemetery area was exposed. Fortunately, Woolley's field records allow us to reconstruct its direction and extents. He states that TTE extended southwest to the south gate of the Neo-Babylonian temenos wall. This would make it about 85 meters in length, and though he does not tell us its width it is likely that it was around 4 meters, the same as the measurable trial trenches A, B, and C. Although Woolley reports that he dug "two long trenches running diagonally across the site from the head of the old trench" only TTD can actually have begun at the northern end of TTA. TTE extends at a right angle to TTD, but it does so 8 meters from the northeast corner of TTA. In order to place TTE accurately, other information has been used from field notes and publications. These show that TTE struck PG580 but did not completely reveal it. In fact, Woolley began to dig part of PG580 from the side of the trial trench because he had cut through it without recognizing its full importance. He had to leave this particular grave at the end of the season and return to it in season 6. TTE also hit the stone roofing of PG777 but left it intact. PG580 and PG777 were mapped and show the direction and general placement of TTE. TTE almost immediately began revealing graves, some of them relatively rich in gold jewelry. It is probably for this reason that Woolley did not continue TTD to any great depth but chose instead to focus on TTE. In fact, he later began extending TTE into new trenches along the same line (TTF and TTG). He assigned numbers to each grave as it was uncovered, preceded by the abbreviation PG (Private Grave). The initial sequence, PG1-PG226 were all located within TTE. The sequence then began to share with TTF and eventually with TTG. Unfortunately, none of the first 579 graves were ever mapped within the length of their trial trenches.	(none)
PG/95	(none)	(none)
PG/108	(none)	(none)
PG/208	(none)	(none)
PG/250	(none)	(none)
TTF	TTF is shorthand for Trial Trench F, the first extension of TTE. Like the other trenches in the royal cemetery it was never mapped and does not appear on an aerial photograph. The trench was dug on the same lines as TTE, essentially extending its width, and the only report that shows its southern line is a mention of the location of PG513 within it. This grave rested upon the ruined northwest wall of PG777, which means that TTF must have met TTE at PG777, since the roof of that grave was revealed in TTE. TTF therefore extended the width of TTE to the northwest. The calculated location of TTF crosses over at least the southern end of TTA. This trench had been dug four years prior and had not been overly deep. It would likely have been mostly collapsed by this point, accounting for the somewhat different line of it and the season 5 trenches TTE, TTF, and TTG. While TTE was almost certainly around 4 meters in width as had been previous trial trenches, TTF and TTG may have been wider in order to find more graves. The only indication is the 1930 aerial photograph that shows an extent in the northwest portion of the cemetery that may go as far as 17 meters from the northwest edge of TTE. It is by no means certain, but a trench width of 6-7 meters (twice that of TTE) is suggested for each of TTF and TTG. The first grave to be given a PG number in TTF was PG227. From this point, the sequence of grave numbers is shared between the two trenches, eventually to be supplemented with TTG.	(none)
PG/453	(none)	(none)
PG/563	(none)	(none)