Sir Charles Leonard Woolley was a British archaeologist best known for his excavations at Ur in Mesopotamia. He is recognized as one of the first "modern" archaeologists who excavated in a methodical way, keeping careful records, and using them to reconstruct ancient life and history. Woolley was knighted in 1935 for his contributions to the discipline of archaeology. He was married to the British archaeologist Katharine Woolley.
Woolley in 1915
Woolley (right) and T. E. Lawrence with a Hittite slab at Carchemish during excavation, between 1912 and 1914.
Woolley in Syria, 1912
Ur was an important Sumerian city-state in ancient Mesopotamia, located at the site of modern Tell el-Muqayyar in south Iraq's Dhi Qar Governorate. Although Ur was once a coastal city near the mouth of the Euphrates on the Persian Gulf, the coastline has shifted and the city is now well inland, on the south bank of the Euphrates, 16 km (10 mi) from Nasiriyah in modern-day Iraq. The city dates from the Ubaid period c. 3800 BC, and is recorded in written history as a city-state from the 26th century BC, its first recorded king being King Tuttues.
The name 𒋀𒀊𒆠URIM5KI for "Country of Ur" on a seal of King Ur-Nammu
Enthroned King Ur-Nammu (c. 2047–2030 BC)
Gold helmet of King of Ur I Meskalamdug, c. 2600–2500 BC
Mesopotamian female deity seated on a chair, Old-Babylonian fired clay plaque from Ur