Editing Nippur (section)

=== Ziggurat ===
Extensive excavation details have been recorded for the Ziggurat of Ur-Gur. Overall, the [[ziggurat]] site is 25 meters in height, has a rectangular base of 39 meters by 58 meters, consisting three stages of dry brick, and faced with kiln-fired bricks laid in bitumen.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Centre |first=UNESCO World Heritage |title=Nippur |url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/6173/ |access-date=2022-04-13 |website=UNESCO World Heritage Centre |language=en}}</ref> The northern corner of the ziggurat points to 12 degrees east of the magnetic north.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Peters |first=John P. |date=1895 |title=Some Recent Results of the University of Pennsylvania Excavations at Nippur, Especially of the Temple Hill |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/496511 |journal=The American Journal of Archaeology and of the History of the Fine Arts |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=13–46 |doi=10.2307/496511 |jstor=496511 |s2cid=166129775 |issn=1540-5079}}</ref> Construction structure and materials are homogeneous, of small unbaked bricks, laid in different ways: first layer of bricks is on the edge sides with the flat sides out, second layer on the edge sides with the ends out, third layer on the flat sides with the edges out.<ref name=":0" />

The ziggurat contains a water conduit system. From the upper surface of the ziggurat, there is a conduit for water drainage in the middle of three façades.<ref name=":0" /> Built by baked bricks 1 metre in breadth and 3 meters in depth, around the conduit base is a plaster of bitumen, sloping outward with gutters to carry off water.<ref name=":0" />

Pavements extend from the ziggurat in a cruciform shape with square-like large bricks, in which pieces of pottery are used to fasten the clay together.<ref name=":0" /> They extend 2.4 meters below the ziggurat foundation and 12 meters away, connected to the lowest stage of the ziggurat, which protects the ziggurat foundation from rain.<ref name=":0" />