Woolley’s Ur excavations ended in 1934: but
three years later some new light was thrown on the problems, which he had,
encountered at AL ‘Ubaid by a further short investigation of the site, in which
I myself took part. We have spoken in an earlier chapter about Deluges’
excavations of the so-called Oval Temple at Khafaje and regretted
that only its plan could be recovered, owing to the denuded state of its
foundations. The central problem regarding the character of the temple itself
remained unsolved.
The
oval teens, with its double line of outer walls, enclosed an open courtyard;
and in the center of the courtyard, a rectangular brick platform was found with
a stairway leading up to it. In his search for some clue to the reconstruction
of such a building, Deluges was reminded that almost the only parallel was to
be found in the similar, though much better preserved temple platform of the
Early Dynastic period, found ten years earlier by Hall and Woolley at AL ‘Ubaid.
Here, though once more the temple itself
had not survived, something was to be learnt about its architectural character
from the rich facade ornaments which, as we have already mentioned, Woolley
found stacked against the base of the platform. But, in excavating and removing
these, he had covered much of the surrounding area with dumped earth and no
further investigation had been made of the platform’s immediate surroundings. Deluges
now developed a conviction that further significant parallels between the two
temples could be established. So in 1937, with Woolley’s willing agreement, he
and I returned to the site for ten days to make a further short examination.
Oriental Institute excavations
Our discoveries during this small
“posthumous” excavation at AL ‘Ubaid could almost be described as dramatic and
were certainly most satisfying to Deluges. He and I had taken with us our most
competent wall tracers from the Oriental Institute excavations.
These two men were first employed in cleaning the brickwork on the summit of
the platform, in the hope that some vestigial remains might survive of the
temple foundations.
They did indeed discover, at the head of
the stairway, brickwork of two different types, as though some building had
been more than once reconstructed. However, unhappily the denudation caused by
the weather had completely defaced the shapes of the walls. Next, therefore, we
transferred them to the pavement at the foot of the platform on which the great
bronze lintel, copper bulls’ heads and other architectural ornaments had been
found by Woolley and Hall, and which was still easily recognizable.
travel for beauty 