Description (Archival): Merlin: 'Square shell counter or tessera; once with incised pattern now obliterated.' UE 2 p. 534: 'Gaming-pieces. Six squares of shell, 0-017 m. sq., 4 plain, 1 engraved (Pl. 221); 9 roundels of black shale, d. 0.021 m., 1 plain, the rest inlaid each with 7 white dots, 6 round the U. edge and 1 in the centre (Pl. 221); a bone rod, square in section, with engraved lines, l. 0.06 m. v. U. 8454. PG/261.' UE 2 p. p. 149: 'Lying under and round a pair of copper razors (U. 8508, cf. Pl. 23I) were fifteen counters, U. 8509, nine of them circular, made of black shale and inlaid with seven white dots (except for one of them, which was plain) and six square and made of shell, one engraved with a cross; they were arranged alternately in a half-circle, with the odd black pieces at the ends, and'at each end of the curve was a slender bone rod engraved with linear patterns; beneath the counters were the remains of wood. There can be little doubt that there was here a gaming-board of normal type but entirely of wood, the squares and marks being merely engraved (cf. Shub-ad's board, Pl. 95, which is only lightly inlaid), and as usual the board was in the form of a box in which the counters were kept. The arrangement of the pieces would imply that in the bottom of the box there were depressions into which the counters fitted; actually some of them were found face downwards, a sign of carelessness, so that the apparently elaborate arrangement must have been imposed by the nature of the box made to receive them.'     
Description (Catalog Card): Set of buttons? [A-I] 9 black stone roundels, 8 of them inlaid with white dots, six round the edge and one central one: the 9th roundel plain. [J-O] And 6 bone squares, plain, one engraved. See field notes.[drawing] [P] And with them a bone rod with engraved lines.1     
Find Context (Catalog Card): TTE PG 261     
Material (Catalog Card): Bone3     
Measurement (Catalog Card): D. 21mm     
Measurement (Catalog Card): L 0017     
[1] Woolley's description
[2] UE II
[3] Material as described by Woolley
[4] Data collected by British Museum research team.

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Locations: 8509B | 1928,1009.386b Export: JSON - XML - CSV

Media: 8509B | 1928,1009.386b Export: JSON - XML - CSV

Media Media Title Title Label Author Omeka Label
Ur Excavations II; The Royal Cemetery Ur Excavations II; The Royal Cemetery 1934 Woolley, Leonard (none)
Woolley's Catalog Cards Woolley's Catalog Cards Card -- BM ID:194 Box:38 Page:214 Card -- BM ID:194 Box:38 Page:214 (none)
  • 2 Media