Neo-Babylonian Housing | NH

Context Title: Neo-Babylonian Housing | NH     
Context Name (Publication): Neo-Babylonian Houses     
Context Name (Excavation): NH     
Context Description: The excavation area abbreviation NH refers to the better-preserved Neo-Babyloninan Housing immediately southwest of area AH (though at one point Legrain mistakenly listed it as North Harbour). Woolley excavated in area NH for a short time in season 9 and again for an even shorter time ("a few days at the end of the season" according to field reports) in season 12. He did not dig below the level of Neo-Babylonian housing as his goal was to expose the layout of a portion of the Neo-Babylonian town. Across much of the site, the Neo-Babylonian domestic remains were badly preserved and even here there were only the stubs of walls and some evidence of later, Persian, occupation. The houses used no baked brick and they were close to the surface, thus they had often disappeared almost completely. Nonetheless, Woolley recovered outlines of two streets and seven houses along with a number of late artifacts, including two pots filled with tablets dating from the reign of Nabopolassar up to that of Alexander the Great. Neo-Babylonian houses were much more spacious in ground plan than Old Babylonian and were typically built with a saw-toothed outer plan that Woolley had difficulty explaining. The streets were much more linear than earlier layouts and this implies developments in centralized town planning. Woolley attributed this entire domestic quarter, which he believed had been built on ground cleared of all other remains, to the time of Nebuchadnezzar. Despite the fact that there were many artifacts recovered here and there were many graves excavated, there are only four field notecards extant and only cursory publication. When reporting graves, Woolley listed only house number, not room. Even the house numbers were assigned late, as evidenced by publication in UE9, which discusses House A and B while its map numbers 1-7. Houses 6 and 7 were certainly dug in 1931 when Woolley intended to extend area AH, but he changed his mind and only later went back to uncover the outlines of a few more houses south of these in the final season, including House 1, dug in 1934.     

