Sîn city: new light from old excavations at Ur

Abstract

• The city of Ur first commanded serious Assyriological attention in 1850s. A series of explorations by British consul Taylor showed the promise held the by site and would reveal the city’s ancient name. Ur was soon enthusiastically connected with Ur of the Chaldees, known from the Bible as home to the patriarch Abraham. Yet it was not until 1920s that extensive excavations were undertaken. Leonard Woolley headed a joint British Museum-University Museum (now Penn Museum) expedition that would capture the imagination of scholars and public alike. Almost a century later, a renewed British Museum-Penn Museum collaboration has brought Woolley’s excavations into the 21st century. The Joint Expedition’s finds, together with its rich archive of contemporary records and photographs, have been digitally reunited in an open access web resource. Researchers have unparalleled access to the finds and associated records from a major site spanning classical Mesopotamian history. New avenues of research have opened, and a wealth of new material is available.