 | TTG | TTG is shorthand for Trial Trench G, the second extension of TTE, actually extending TTF and obliterating TTA. Like the other trenches in the Royal Cemetery it was never mapped and does not appear on an aerial photograph. The trench was dug on the same lines as TTF, essentially extending its width to the northwest. The first grave to be numbered in this trench was PG355, but the sequence from this point up to PG580 is shared among the three trenches. This trial trench and TTF may have been about 5 meters wide, somewhat wider than other trial trenches as Woolley continued to expand, though there is no proof of this other than a slight indication on the 1930 aerial photograph. Excavation while the three trenches were open would have resembled a wide stair case, with TTE being the lowest in the southeast, TTF somewhat higher to the northwest, and TTG higher still. By the end of the season, all three trenches had reached at least 5 meters depth, though TTE had reached 9 meters.
The northwest portion of the cemetery did not produce as many graves as the southeast and Woolley extended excavations in the following season over a large area southeast of TTE, beginning with PG580. He also began to map individual graves in the overall area at this point. | (none) |
 | 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) |