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Excavations at Ur, 1930–1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 January 2012

C. Leonard Woolley
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Extract

The Joint Expedition of the British Museum and of the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania started its ninth season at Ur on 1st November 1930, and continued in the field until 20th March 1931. The season was a long one and a larger number of workmen than usual was employed, the average for the first three and a half months being 280 and for the remainder of the time 200; the amount of actual excavation done was in consequence greater than in any previous year.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Antiquaries Journal , Volume 11 , Issue 4 , October 1931 , pp. 343 - 381
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1931

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References

page 360 note 1 In the plan of the town site excavations the number of each building is put in Roman numerals just inside the street door; the entrance lobby is in each case Room 1 (sometimes omitted for lack of space) and the numbers of the other rooms are in Arabic numerals.

page 362 note 1 Only in one case, the chapel (room 11) of the large building no. XI Paternoster Row, did the altar stand clear of the wall, but even then the pillar was against the wall, in the corner of the room.

page 377 note 1 Foundations ran down 3·2 m. below pavement level. At 2·2 m. below the pavement there was a layer of matting. This was evidently the foundation of the ‘ush’ proper. All the soil below it was damp and water-logged—the original surface into which the foundations of the wall had been dug. Above the matting rubbish had been thrown in, up to the level of the pavement. There was a considerable amount of burnt-brick rubbish and the interstices between the bricks proved that the rubbish had been deliberately thrown in at one time and was not gradual.

Where the foundations were excavated to their full depth it was seen that below pavement level the walls only had a very thin coat of plaster and had evidently never been exposed, whereas the plaster on the superstructure was often as much as 0·003 m. thick.

For the ‘ush’ method of construction at Ur, cf. the ‘Gig-par-ku’ and the Third Dynasty chambers of the great courtyard of the Nannar temple.

page 377 note 2 Court (2) had a deep bitumen-lined tank in one corner by the north door. This conjunction of doorway and tank has previously been found outside the Temenos wall of Nebuchadnezzar.

page 378 note 1 Under the pavement of the postern gate there were eight burnt-brick boxes containing painted mud Papsukal figures and the five sacred dogs, as well as a bronze dagger blade and an inscribed tablet: unfortunately no longer decipherable. Three more boxes were also found in the entrance to room (4) and there were several other looted boxes under other doorways in the interior of the building.

page 379 note 1 See Babylon by Koldewey translated by Johns, p. 288. It should be noticed, however, that Koldewey surmises that the small room corresponding to Ur (15) may have been a shop, and at Babylon this actually had an entrance opening into a street; neither fact is true of the Ur palace room.