Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 March 2015
This article presents a reconsideration of the architecture, stratigraphy and finds from Building Level H, excavated in Trial Pit F at Ur. Analysis of Woolley's original excavation records, kept at the British Museum, provides the basis for a contextual reconstruction. A new complete study of published and unpublished materials now housed at the British Museum and at the Penn Museum of Philadelphia is offered here. Distribution of in situ artefacts is examined here in order to provide insights on the function of the excavated loci. Finally, pottery and glyptic assemblages, considered from a regional perspective, are used to define the chronological horizon of Level H.
I wish to thank Nicolò Marchetti (University of Bologna) for inviting me to start the research on Ur, and for his continual encouragement and guidance. I am also grateful to Carlo Lippolis, my PhD supervisor at the University of Turin, for support throughout the project. My thanks are owed to Sarah Collins of the British Museum and to Katy Blanchard of the Penn Museum for their help and assistance during my study visits there. I am also indebted to Dr. Gianni Marchesi for co-supervising my MA thesis, to my friend and colleague Federico Zaina for the comparisons with Kiš materials, and to Eleanor Nettleship for the careful copy editing of this paper.