Context Title: Temenos Wall | TW     
Context Name (Excavation): TW     
Context Name (Publication): Temenos Wall     
Context Description: The excavation area abbreviation TW stands for Temenos Wall, a wall that surrounded the ziggurat terrace and its extended sacred space in the northern central portion of the city of Ur through much of its history. The wall may have begun in the Early Dynastic period, as Woolley found some indication of what he believed to be its earliest foundation. There was clearly an Ur III period version that ran south of the giparu and then further southeast to encompass the ehursag. This was the general line of the wall through the Isin-Larsa/Old Babylonian and into the Kassite period, though the Kassites made some changes in the northern portion. Finally, the Neo-Babylonians changed the wall greatly, expanding the area encompassed to the north and south and adding several gateways. The foundations of this later, quite massive, wall often destroyed earlier remains. Woolley explored parts of the temenos wall in many seasons and frequently used the TW abbreviation for the wall in any of its building periods. Other excavation area abbreviations include parts of the temenos, particularly NCF, PDW and BC. The temenos wall built by Urnamma was 6 meters thick and built of mud brick with a baked brick facing. Most of the baked brick had been removed, probably for later building. The Nebuchadnezzar and Nabonidus temenos wall had chambers within it and sported six gates into the temenos area. This area was known as e-gish-nu-gal (Woolley read this e-gish-shir-gal). At least one later interpretation conflates TW with the phrase Town Wall, but the wall surrounding Ur was always referred to as the city wall, (CLW).     
Season Number: 01: 1922-1923      
Season Number: 03: 1924-1925      
Season Number: 05: 1926-1927      
Season Number: 11: 1932-1933      
Season Number: 12: 1933-1934      

Objects: Temenos Wall | TW 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)
17873G 32-40-66 (none) (none) Model bricks. Miniatures in baked clay of plano-convex bricks. Two have crescent incised on the side some have marks. Some of the bricks are not plano-convex but flat-topped with a long curved frog. L. 50mm, W. 30mm, H. 12mm [unclear what these measurements reference]. Others are not brick-shaped but oval and round on top with long frog. Others are straight on one side and curved on the other and rise on the top with a double curve frog with these are what maybe mixing bowls, square or circular, hollow and containing a lump of bitumen mixed with earth. [drawing]
17873H 32-40-67 (none) (none) Model bricks. Miniatures in baked clay of plano-convex bricks. Two have crescent incised on the side some have marks. Some of the bricks are not plano-convex but flat-topped with a long curved frog. L. 50mm, W. 30mm, H. 12mm [unclear what these measurements reference]. Others are not brick-shaped but oval and round on top with long frog. Others are straight on one side and curved on the other and rise on the top with a double curve frog with these are what maybe mixing bowls, square or circular, hollow and containing a lump of bitumen mixed with earth. [drawing]
17873I 32-40-68 (none) (none) Model bricks. Miniatures in baked clay of plano-convex bricks. Two have crescent incised on the side some have marks. Some of the bricks are not plano-convex but flat-topped with a long curved frog. L. 50mm, W. 30mm, H. 12mm [unclear what these measurements reference]. Others are not brick-shaped but oval and round on top with long frog. Others are straight on one side and curved on the other and rise on the top with a double curve frog with these are what maybe mixing bowls, square or circular, hollow and containing a lump of bitumen mixed with earth. [drawing]
17873A 32-40-60 (none) (none) Model bricks. Miniatures in baked clay of plano-convex bricks. Two have crescent incised on the side some have marks. Some of the bricks are not plano-convex but flat-topped with a long curved frog. L. 50mm, W. 30mm, H. 12mm [unclear what these measurements reference]. Others are not brick-shaped but oval and round on top with long frog. Others are straight on one side and curved on the other and rise on the top with a double curve frog with these are what maybe mixing bowls, square or circular, hollow and containing a lump of bitumen mixed with earth. [drawing]
11954 (none) (none) (none) Mace head. Pinkish marble. [drawing 1:1]
961 (none) (none) (none) Large tablet. With text in the Semitic language. From T.W.S chamber. Placed alone in separate numbered box.
678 (none) 1923,1110.93 (none) Incense bowl(?) Fragment. Clay. Shallow bowl: below, in relief, the fingers of a human hand, moulded and finished off with a tool. Compare the N.Syrian steatite examples.
13059 30-12-524 (none) (none) Hematite weight. Flat on one side, convex on the other. Type ? XIV.
17865 (none) (none) (none) Head of Statue. White limestone. Female, very coarse and ugly work. The eyees are inlaid. The hair on top of the head was in a different material and was fixed on by a copper peg part of which remains in a hole in the crown : the ears are pierced to take earrings. The figure is broken away under the chin and just across the shoulders: enough of the latter is left to show that it was a draped figure. The statue had been broken in antiquity and mended with bitumen. Kassite.
17861 32-40-307 (none) (none) Head of Puzuzu type Lapis lazuli roughly carved pierced for threading [drawing 1:1]
13030 (none) (none) (none) Gold earring. 1 solid lunate end. Suspended in on very fine wire.
17881 32-40-444 (none) (none) Gold bar. Plain strip of fairly heavy gold plate with rounded ends.
7808 (none) (none) (none) Fragments of tablet Box containing numerous fragments (not marked) of similar appearance of several baked tablets. REJECTED.
745A (none) (none) (none) Fragments of a large sumerian account tablet, dated in several years including the fifth year of Gimil-Sin. Placed in box numbered U.745.
714 (none) (none) (none) Fragment. Complete. Dated only by month.
717 (none) (none) (none) Fragment of top of Cone. Ur-Engur's inscription concerning E-temen-ni-iil. Scrapped. See U. 201. Placed in IN/No. 4.
725 (none) (none) (none) Fragment of tablet. Sumerian account. Placed in IN/No. 1.
969 (none) (none) (none) Fragment of tablet. Obverse only book keeping entried. IN/No.2
971 (none) (none) (none) Fragment of tablet. Accounts. Persian period. IN/No.2
721 (none) (none) (none) Fragment of large clay cone. Parts of end of 2nd clumn. Placed in IN/No. 4.
440 (none) (none) (none) Fragment of large account tablet of Sumerian period.
445 (none) (none) (none) Fragment of cone. Ends of 13 lines. Unidentified. Placed in IN/No. 7
748 (none) (none) (none) Fragment of clay cone. Ur-Engur's inscription concering E-temen-ni-il. Duplicate of U.201. Placed in IN/No. 4.
746 (none) (none) (none) Fragment of clay cone. Parts of Ur-Engur, probably concerning E-temen-ni-il. Placed in IN/No. 4.
718 (none) (none) (none) Fragment of clay cone. Only ends of lines, illegible. Thrown out. Placed in IN/No. 2.

Media: Temenos Wall | TW Export: JSON - XML - CSV

Media Media Title Title Label Author Omeka Label
Ur Excavations V: The Ziggurat and its Surroundings Ur Excavations V: The Ziggurat and its Surroundings 1939 Woolley Leonard (none)
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)
Ur Excavations VIII; The Kassite Period and the period of the Assyrian Kings Ur Excavations VIII; The Kassite Period and the period of the Assyrian Kings 1965 Woolley, Leonard (none)
  • 3 Media