17835A | 32-40-308
| Technique: | Decoration >> Subtraction >> Impressed |
| Iconography: | Animal/Zoomorphic >> Mammal >> Lion 1 |
| Iconography: | Type >> Animal Scene |
| Description (Catalog Card): | [A-B] Two lion's heads. Silhouetted in profile. White calcite, originally painted red, but the color gone: both are really stamp seals with rough designs drill-cut on the flat lower surface. Both are pierced for suspension from the top of the head to the bottom of the mane. [drawing]2 |
| Find Context (Catalog Card): | Ziggurat, NW 1931 under floor of Archaic I courtyard |
| Material (Catalog Card): | Calcite3 |
| Measurement (Catalog Card): | L. 45mm |
| U Number: | 17835A |
| Museum: | University of Pennsylvania Museum |
| Object Type: | Seals, Stamps, and Sealings >> Stamp Seals |
| Season Number: | 10: 1931-1932 |
| Description (Modern): | Calcite stamp seal shaped as a lion's head, face of seal depicts drilled images of animals. Signs of green glaze remain. Pierced for suspension. |
| Material: | Inorganic Remains >> Stones and Minerals >> Mineral >> Calcite Group >> Calcite |
| Museum Number (UPM Date Reg Number): | 32-40-308 |
| Measurement (X): | 45 |
| Measurement (X): | 47 |
| Measurement (Y): | 37 |
| [1] head only |
| [2] Woolley's description |
| [3] Material as described by Woolley |
| Location | Context Title | Context Description | Description (Modern) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ziggurat Terrace | ZT | The excavation area abbreviation ZT stands for Ziggurat Terrace. It was used for any portion of the terrace on which the ziggurat stood, though other more specific abbreviations were also used. For example, the abbreviation PDW refers to the northern side of the terrace, west of the Great Nannar Courtyard (PD), and HD refers to the southern part of the terrace. Early references using the abbreviation ZT refer specifically to excavations along the terrace retaining wall itself. Later references, however, mention specific areas on top the terrace such as the so-called 'boat shrine.' The abbreviation also refers to deep clearing of the terrace fill, particularly on the north side in later excavation seasons, though the abbreviation Zig.31 was most often used for this. Woolley uncovered large areas of the retaining wall that supported the platform known as the ziggurat terrace. He found that it was decorated with large wall cones. These cones bore an inscription of Urnamma but there is evidence that the terrace in some form existed in the Early Dynastic period as well. The Urnamma retaining wall was slanted to support the terrace, was 1.7 meters high, 34 meters wide, and was decorated with 5-meter-wide buttresses about 4 meters apart. The inscribed cones dedicate the terrace to the moon god, Nanna, and show that it was called e-temen-ni-gur, which translates as, "house, foundation platform clad in terror." (Woolley read this e-temen-ni-il). | (none) |
- 1 Location
| Media | Media Title | Title | Label | Author | Omeka Label |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Ur Excavations IV; The Early Periods | Ur Excavations IV; The Early Periods | 1955 | Woolley, L. | (none) |
| Field Photographs | Field Photographs | (none) | (none) | (none) |
| Ur Excavations X; Seal Cylinders | Ur Excavations X; Seal Cylinders | 1951 | Legrain, Leon, and Woolley, Leonard | (none) |
| Woolley's Catalog Cards | Woolley's Catalog Cards | Card -- BM ID:194 Box:70 Page:34 | Card -- BM ID:194 Box:70 Page:34 | (none) |
- 4 Media
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References
Woolley, L. . (1955) Ur Excavations IV; The Early Periods, Oxford: Oxford University Press.