Excavations at Ur, 1930–1

1931 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 343-381 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Leonard Woolley
Keyword(s):  
British Museum ◽  
University Of Pennsylvania ◽  
The University

The Joint Expedition of the British Museum and of the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania started its ninth season at Ur on 1st November 1930, and continued in the field until 20th March 1931. The season was a long one and a larger number of workmen than usual was employed, the average for the first three and a half months being 280 and for the remainder of the time 200; the amount of actual excavation done was in consequence greater than in any previous year.

Excavations at Ur, 1931–2

1932 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 355-392 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Leonard Woolley
Keyword(s):  
British Museum ◽  
University Of Pennsylvania ◽  
Single Visit ◽  
The University ◽  
The Way

The tenth season of the Joint Expedition of the British Museum and of the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania began work in the field on 25 November 1931, and closed down on 19 March 1932. In addition to my wife, my staff included Mr. J. C. Rose, who came out as architect for his second season, and Mr. R. P. Ross-Williamson, who acted as general archaeological assistant; Mr. F. L. W. Richardson of Boston, Massachusetts, was also attached to the Expedition to make a contoured survey of the site (pl. LVIII). NO epigraphist was engaged, for the work contemplated was not expected to produce much in the way of inscriptions; but an arrangement was made whereby Dr. Cyrus B.Gordon, epigraphist on the Tell Billah Expedition of the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania, could be called upon to give his services when required; actually a single visit enabled him to do all that was essential. To each of these I am very much indebted. As usual, Hamoudi was head foreman, with his sons Yahia, Ibrahim and Alawi acting under him, and as usual was invaluable; Yahia also was responsible for all the photographic work of the season. The average number of men employed was 180. This relatively small number of workmen, and the shortness of the season, were dictated partly by reasons of finance but more by the nature of our programme, which envisaged not any new departure in excavation but the clearing up of various points still in doubt and the further probing of sites already excavated, with a view to the final publication of the results of former seasons; the work was therefore rather scattered, five different areas being investigated in turn.

The Excavations at Ur, 1924–1925

1925 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 347-402 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Leonard Woolley
Keyword(s):  
Preliminary Report ◽  
British Museum ◽  
University Of Pennsylvania ◽  
Card Index ◽  
University Museum ◽  
The Cost ◽  
The University ◽  
First Time

The Joint Expedition of the British Museum and of the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania restarted its excavations at Ur on 1st November 1924 and closed down on 28th February 1925 after a most successful season. For the epigraphical side of the work I had associated with me this year Dr. L. Legrain, of the University Museum, to whose help I owe much more than I can express: even in this preliminary report it will be clear how greatly our discoveries gained in interest and value from his study of the inscriptions. Mr. J. Linnell, who was in the field for the first time, assisted on the general archaeological side and kept the card index of objects. Unfortunately there was no architect on the staff, and we had to make what shift we could without, in a campaign peculiarly rich in architectural results; all the time I had reason to regret the loss of Mr. F. G. Newton, whose skill and experience had proved invaluable in former years. The main reason for the lack of an architect was shortness of funds: the British Museum was unable to provide from its own resources its due half of the cost of the Expedition, and we could not have taken the field at all but for the generous help given by friends in London; and even so I should have been obliged to bring the season to a premature end in January had not the British residents in Iraq come forward with subscriptions for the British Museum's side of the work which, met by Philadelphia with an equal sum, enabled me to carry on for another month. To all these I wish to acknowledge my gratitude.

Excavations at Tell el Obeid

1924 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 329-346
Author(s):  
C. Leonard Woolley
Keyword(s):  
British Museum ◽  
University Of Pennsylvania ◽  
Present Account ◽  
Archaeological Work ◽  
Ancient Site ◽  
The University

The Joint Expedition of the British Museum and the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania has now completed its second season's work in Mesopotamia. This time I had with me Mr. C. J. Gadd, of the British Museum, for work upon the inscriptions; Mr. F. G. Newton (who came from Egypt to join us in January) for the architectural side; and Mr. G. M. FitzGerald for general archaeological work: to all three I am indebted for a companionship as pleasant as their help was invaluable. From Carchemish I brought two of my old native foremen, Hamoudi and Abd es Salaam, and the son of the former; owing to their presence we were able to undertake two sites at once, and while the bulk of the men were employed on clearing the Ziggurat at Ur, under the supervision of Messrs. Gadd and FitzGerald, I could devote most of my time to the excavation of Tell el Obeid, where Hamoudi was in charge of sixty local Arabs camped in tents on the ruins. The two excavations, being quite distinct in character and geographically, will be dealt with in two reports: the present account treats of Tell el Obeid, the more ancient site.

