Bricks
This category includes rectangular building materials used for walls or floors.
Mud bricks were the primary building blocks at Ur. Most were sun-dried but some were intentionally baked to make them more stable. Baked bricks were typically used in building foundations and as facing to important public buildings, but they were also used extensively in some house walls, especially in the Isin-Larsa/Old Babylonian period. Those used in public buildings were often stamped with a building dedication and the name of the king, and the bricks that were collected from the field are almost exclusively of this type. A few bricks have other impressions in them, such as dog paw prints or inscribed lines imitating gaming boards.
Bricks were rectangular, square, or plano-convex and their sizes sometimes varied with time period, though direct temporal indicators are not clear simply from brick measurements. For Brick Stamps see Stamps/Sealings under Economic/Administrative.
Objects: Bricks 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 17208 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Brick. Sin-batatsu-iqbi; rebuilding of the ziggurat, E-lugal-galga-sisa. (Ur insc. 168. The new example confirms the restorations in LL.3,4, and 8) |
| 12571 | (none) | 1948,0423.89 | (none) | Brick. Sin-iddinam complete (30 lines) R1U 119. HC 115 |
| 7715 | (none) | 1928,1009.4 | (none) | Brick. Siniddinam, inscription on edge = U.3115 (some variants?), incomplete and without showing the 2 crescents of U.3115. HC.15. |
| 11662 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Brick. Sinidinnam RIU=120 111-6, completing 1.5 ibid. cf. whole inscription U.13108. HC 111 |
| 17428 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Brick. Unbaked clay. Four cowrie shells set in horizontal row along one edge. |
| 7720 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Brick. Ur-Nammu = U.3132 (SAK 186 A) but measurements different. |
| 6341B | (none) | (none) | B16554, B16554 | Brick: of Sin balatsu iqbi Fragment. Var. of text of U.3161a |
| 6341A | (none) | 1927,1003.273 | (none) | Brick: of Sin-balatsu-iqbi. Fragment. Variant of text of U.3161. H.C. |
| 7815 | (none) | 1928,1009.525 | (none) | Brick? Inscription in a writing not yet identified: and scribblings. cf. U.6900. HC.35. |
| 2881 | (none) | (none) | B16533 | Bricks of dDungi. dDungi, mighty hero, king of Ur, king of Sumer and Akkad H.C. |
| 2594 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Bricks of Kurigalzu about BC 1400. Text: To Nannar, his king, Kurigalzu the vice-regent of Enlil, the mighty king, king of Sumer and Akkad, king of the 4 regions of the world, has built the E (or kisal?) DUB-LAL-MAH, the old house that had decayed, and has restored it in its place. Already published by Rawlinson. |
| 2883 | 84-26-131 | (none) | B16560 | Bricks of Nabonidus. House of the priestess. Nabonidus, king of Babylon who adorns E-sag-i-la and Ezida, the E-gig-par, the house of the priestess, which is inside of Ur, for Sin, my lord I built. H.C. |
| 2728 | (none) | (none) | B16562 | Broken brick with graphic plan or game? P.35. In text: 3rd Dynasty Terrace (13) and Fig. [drawing 1:2] | |
| 11202 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Calcite Block. Shaped like a brick. |
| 6789 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Clay block. Glazed. Kurigalzu or earlier. E. |
| 12570 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Cone. (Warad-Sin or Rim-Sin). Fragment. Part of 14 lines. Partly identical with R1U 130. (Perhaps identical inscription? But RIU 130, 10 is different in one sign; and present inscription is from first or incomplete column of stem (and corresponding part of R1U 130 is from a second column (of head?). HC 116 | |
| 10138 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Diorite Block Fragment cf. U.10614 HC 4 |
| 1356 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Fragment of black diorite, with traces of an inscription, probably of the 3rd Dynasty of Ur. |
| 1664 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Fragment of brick, with part of first 5 lines of inscription of Sin-balatsu-igbi. |
| 974 | (none) | (none) | (none) | Fragment of Mud-brick. With portion of Bur-Sin inscription. |
| 975 | (none) | 1935,0113.4 | (none) | Fragment of Mud-brick. With portion of Bur-Sin inscription. |
| 973 | (none) | 1935,0113.3 | (none) | Fragment of mud-brick. With portion of Kudur-Mabug's brick inscription. |
| 15066A | (none) | (none) | (none) | Group (A) Brick =RIU 119 + 12570 (HC. 1928/9 - 115) lines 1-15 slightly completing lines 14 & 15 (B) Also another fragment of same (not preserved). (C) Another small frgment (not preserved) (D) Another fragment slightly completing 12570 line 17-19 & 24. HC.13 [CARD MISSING Typed Transcription from British Museum Card] |
| 15066B | (none) | (none) | (none) | Group (A) Brick =RIU 119 + 12570 (HC. 1928/9 - 115) lines 1-15 slightly completing lines 14 & 15 (B) Also another fragment of same (not preserved). (C) Another small frgment (not preserved) (D) Another fragment slightly completing 12570 line 17-19 & 24. HC.13 [CARD MISSING Typed Transcription from British Museum Card] |
| 15066C | (none) | (none) | (none) | Group (A) Brick =RIU 119 + 12570 (HC. 1928/9 - 115) lines 1-15 slightly completing lines 14 & 15 (B) Also another fragment of same (not preserved). (C) Another small frgment (not preserved) (D) Another fragment slightly completing 12570 line 17-19 & 24. HC.13 [CARD MISSING Typed Transcription from British Museum Card] |