Lecture by Krisztián Simkó, LCANE series New Research

Archaeological explorations at Girsu (modern Tello in the Dhi Qar province of southern Iraq) began in 1877 under the direction of French diplomat Ernest de Sarzec and, over twenty fieldwork seasons, brought a major Sumerian urban centre to light. The site is now known for some of the most emblematic monuments of early Mesopotamian history, such as the Stele of the Vultures—an inscribed stone monument from the late Early Dynastic period commemorating Eanatum’s victory over neighbouring Umma (25^th century BCE)—or the diorite statues of Gudea (c. 2130–2110 BCE). As the administrative and religious centre of the state of Lagash, the city flourished during the third millennium BCE, producing tens of thousands of cuneiform tablets alongside an equally high number of other inscribed artefacts. Despite continued occupation during the early Old Babylonian period in the first few centuries of the second millennium BCE, the early excavations only yielded few burials and residential structures, along with a few dozen cuneiform tablets from unspecified contexts.

The British Museum team’s excavation at Girsu offers new insights into the city’s later history after it ceased to be a major urban centre. Ongoing investigations since 2024 have revealed a large architectural complex dating to the 19th–18th centuries BCE. Although these centuries mark the final phase of occupation, the archaeological and epigraphic records recovered from the building show that Girsu remained a vibrant centre for advanced literary and scholarly practices until its abandonment around 1750 BCE. This paper presents the results from the last four field seasons of the Girsu Project at this important site. Although the focus is on the new textual finds, the presentation will explore the likely activities associated with the tablets and the broader archaeological context. Taken together, the evidence suggests that the building served as the residence, workplace, and intellectual centre of a priest or a college of priests associated with Girsu’s ritual apparatus.