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Excavations at Ur, 1929-30

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 January 2012

C. Leonard Woolley
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Extract

The eighth season of the Joint Expedition of the British Museum and of the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania started at Ur on 1st November 1929, and ended on 19th March 1930. The staff consisted of my wife, who as usual was responsible for the type-drawings of objects, the planning of the cemetery, and for a share in the field-work; Mr. M. E. L. Mallowan, general archaeological assistant; the Rev.E. Burrows, S.J., epigraphist; and Mr. A. S. Whitburn, architect. Hamoudi was, as always, head foreman, with his sons, Yahia, Ibrahim, and Alawi acting under him; owing to the fact that work was always going on in at least two spots fairly far apart, greater responsibility than usual was thrown on the younger foremen, who answered admirably to the demands on them; Yahia combined this work with that of staff photographer. The number of men employed varied slightly at different times, but was always over 200 and for most of the season kept at about 240, anumber well in excess of the average of past seasons; the amount of work done wascorrespondingly great. I have to thank the Royal Air Force in Iraq for help of many sorts and not least for an air photograph of the site (pl. XXVIII) taken at the close of the season and of much value for purposes of comparison with earlier photographs; Lt.-Colonel Tainsh, Director of the Iraq Railways, for facilities enabling me to undertake a short experimental dig at Meraijib, a prehistoric site some ten miles south of Ur; and the Director of Antiquities, Iraq, for his help in this Meraijib work and to the Expedition in general. I must also acknowledge my indebtedness to the staff of the British Museum Laboratory, where the work of restoring and cleaning was as usual carried out, and in particular to Mr. E. C. Padgham for his success with the silver objects; Mr. Evan Watkin of the Department of Egyptian Antiquities undertook the mending of the stone vases, and for the mending of the pottery the services of Mrs. F. W. Bard were secured.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Antiquaries Journal , Volume 10 , Issue 4 , October 1930 , pp. 315 - 343
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1930

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References

page 326 note 1 The character of the stratum is given as it exists at the point of the section; though it may run consistently over the wholearea it is not likely that over the whole area the same sort of rubbish would have gone to its composition, and a stratum red in one place may well be grey or white in another and yet be the same stratum.

page 334 note 1 Specimens of the sand and clay from the two deposits left by the Flood were submitted to the Petrographical Department of the Geological Survey, Jermyn Street, for microscopic analysis. Dr. H. H. Thomas's report was as follows:

‘The soil specimens and silts have been examined and I find Specimen Z is a fine grained, closely laminated silt, the laminae showing definite current-bedding and grading of particles. On a cross-section certain laminae may be seen to wedge out in a manner that can only be accounted for by the action of gentle currents. In a distance of two inches the laminae may tail off from a thickness of one or two millimetres to the merest film. The average thickness of the laminae is something less than a millimetre. The silt has a definite parting parallel to the surfaces of the laminae, which are seen to be covered with the minutest scales of detrital mica.

‘In constitution the material is mainly fine angular quartz with much finely divided mica, fairly abundant green hornblende with some augite and magnetite. The particles are somewhat variable in size, as would be suggested by the lamination of the sediment. They range up to 0·1 mm. but mostly they have much smaller dimensions.

‘Sample X. Has practically the same constitution and texture as Zexcept for the absence of lamination.

‘Sample y. A fine clay material with particles mainly under 0·01 mm. and highly micaceous. It is quite possibly water deposited, for it would be difficult to account for it in any other way.

‘The absence of lamellation might suggest wind-blown dust, but there is a complete absence of any larger or rounded particles which usually occur in aeolian deposits.

‘The material of X and Y appears to be derived in part from a series of bornblendic and augitic igneous rocks.’

Samples Z and Y are from the pit excavated this year, X from the shaft sunk in1928-9.

page 342 note 1 The inscription is puzzling: Mesannipadda lugal Kiš-ki dam nu-gig = M. king of Kish (or universal king): [his] wife the hierodule (or husband of the hierodule).