Photo: AFP/Asaad Niazi
Barbara Bene
03/10/2023 10:21
The Girsu Project is led by the British Museum and funded by Getty. The project was set up in response to the destruction of several heritage sites in Iraq and Syria by the Islamic State, and focuses on the damage caused by early excavations and modern-day looting.
The most recent major news from the project came in February, when it was announced that the remains of a royal Sumerian palace and temple complex had been found in the town of Girsu (now known as Tello). It was already suspected last year that archaeologists would find something of value at the site, as preliminary remote sensing and drone photographs showed subsurface remains previously undiscovered at the site of Tablet Hill.
The first mudbrick walls of the palace were identified last autumn, when more than 200 cuneiform tablets containing the city's old administrative records were salvaged from the ruins. These were taken to the Iraq Museum in Baghdad.
Furthermore, archaeologists also found the remains of a sanctuary dedicated to the ancient Sumerian god Ningirsu. Its ruins were found in the area of Urukug, which is considered a sacred precinct. The sanctuary, named Eninnu, is considered one of the most important temples in Mesopotamia, yet it has only recently been unearthed as part of the Girsu project. Its importance is also shown by the fact that generations of archaeologists have been searching for it.
Dr Hartwig Fischer, Director of the British Museum said: “While our knowledge of the Sumerian world remains limited today, the work at Girsu and the discovery of the lost palace and temple hold enormous potential for our understanding of this important civilisation, shedding light on the past and informing the future.”
Dr Sebastien Rey, Curator for ancient Mesopotamia and Director of the Girsu project emphasised that Girsu is one of the most important heritage sites in the world, yet little is known about it. He added that “It is also a unique site to deliver a training programme on rescue archaeology for heritage professionals and students in Iraq in the context of a fully-fledged research project.”
Girsu was a Sumerian city in ancient times, and is considered one of the earliest known civilisations in historic southern Mesopotamia. The settlement emerged as the capital of the Lagash Kingdom and then as a major administrative centre during the Ur III period (2112-2004 BC). Girsu was only discovered in the 19th century, with the first excavations being carried out by French archaeologist Ernest de Sarzec in the 1880s. Since then, the site has been ravaged by the excavation and conflicts, but now it may well be that undiscovered and undisturbed ancient remains could still lie there.
The author is a foreign policy journalist