After a visit by William Kennett Loftus to the site of Ur, Taylor began excavations there in 1853, and continued in 1854.[2][3][4] He worked on behalf of the British Museum. Taylor found clay cylinders in the four corners of the top stage of the ziggurat which bore an inscription of Nabonidus (Nabuna'id), the last king of Babylon (539 BC), closing with a prayer for his son Belshar-uzur (Bel-ŝarra-Uzur), the Belshazzar of the Book of Daniel. These were the Ur Cylinders of Nabonidus.