with a
Hittite slab at
Carchemish during excavation, between 1912 and 1914. In 1905, Woolley became assistant of the
Ashmolean Museum,
Oxford. Volunteered by
Arthur Evans to run the excavations on the
Roman site at
Corbridge (near
Hadrian's Wall) for
Francis Haverfield, Woolley began his excavation career there in 1906, later admitting in
Spadework that "I had never studied archaeological methods even from books ... and I had not any idea how to make a survey or a ground-plan" (Woolley 1953:15). Nevertheless, the
Corbridge Lion was found under his supervision. Woolley next travelled to
Nubia in southern Egypt, where he worked with
David Randall-MacIver on the Eckley Coxe Expedition to Nubia conducted under the auspices of the
University of Pennsylvania Museum. Between 1907 and 1911 they conducted archaeological excavations and survey at sites including
Areika,
Buhen, and the Meroitic town of
Karanog. In 1912–1914, with
T. E. Lawrence as his assistant, he excavated the
Hittite city of
Carchemish in Syria. Lawrence and Woolley were apparently working for
British Naval Intelligence and monitoring the construction of Germany's
Berlin-to-Baghdad railway. During
World War I, Woolley, with Lawrence, was posted to
Cairo, where he met
Gertrude Bell. He then moved to
Alexandria, where he was assigned to work on naval espionage supporting agents in the
Levant and controlling some British and French ships. One of these, the requisitioned British steam yacht
Zaida, sank off
Alexandretta on 17 August 1916 after striking a French-laid
mine. The survivors were rescued and he was held by Turkey for two years as a prisoner of war. He received the
Croix de Guerre from France at the war's end. In the following years, Woolley returned to Carchemish, and then worked at
Amarna in Egypt.
Excavation at Ur Woolley led a joint expedition of the
British Museum and the
University of Pennsylvania to
Ur, beginning in 1922, which included his wife, the British archaeologist
Katharine Woolley. There, they made important discoveries, including the
Copper Bull and the
Bull-Headed Lyre. In the course of excavating the
royal cemetery and the pair of
Ram in a Thicket figurines.
Agatha Christie's novel,
Murder in Mesopotamia, was inspired by the discovery of the royal tombs. Agatha Christie later married Woolley's young assistant,
Max Mallowan. Ur was the burial site of what may have been many
Sumerian royals. The Woolleys discovered tombs of great material wealth, containing large paintings of ancient
Sumerian culture at its zenith, along with gold and silver jewellery, cups and other furnishings. The most extravagant tomb was that of "Queen"
Pu-Abi. Amazingly enough, Queen Pu-Abi's tomb was untouched by looters. Inside the tomb, many well-preserved items were found, including a cylindrical seal bearing her name in
Sumerian. Her body was found buried along with those of two attendants, who had presumably been poisoned to continue to serve her after death. Woolley was able to reconstruct Pu-Abi's funeral ceremony from objects found in her tomb.
Excavation at Al Mina and Tell Atchana In 1936, after the discoveries at Ur, Woolley was interested in finding ties between the ancient
Aegean and Mesopotamian civilisations. This led him to the Syrian city of
Al Mina. He excavated
Tell Atchana in the years 1937–1939 and 1946–1949. His team discovered palaces, temples, private houses and fortification walls, in 17 archaeological levels, reaching from late Early Bronze Age (–2000 BC) to Late Bronze Age (). Among their finds was the inscribed statue of
Idrimi, a king of Alalakh c. early 15th century BC.
Local Genesis flood theory Woolley was one of the first archaeologists to propose that the
flood described in the
Book of Genesis was local after identifying a flood-stratum at
Ur "400 miles long and 100 miles wide; but for the occupants of the valley that was the whole world".
World War II His archaeological career was interrupted by the United Kingdom's entry into
World War II, and he became part of the
Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives Section of the Allied armies. After the war, he returned to
Alalakh, where he continued to work from 1946 until 1949. ==Personal life==