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Tell Sifr is an
The site was occupied in the
The site is a small conical mound on top of a platform of about 40 feet in height. It was excavated by William Loftus in 1854. A number of unbaked clay cuneiform tablets were found, many "enveloped". The tablets, 100 in total with most complete, were found in a brick structure, protected by reed matting. The envelopes partially surrounding the tablets were also inscribed and sealed using cylinder seals.William Loftus
''Travels and researches in Chaldæa and Susiana; with an account of excavations at Warka, the Erech of Nimrod, and Shúsh, Shushan the Palace of Esther, in 1849-52''
J. Nisbet and Co., 1857 An Old Babylonian period assemblage of copper tools was found. The copper assemblage, which had also been wrapped in reed matting, and the tablets are now held at the
ancient Near East
The ancient Near East was the home of early civilizations within a region roughly corresponding to the modern Middle East: Mesopotamia (modern Iraq, southeast Turkey, southwest Iran and northeastern Syria), ancient Egypt, ancient Iran ( Elam, ...
archaeological site in Dhi Qar Governorate
Dhi Qar Governorate ( ar, ذي قار, translit=Thi Qār, ) is a governorate in southern Iraq. The provincial capital is Nasiriyah. Prior to 1976 the governorate was known as Muntafiq Governorate. Thi Qar was the heartland of the ancient Iraqi civ ...
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...
. It lies about nine miles from the ancient city of Larsa
Larsa ( Sumerian logogram: UD.UNUGKI, read ''Larsamki''), also referred to as Larancha/Laranchon (Gk. Λαραγχων) by Berossos and connected with the biblical Ellasar, was an important city-state of ancient Sumer, the center of the cult ...
. The city lay on a branch of the ancient Iturungal canal.
History
The site was occupied in the Isin-Larsa
The Isin-Larsa period (circa 2025-1763 BCE, Middle Chronology, or 1961-1699 BCE, Short Chronology) is a phase in the history of ancient Mesopotamia, which extends between the end of the Third Dynasty of Ur and the conquest of Mesopotamia by King ...
and Old Babylonian periods. Larsa king Silli-Adad referred to himself as the governor of Kutalla. In one of his writings Hammurabi
Hammurabi (Akkadian: ; ) was the sixth Amorite king of the Old Babylonian Empire, reigning from to BC. He was preceded by his father, Sin-Muballit, who abdicated due to failing health. During his reign, he conquered Elam and the city-states ...
refers to an orchard keeper from Kutalla. A god, possibly the city god, known to reside at Kutallu was Lugal-ki-suna. A deified symbol of Marduk, Marru(m)-Ía-Marduk, the "Spade of Marduk" is also attested there. In Parthian Parthian may be:
Historical
* A demonym "of Parthia", a region of north-eastern of Greater Iran
* Parthian Empire (247 BC – 224 AD)
* Parthian language, a now-extinct Middle Iranian language
* Parthian shot, an archery skill famously employed by ...
times it was used as a cemetery. The Parthian graves are brick vaulted oblongs and painted red inside.
Archaeology
The site is a small conical mound on top of a platform of about 40 feet in height. It was excavated by William Loftus in 1854. A number of unbaked clay cuneiform tablets were found, many "enveloped". The tablets, 100 in total with most complete, were found in a brick structure, protected by reed matting. The envelopes partially surrounding the tablets were also inscribed and sealed using cylinder seals.William Loftus''Travels and researches in Chaldæa and Susiana; with an account of excavations at Warka, the Erech of Nimrod, and Shúsh, Shushan the Palace of Esther, in 1849-52''
J. Nisbet and Co., 1857 An Old Babylonian period assemblage of copper tools was found. The copper assemblage, which had also been wrapped in reed matting, and the tablets are now held at the
British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
. The tablets were later published. They were dated to the reigns of Larsa king Rim-Sin, and Babylon kings Hammurabi
Hammurabi (Akkadian: ; ) was the sixth Amorite king of the Old Babylonian Empire, reigning from to BC. He was preceded by his father, Sin-Muballit, who abdicated due to failing health. During his reign, he conquered Elam and the city-states ...
and Samsu-iluna
Samsu-iluna (Amorite: ''Shamshu''; c. 1750–1712 BC) was the seventh king of the founding Amorite dynasty of Babylon, ruling from 1750 BC to 1712 BC ( middle chronology), or from 1686 to 1648 BC (short chronology). He was the son and successor of ...
. Most come from the family archive of one Sillii-Eshtar. After further analysis it has been suggested that one third of the tablets actually came from Ur (excavated by J. E. Taylor) and were inadvertently mixed in with the Loftus tablets from Tell Sifr during shipping.Charpin, Dominique. "Epigraphy of Ur: Past, Present, and Future". Ur in the Twenty-First Century CE: Proceedings of the 62nd Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale at Philadelphia, July 11–15, 2016, edited by Grant Frame, Joshua Jeffers and Holly Pittman, University Park, USA: Penn State University Press, 2021, pp. 181-194
See also
*Cities of the ancient Near East
The earliest cities in history were in the ancient Near East, an area covering roughly that of the modern Middle East: its history began in the 4th millennium BC and ended, depending on the interpretation of the term, either with the conquest by ...
References
{{ReflistFurther reading
* R.Ward, TheFamily History of Silli-Ishtar: A Reconstruction based on the Kutalla Documents, University of Minnesota Unpublished PhD. Dissertation inneapolis, 1973 Archaeological sites in Iraq