16531 | 31-43-250, 31-43-250

Description (Catalog Card): Mace head, white calcite. Fragment. Naram-Sin: dedication to KA-DI. H.C. 30/III,41     
Find Context (Catalog Card): AH. House II. Pavement 1, from NW of Court.     
Material (Catalog Card): Calcite2     
Text Genre: Royal/Monumental      
Dates Referenced: Naram-Sin     
[1] Woolley's description
[2] Material as described by Woolley
[3] Barrett. 1976. Near East Section, Ur, Inscribed Objects

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Locations: 16531 | 31-43-250, 31-43-250 Export: JSON - XML - CSV

Location Context Title Context Description Description (Modern)
AH Site | AH In the southeast portion of the mound of Ur, Woolley excavated a large horizontal extent of domestic space roughly 115 x 85m. near the surface he found scattered Neo-Babylonian and Kassite remains and intrusive graves of the late periods but he did not publish these in detail nor are there any extant notes covering them. Instead, Woolley's main goal was to uncover the best preserved floorplans of houses. These he found several meters down, houses of the Isin-Larsa/Old Babylonian period. Because the Old Babylonian period was typically that associated with the potential time of Abraham, Woolley used the abbreviation AH (Abraham's Housing) to refer to this excavation area. In the course of excavation of the Isin-Larsa/Old Babylonian levels Woolley numbered 27 'houses,' or excavation units. He renumbered the houses for publication based on the overall plan, preserved walls, and doors onto streets. In this way he showed there were 52 individual houses within his 27 excavation areas. However, houses were frequently altered throughout period, as families would knock out walls or block up doors, and thus true house numbers are difficult to establish. Woolley mentions phases of rebuilding, but states that he sought the best preserved floor plan and published the excavation of a particular house based on that plan alone. In some cases he noted deeper remains that may have gone back to the Ur III period. These levels he partially uncovered as he excavated graves beneath the Larsa period floors. A great deal of baked brick was in use for walls of the Isin-Larsa/Old Babylonian period. Some houses used it in the lowest portion of a wall, but others used it for entire walls up to 3 meters in height. Town planning was not evident, as streets tended to wander in narrow and winding paths. Corners where streets met were often rounded, leading Woolley to surmise that this was to prevent problems with laden donkeys catching their wares on corners. Many houses had a domestic chapel within, often with family burials beneath the floor. Communal chapels were also noted, at least four being identified in the area. Finally, Woolley believed that some buildings were specifically used for commercial activities (shops), though this is difficult to prove. (none)
House II Excavation house designation on the northwest side of Straight Street (originally called Division Street because it divided the initial excavation units of House I, II, and III). This unit may have initially contained some rooms in No. 3 Straight Street. (none)
No. 3 Straight Street A large and in many respects a typical house, though its ground-plan was made somewhat irregular by the fact that it was built up against earlier houses and its site was not rectangular. It was well built, the burnt brickwork (bricks 0.27 m. X 0.165 m. X 0.075 m.) rising in the street wall to 1.70 m. and in the internal walls to 1.10 m. above pavement level; it had a long life and underwent a good many minor alterations and the walls were still in use after the floor had risen 1.85 m. above the original. Its foundation would seem to have been later than that of Nos. 3 and 5 Church Lane and of No. 5 Straight Street, judging by the bonding of the walls, but contemporary with the Hendur-sag chapel; the tablets found in its ruins ranged from the 27th year of Sulgi to the 15th year of Rim-Sin,3 2 and although the building probably did not itself go back to the Sulgi period it need not have been very much later (for the main walls of Nos. 3 and 5 Church Lane were of Third Dynasty date) and while the main floor level to which our excavations went down must come at least very early in the Larsa period the building as such shared in the general destruction of the quarter in the reign of Samsu-iluna. (none)
  • 3 Locations

Media: 16531 | 31-43-250, 31-43-250 Export: JSON - XML - CSV

Media Media Title Title Label Author Omeka Label
Ur Excavations IV; The Early Periods Ur Excavations IV; The Early Periods 1955 Woolley, L. (none)
Ur Excavations Texts VIII.1: Royal Inscriptions Part II Ur Excavations Texts VIII.1: Royal Inscriptions Part II 1965 Sollberger, E. (none)
Ur Excavations VII; The Old Babylonian Period Ur Excavations VII; The Old Babylonian Period 1976 Woolley, L. and M. Mallowan (none)
Woolley's Catalog Cards Woolley's Catalog Cards Card -- BM ID:194 Box:65 Page:273 Card -- BM ID:194 Box:65 Page:273 (none)
  • 4 Media

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Context

Ur >> AH Site | AH

Excavation Context: Ur >> AH Site | AH >> House II

Excavation Context: Ur >> AH Site | AH >> Straight Street | Division Street >> No. 3 Straight Street

References

Woolley, L. . (1955) Ur Excavations IV; The Early Periods, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Sollberger, E. (1965) Ur Excavations Texts VIII.1: Royal Inscriptions Part II, London: British Museum Publications.

Woolley, L. and M. Mallowan . (1976) Ur Excavations VII; The Old Babylonian Period, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

[title missing], .

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