Objects: Neo-Babylonian Housing | NH 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)
15795 (none) 1930,1213.498 (none) Iron dagger. [additional drawing on back, showing some sort of map] [drawing 1:2]
16240A (none) (none) (none) 2 clay tablets (A) Neo-Babylonian letter; (B) Neo-Babylonian commercial document. Date: 9th year of Nabopolassar
16240B (none) (none) (none) 2 clay tablets (A) Neo-Babylonian letter; (B) Neo-Babylonian commercial document. Date: 9th year of Nabopolassar
16324 (none) 1931,1010.249 (none) Beads. 1 carnelian ball; 2-chalcedony lentoids; 1 hemispherical section lapis lazuli.
16445J (none) (none) (none) Terracotta Figurines. Mother & child: Type V.3, (A) Head missing, poor condition, complete; (B) From larger mould, but same type, head missing, complete; (C) from larger mould, but same type, head missing; (D) Complete; (E) Complete; (F) Head missing, poor cast; (G) Complete, bad impression; (H) Head missing; (J) Complete; (K)Complete (different mould) (L) Complete (same as mould K); (M) Fragment head and base missing; (N) Probably similar, but from larger mould, only upper part to arm preserved. (O) complete, poor impression; (P) Head missing; (Q) Head missing; (R) Complete; (S) Complete; (T) Complete.
16445K 31-43-406 (none) (none) Terracotta Figurines. Mother & child: Type V.3, (A) Head missing, poor condition, complete; (B) From larger mould, but same type, head missing, complete; (C) from larger mould, but same type, head missing; (D) Complete; (E) Complete; (F) Head missing, poor cast; (G) Complete, bad impression; (H) Head missing; (J) Complete; (K)Complete (different mould) (L) Complete (same as mould K); (M) Fragment head and base missing; (N) Probably similar, but from larger mould, only upper part to arm preserved. (O) complete, poor impression; (P) Head missing; (Q) Head missing; (R) Complete; (S) Complete; (T) Complete.
16445L (none) 1931,1010.440 (none) Terracotta Figurines. Mother & child: Type V.3, (A) Head missing, poor condition, complete; (B) From larger mould, but same type, head missing, complete; (C) from larger mould, but same type, head missing; (D) Complete; (E) Complete; (F) Head missing, poor cast; (G) Complete, bad impression; (H) Head missing; (J) Complete; (K)Complete (different mould) (L) Complete (same as mould K); (M) Fragment head and base missing; (N) Probably similar, but from larger mould, only upper part to arm preserved. (O) complete, poor impression; (P) Head missing; (Q) Head missing; (R) Complete; (S) Complete; (T) Complete.
16445M (none) (none) (none) Terracotta Figurines. Mother & child: Type V.3, (A) Head missing, poor condition, complete; (B) From larger mould, but same type, head missing, complete; (C) from larger mould, but same type, head missing; (D) Complete; (E) Complete; (F) Head missing, poor cast; (G) Complete, bad impression; (H) Head missing; (J) Complete; (K)Complete (different mould) (L) Complete (same as mould K); (M) Fragment head and base missing; (N) Probably similar, but from larger mould, only upper part to arm preserved. (O) complete, poor impression; (P) Head missing; (Q) Head missing; (R) Complete; (S) Complete; (T) Complete.
16445N (none) (none) (none) Terracotta Figurines. Mother & child: Type V.3, (A) Head missing, poor condition, complete; (B) From larger mould, but same type, head missing, complete; (C) from larger mould, but same type, head missing; (D) Complete; (E) Complete; (F) Head missing, poor cast; (G) Complete, bad impression; (H) Head missing; (J) Complete; (K)Complete (different mould) (L) Complete (same as mould K); (M) Fragment head and base missing; (N) Probably similar, but from larger mould, only upper part to arm preserved. (O) complete, poor impression; (P) Head missing; (Q) Head missing; (R) Complete; (S) Complete; (T) Complete.
16445O (none) (none) (none) Terracotta Figurines. Mother & child: Type V.3, (A) Head missing, poor condition, complete; (B) From larger mould, but same type, head missing, complete; (C) from larger mould, but same type, head missing; (D) Complete; (E) Complete; (F) Head missing, poor cast; (G) Complete, bad impression; (H) Head missing; (J) Complete; (K) Complete (different mould) (L) Complete (same as mould K); (M) Fragment head and base missing; (N) Probably similar, but from larger mould, only upper part to arm preserved. (O) complete, poor impression; (P) Head missing; (Q) Head missing; (R) Complete; (S) Complete; (T) Complete.
16445P (none) (none) (none) Terracotta Figurines. Mother & child: Type V.3, (A) Head missing, poor condition, complete; (B) From larger mould, but same type, head missing, complete; (C) from larger mould, but same type, head missing; (D) Complete; (E) Complete; (F) Head missing, poor cast; (G) Complete, bad impression; (H) Head missing; (J) Complete; (K) Complete (different mould) (L) Complete (same as mould K); (M) Fragment head and base missing; (N) Probably similar, but from larger mould, only upper part to arm preserved. (O) complete, poor impression; (P) Head missing; (Q) Head missing; (R) Complete; (S) Complete; (T) Complete.
16445Q (none) (none) (none) Terracotta Figurines. Mother & child: Type V.3, (A) Head missing, poor condition, complete; (B) From larger mould, but same type, head missing, complete; (C) from larger mould, but same type, head missing; (D) Complete; (E) Complete; (F) Head missing, poor cast; (G) Complete, bad impression; (H) Head missing; (J) Complete; (K) Complete (different mould) (L) Complete (same as mould K); (M) Fragment head and base missing; (N) Probably similar, but from larger mould, only upper part to arm preserved. (O) complete, poor impression; (P) Head missing; (Q) Head missing; (R) Complete; (S) Complete; (T) Complete.
16445R 31-43-407 (none) (none) Terracotta Figurines. Mother & child: Type V.3, (A) Head missing, poor condition, complete; (B) From larger mould, but same type, head missing, complete; (C) from larger mould, but same type, head missing; (D) Complete; (E) Complete; (F) Head missing, poor cast; (G) Complete, bad impression; (H) Head missing; (J) Complete; (K) Complete (different mould) (L) Complete (same as mould K); (M) Fragment head and base missing; (N) Probably similar, but from larger mould, only upper part to arm preserved. (O) complete, poor impression; (P) Head missing; (Q) Head missing; (R) Complete; (S) Complete; (T) Complete.
16498H (none) (none) (none) Terracotta relief. Nude woman suckling an infant. Good modelling, high relief. [drawing 1:1] (A) Broken away from waist (as drawn) (B) Broken away at hips and face smashed; from a similar but slightly smaller mould; (C) Head and legs below knees missing: perhaps from a different mould but very similar. (D) Head and feet missing; poor impression, not from the same mould as last, but perhaps identical with (A); (E) Missing from waist downward: (smaller mould); (F) Fragment broken away at hips, poor specimen; (G) Fragment head and legs below knees missing; (H) Complete, good impression, probably from different mould.
17136 (none) 1931,1010.89 (none) Knuckle-bone in agate. (one of the flanges broken off).
17139 (none) (none) (none) Ivory kohl-pot in the form of a lotus carved and with lines inlaid with black. In very bad condition. Broken and laminated. [drawing 1:1]
17141 (none) (none) (none) Terracotta relief. Lower part only of grotesque female figure. [drawing]
17142A 31-43-413 (none) (none) Terracotta relief. Draped female figure with hands clasped below breasts. (A) poor impression. Complete. [drawing 1:1]
17143 (none) (none) (none) Terracotta relief. Bearded god, full face, holding 2 clubs (?). (A) Broken away from waist downwards. [drawing]
17238 (none) (none) (none) (none)
17238A (none) (none) (none) U number not assigned in field
17238AA (none) 1953,0411.26 (none) U number not assigned in field
17238AB (none) 1953,0411.6 (none) U number not assigned in field
17238AC (none) 1953,0411.30 (none) U number not assigned in field
17238AD (none) 1953,0411.41 (none) U number not assigned in field
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Media: Neo-Babylonian Housing | NH 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)
  • 1 Media

Child Locations

Graves - Unit 2 - Unit 4

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Ur > Neo-Babylonian Housing | NH

References

Woolley, L. and Mallowan, Max. (1962) Ur Excavations IX; The Neo-Babylonian and Persian Periods, Oxford: Oxford University Press.