The Excavations at Ur, 1926–7

1927 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 385-423 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Leonard Woolley
Keyword(s):  
British Museum ◽  
Field Work ◽  
University Of Pennsylvania ◽  
Previous Season ◽  
The University

The Joint Expedition of the British Museum and of the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania started its fifth season at Ur on 28 October 1926, and closed down field work on 19 February 1927. Of the staff, three had been with me in the previous season : Mr. M. E. L. Mallowan again acted as general archaeological assistant, Mrs. Keeling was responsible for the drawings, and Mr. A. S. Whitburn was architect ; this year the inscribed material was dealt with by the Rev. E. Buroes, S.J.

Some Sumerian Tablets of the Third Dynasty of Ur

1939 ◽  
Vol 71 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-39
Author(s):  
T. Fish
Keyword(s):  
British Museum ◽  
University Of Pennsylvania ◽  
The Third ◽  
Third Dynasty Of Ur ◽  
University Museum ◽  
The University ◽  
First Time

The tablets published here for the first time belong to the British Museum and to the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania. I am indebted to Mr. Sidney Smith for permission to publish the British Museum tablets and to Dr. L. Legrain for permission to publish the tablet in the Pennsylvania University Museum.

Excavations at Ur, 1928–9

1929 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 305-343 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Leonard Woolley
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Work ◽  
British Museum ◽  
University Of Pennsylvania ◽  
City Walls ◽  
The University ◽  
The City ◽  
The Town

The seventh campaign of the Joint Expedition of the British Museum and of the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania at Ur started on October 24 1928, and continued until the end of February 1929. The Staff consisted of my wife, Mr. M. E. L. Mallowan, general assistant, and the Rev. E. Burrows, S.J., as epigraphist. Mr. Mallowan was detained in England by illness and did not join us in the field until early in December, up to which time my wife, in addition to doing all the drawings, was my sole field assistant, and subsequently continued to share with me the whole of the cemetery work of the season. The excavation of the graveyard area kept us busy during the greater part of the winter, and we dug 454 graves in all. By the end of January the area proposed for the current year had been exhausted, and attention was devoted to the strata underlying and bordering on the graveyard. It was this work that led to the discoveries connected with the Flood. On Mr. Mallowan's arrival more men were enrolled and set to work on the courtyard of the great Nannar Temple. By the middle of February this task also was completed, and finally, for the last ten days of the season, both gangs were drafted off for experimental work on the city walls of Ur. The results of the season therefore fall under four headings:I. The Cemetery.II. The buildings and rubbish-mounds of the pre-cemetery town and the evidence for the Flood.III. The Nannar Temple.IV. The Town Walls.

Excavations at Ur of the Chaldees

1923 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 311-333 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Leonard Woolley
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
British Museum ◽  
Systematic Investigation ◽  
University Of Pennsylvania ◽  
Great War ◽  
The Public ◽  
Post War ◽  
The University ◽  
The Great War ◽  
Made In

It was in the middle of the nineteenth century that the site of Ur was identified and the excavation of its ruins begun by G. E. Taylor, consul at Basra, acting on behalf of the British Museum. A number of antiquities was brought back to London, but the unsensational character of the finds in southern Mesopotamia caused them to be overshadowed by the striking discoveries then being made in the northern mounds, and work was abandoned, not to be resumed until the Great War put the British in temporary possession of the country and gave it a fresh interest in the eyes of the public. In the latter part of the war Mr. R. Campbell Thompson, working for the British Museum, made soundings at Ur, but did not carry out extensive excavations; in 1919 Dr. H. R. Hall was sent out by the Trustees and began a systematic investigation of the site, employing a considerable force of men for nearly three months, and obtaining important results. Dr. Hall's work made it evident that if the site of Ur was to be tackled seriously, a whole series of campaigns extending over many years and involving very heavy outlay would be required, campaigns to which the post-war finances of the British Museum were by no means adequate. Fortunately the Trustees were at this juncture able to join forces with the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania, and it was decided that an expedition should take the field at the joint expense of the two institutions, which should also share with the Iraq Government in the material results of the work. Of this joint expedition I was asked to take charge. Mr. F. G. Newton came as architect of the party, Mr. Sidney Smith of the British Museum dealt with the inscriptions, and at the end of the year we were joined by Mr. A. W. Lawrence. Hamoudi, my Carchemish foreman, was put in charge of the men; the actual labourers were the Muntafik Arabs of the district. Digging started at the beginning of November and went on without interruption, owing to an unusually clement winter, until halfway through February.

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