 | TTD | TTD is shorthand for Trial Trench D, one of two initial trenches dug in season 5 to extend TTA from season 1. Woolley dug TTD and TTE to search for graves in what he believed was a potentially vast cemetery. Neither of these trenches were ever mapped and no aerial photos show them, as by the time of the 1930 RAF photograph the trial trenches had been so extended that most of the Royal Cemetery area had already been exposed. Luckily, Woolley's field records allow us to reconstruct the direction and extents of the trench. He states that it ran from the head (northeast end) of TTA and extended southeastward to the east corner of the Neo-Babylonian temenos wall, making it about 65 meters in length. Though he does not tell us its width it is likely that it was about 4 meters, the same as the measurable trial trenches A, B, and C.
TTD did not reveal much, but it was only excavated to a depth of around 2 meters. As Woolley reports in the Antiquaries Journal volume 7 page 1: "The trench to the temenos angle produced no sign of buildings, but for the greater part of its length a floor of beaten mud, lying about 1.75 m. below the present surface, at which level we stopped short." It had just missed the south corner of the Mausoleum of the Ur III kings, and when area PG was expanded beneath the level of TTD in season 8, many graves were recorded here. | (none) |
 | TTF | TTF is shorthand for Trial Trench F, the first extension of TTE. 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 TTE, essentially extending its width, and the only report that shows its southern line is a mention of the location of PG513 within it. This grave rested upon the ruined northwest wall of PG777, which means that TTF must have met TTE at PG777, since the roof of that grave was revealed in TTE. TTF therefore extended the width of TTE to the northwest.
The calculated location of TTF crosses over at least the southern end of TTA. This trench had been dug four years prior and had not been overly deep. It would likely have been mostly collapsed by this point, accounting for the somewhat different line of it and the season 5 trenches TTE, TTF, and TTG. While TTE was almost certainly around 4 meters in width as had been previous trial trenches, TTF and TTG may have been wider in order to find more graves. The only indication is the 1930 aerial photograph that shows an extent in the northwest portion of the cemetery that may go as far as 17 meters from the northwest edge of TTE. It is by no means certain, but a trench width of 6-7 meters (twice that of TTE) is suggested for each of TTF and TTG.
The first grave to be given a PG number in TTF was PG227. From this point, the sequence of grave numbers is shared between the two trenches, eventually to be supplemented with TTG. | (none) |
 | 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) |
