Temenos Wall | TW

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)
684 (none) (none) (none) Clay figurine. Headless: moulded. Figure in long drapery concealing feet, hands clasped on breast. Male? Heavy work, no detail.
687 (none) (none) B14997 Terracotta relief. In greenish clay. A kneeling woman (headless) suckling a child.[drawing 1:1]
689 (none) (none) (none) Pot. Or bottle. Coarse reddish clay, small-necked, globular body, badly rotted with salt. Type LX= New(P)184
690 (none) (none) (none) Bronze bracelet. With snake-head ends.
691 (none) (none) (none) Bronze finger ring. Plain wire, the ends overlapping.
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.
718 (none) (none) (none) Fragment of clay cone. Only ends of lines, illegible. Thrown out. Placed in IN/No. 2.
721 (none) (none) (none) Fragment of large clay cone. Parts of end of 2nd clumn. Placed in IN/No. 4.
725 (none) (none) (none) Fragment of tablet. Sumerian account. Placed in IN/No. 1.
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.
746 (none) (none) (none) Fragment of clay cone. Parts of Ur-Engur, probably concerning E-temen-ni-il. Placed in IN/No. 4.
747 (none) (none) (none) Clay cone. Nearly complete. Ur-Engur's inscription concering E-temen-ni-il. Placed in IN/No. 4.
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.
749 (none) (none) (none) Small fragment of obsidian, with parts of signs from 2 lines. Illegible.
757 (none) (none) (none) Clay bottle. Drab clay. ? Hand made. Type LXII =P.94. Found with U.758.
758 (none) (none) (none) Clay pot. Drab clay. Glazed red. wheelmade. Type LXXI =P.140 found with U.757
805 (none) (none) (none) Diorite statue. Of Entemena. Found in burnt layer on Nabonidus pavement before the inner doorway of the Ziggurat gate in the SW temenos wall. Headless. Long inscription on rt. upper arm and across back of shoulders. Wears usual fleece skirt: hands clasped below breasts.
877 (none) (none) (none) Fragment of clay cone, from shaft portions of 14 lines. Unidentified.
879 (none) (none) (none) Small fragment from base of cone. Ends of 7 lines. Unintelligible.
901 (none) (none) (none) Basalt impost-stone. Inscription with name, etc., of BURSIN.
941A (none) (none) (none) [A-J] 10 fragments of tablets from temenos wall SW. Placed in Packing Case F.
942A (none) (none) (none) [A-N] 14 fragments of tablets from T.W/ N.W. See U943-4. Placed in Packing Case F.
943 (none) (none) (none) Small fragments. Placed in one cigarette tin. See U942
944 (none) (none) (none) Clay fragment. With seal impression, traces of 1 line inscription and a single figure. Placed in IN/No. 8.

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)
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References

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

Woolley Leonard. (1939) Ur Excavations V: The Ziggurat and its Surroundings, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Woolley, Leonard. (1965 ) Ur Excavations VIII; The Kassite Period and the period of the Assyrian Kings, Oxford: Oxford University Press.