Ur
Archaeology

The site consists of a mound, roughly 1200 by 800 meters with a height of about 20 meters above the plan. The mound is split by the remnants of an ancient canal into north and south portions. The remains of a city wall are visible surrounding the site. The occupation size ranged from about 15 hectares in the Jemdet Nasr period to 90 hectares in the Early Dynastic period and then peaking in the Ur III period at 108 hectares and the Isin-Larsa period at 140 hectares, extending beyond the city walls. Subsequent period had varying lesser degrees of occupation.

In 1625, the site was visited by Pietro Della Valle, who recorded the presence of ancient bricks stamped with strange symbols, cemented together with bitumen, as well as inscribed pieces of black marble that appeared to be seals. He retrieved several inscribed bricks. European archaeologists did not identify Tell el-Muqayyar as the site of Ur until Henry Rawlinson successfully deciphered some bricks from that location, brought to England by William Loftus in 1849.

The site was first excavated in 1853 and 1854, on behalf of the British Museum and with instructions from the Foreign Office, by John George Taylor, British vice consul at Basra from 1851 to 1859. Taylor uncovered the Ziggurat of Ur and a structure with an arch later identified as part of the "Gate of Judgment". Among the finds were copies of a standard cylinder of Nabonidus, Neo-Babylonian ruler, mentioning the prince regent Belshar-uzur, usually thought to be the Belshazzar of the Book of Daniel in the Hebrew Bible. Between 1854 and 1918 locals excavated over two hundred tablets from the site, mostly from the temple Ê-nun-maḫ, of the moon god Sin. Built by the Ur III ruler Ur-Nammu, the ziggurat was later repaired by Isin ruler Ishme-Dagan early in the 2nd millennium BC. Stamped bricks on the ziggurat detail the rebuilding of the temple of Ningal by 14th century BC Kassite ruler Kurigalzu I.

Some cuneiform tablets were found. Thirty four of these tablets were inadvertently mixed in with those excavated at Kutalla. Only in recent years has this error been recognized. Typical of the era, his excavations destroyed information and exposed the tell. Natives used the now loosened, 4,000-year-old bricks and tile for construction for the next 75 years, while the site lay unexplored, the British Museum having decided to prioritize archaeology in Assyria.

The site was considered rich in remains, and relatively easy to explore. After some soundings were made during a week in 1918 by Reginald Campbell Thompson, H. R. Hall worked the site for one season (using 70 Turkish prisoners of war) for the British Museum in 1919, laying the groundwork for more extensive efforts to follow. Some cuneiform tablets from the Isin-Larsa period were found, including omen and medical texts. They are now in the British Museum.

Excavations from 1922 to 1934 were funded by the British Museum and the University of Pennsylvania and led by the archaeologist Sir Charles Leonard Woolley. The last two seasons focused on closing the site properly. A total of about 1,850 burials were uncovered, including 16 that were described as " royal tombs " containing many valuable artifacts, including the Standard of Ur. Most of the royal tombs were dated to about 2600 BC. The finds included the unlooted tomb of a queen thought to be Queen Puabi (formerly transcribed as Shub-ab), known from a cylinder seal found in the tomb, although there were two other different and unnamed seals found in the tomb. Many other people had been buried with her, in a form of human sacrifice. Near the ziggurat were uncovered the temple E-nun-mah and buildings E-dub-lal-mah (built for a king), E-gi-par (residence of the high priestess) and E-hur-sag (a temple building).

Outside the temple area, many houses used in everyday life were found. Excavations were also made below the royal tombs layer: a 3.5-metre-thick (11 ft) layer of alluvial clay covered the remains of earlier habitation, including pottery from the Ubaid period, the first stage of settlement in southern Mesopotamia. Woolley later wrote many articles and books about the discoveries. One of Woolley's assistants on the site was the British archaeologist Max Mallowan.

A number of royal inscription were found during the Woolley excavations. Numerous cuneiform tablets were also recovered. These included archives, temple and domestic, from the Early Dynastic and Sargonic periods, the Ur III period, Old and Middle Babylonian period, and the Neo-Babylonian and Persian periods. Many literary and religious texts were also recovered.

The discoveries at the site reached the headlines in mainstream media in the world with the discoveries of the Royal Tombs. As a result, the ruins of the ancient city attracted many visitors. One of these visitors was the already famous Agatha Christie, who as a result of this visit ended up marrying Max Mallowan. During this time the site was accessible from the Baghdad–Basra railway, from a stop called "Ur Junction".

In 2009, an agreement was reached for a joint University of Pennsylvania and Iraqi team to resume archaeological work at the site of Ur. Excavations began in 2015 under the direction of Elizabeth C Stone and Paul Zimansky of the State University of New York. The first excavation season was primarily to re-excavate Woolley's work in an Old Babylonian housing area with two new trenches for confirmation. Among the finds were a cylinder seal and balance pan weights. A number of cuneiform tablets were unearthed, a few Ur III period, a few Old Babylonian period, and a number of Old Akkadian period. A similar though smaller dig was made in a Neo-Babylonian housing area. In the 2017 season an urban area adjacent to Wooleys very large AH area was excavated. The burial vault of a Babylonian general Abisum was found. Abisum is known from year 36 of Hammurabi into the reign of Samsu-iluna. Thirty cuneiform tablets were found around the vault and another 12 inside the tomb itself. Some distance south of Area AH a German team of Munich University directed by Adelheid Otto excavated an Old Babylonian home. In levels below the final occupation were found tablets dating to Sin-Eribam and Silli-Adad, rulers of Larsa. They included a new copy of the Lament for Sumer and Ur.
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