Editing Ur (section)

==Tell Sakhariya==
The site (30º 58’ 33.84” N by 46º 08’ 28.36” E) was first noted, as Tell Abu Ba’arura Shimal ("Father of Sheep Droppings, North"), as a [[Kassite dynasty|Kassite]] period occupation (300 NE X 150 X 2.5. Cassite: 3.5 ha) during an archaeological survey of the region in the 1960s.<ref>[https://isac.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/uploads/shared/docs/heartland_of_cities.pdf] Wright, H.T., "The southern margins of Sumer: archaeological survey of the area of Eridu and Ur", in R.M. Adams (ed.) Heartland of Cities: Surveys of Ancient Settlement and Land Use on the Central Floodplain of the Euphrates. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 323–45, 1981</ref> The site, which lies 6.45 kilometers northeast of Ur, was excavated in a five week season from December to January 2011 – 2012 by a joint Iraqi State Board of Antiquities and Heritage and the [[State University of New York at Stony Brook]] team led by Elizabeth Stone and Paul Zimansky. It was measured at about 250 meters by 200 meters with two high points, about 3.5 meters above the plain, separated by a saddle. Seven trenches were dug, some small, and three yielded simple slope wash.<ref>[https://news.stonybrook.edu/newsroom/press-release/general/031212archaeologicalexcavations/ SBU Faculty Conduct Archaeological Excavations in Iraq - Stony Brook University - March 12, 2012]</ref> On the surface were found Kassite and Old Babylonian period ceramics and satellite imagery suggested the presence of a large square building and a number of other walls but the excavators found no building remains in surface or magnetic gradiometry surveys, or in the later trenches. Three occupational levels were determined. The top layer contained Kassite pottery fragments, a late Kassite kiln, and a number of late Kassite burials. The second held [[Sealand Dynasty]] ceramics along with lithic (grinding stones, cuboids and one balance weight), metal, floral and faunal (primarily cattle, sheep, and goats) remains.<ref>Wolfhagen, Jesse, and Max D. Price, "A probabilistic model for distinguishing between sheep and goat postcranial remains", Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 12, pp. 625-631, 2017</ref> The excavators deemed the occupations to be repeated but transient. Neither level showed signs of formal or residential architecture.

The final, earliest level also lacked notable architecture but featured a very large mud or clay platform, made from clean material, devoid of sherds, bones, or other living debris. Coring to a depth of 4 meters (1 meter below the plain) failed to find the bottom of the platform. Part of the platform is underlain by a square baked brick pavement and remains of a fish pond were found. Two 5 meter by 10 meter trenches, 55 meters apart, were excavated in this platform. An inscribed brick of the first Ur III ruler [[Ur-Nammu]] (c. 2112-2094 BC) "describing the construction of a barag - a pedestal or podium and a garden" was found out of context. Also found were four fragmentary inscribed bricks (surface finds), three inscribed cones (one datable to [[Larsa]] ruler [[Rim-Sîn I]] (c. 1822-1763 BC) year 15), and two Sumerian language cuneiform tablets. One tablet was from the early Kassite period and the other tablet was a receipt for copper utensils is dated to year 28 of Ur III ruler [[Shulgi]] (c. 2094-2046  BC). After this
excavation season a nearby prison was expanded by the Iraqi government blocking access to the site and precluding further campaigns.<ref name="Zimansky2021" /> It has been proposed as the site of Ur III Ga’eš. The ziggurat at [[Ur]] can be seen from the summit of the site.<ref>Twiss, Katheryn C., "Animals of the Sealands: Ceremonial Activities in the Southern Mesopotamian “Dark Age”", Iraq 79, pp. 257-267, 2017</ref><ref>Zimansky, Paul, et al., "Tell Sakhariya and Gaeš", Proceedings of the 9th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, Vol. 3, pp. 57-66, 2016</ref><ref>Al-Hamdani, A., "Excavation at Tell Sakhariya in Dhiqar Province in Southern Iraq", Taarii Newsletter 7.1, pp. 17-19, 2012</ref><ref>Zimansky, Paul, and Elizabeth C. Stone, "Excavations at Tell Sakhariya: A Sealand Site near Ur", 58e Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, Leiden, July 2012</ref>

===Ga’eš===
Based on the archaeology the site of Tell Sakhariya has been proposed as the [[Ur III]] period city of Ga’eš (ga-eš<sup>ki</sup> and ga-eš<sub>5</sub><sup>ki</sup>), site of the Akiti festival of [[Sin (mythology)|Nanna/Sin]], held every year for 11 days in the seventh month of the year and 7 days in the first month of the year. The festival began at Nanna’s temple in Ur and ended in Ga’eš, possibly traveling via a canal.<ref>Falkenstein, A., "akiti-Fest und akiti-Festhaus", R. von Kienle et a!. (eds.), Festschrift Johannes Friedrich. Heidelberg, pp. 147-182, 1959</ref> The temple of Nanna/Sin there was called the Karzida (kar-zi-da) was located at Ga’eš (the names Karzida and Ga’eš appear to have been used interchangeably for the city). The 36th year name  of Ur III ruler [[Shulgi]] read "Year Nanna of Ga’eš was brought into his temple" and the 9th year name of Ur III ruler [[Amar-Sin]] read "Year En-Nanna-Amar-Sin-kiagra, was installed for the third time as en-priestess of Nanna of Ga’eš / of Karzida". Amar-Sin established a [[Giparu]] (nunnery) for the en-priestess of Nanna at Karzida saying "he caused En-aga-zi-ana, his  beloved  priestess (en),  to enter there".<ref>Nett, Seraina, "The Office and Responsibilities of the En Priestess of Nanna: Evidence from Votive Inscriptions and Documentary Texts", Women and Religion in the Ancient Near East and Asia, edited by Nicole Maria Brisch and Fumi Karahashi, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, pp. 93-120, 2023</ref> When the en-priestess died she was buried a with "golden crown (aga), which  is followed by five other golden objects".<ref>[https://cdli-gh.github.io/year-names/E_GLOSSARINDEX/R579.htm Ga’eš year names at CDLI]</ref><ref>Sallaberger, W., "Der Kultische Kalender der Ur ril-Zeit Teill", Untersuchungen zur Assyriologie und Vorderasiatischen Archaologie 7/1, Berlin, 1993</ref><ref>Stol, Marten, "Priestesses", Women in the Ancient Near East, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, pp. 555-583, 2016</ref> From tablets found at Ur it is known that wrestling competitions were held at Ga’eš reading "for the ‘house of wrestling’ in the Akiti (building), issued in Ga’eš, during the Akiti month" and "100 liters of ordinary beer, the beer for the ‘house of wrestling’ … issued in Ga’eš", for example.<ref>Steinkeller, Piotr, "The Reluctant En of Inana — or the Persona of Gilgameš in the Perspective of Babylonian Political Philosophy", Journal of Ancient Near Eastern History, vol. 5, no. 1-2, pp. 149-177, 2018</ref> All that is known with certainty about its location is that it lay one days journey from [[Ur]] and was on a canal. A sketch in a 1990's paper concerning the Iturungal Canal placed Ga’eš in a location corresponding to Tell Sakhariya.<ref>Carroue, F., "Etudes de Geographie et de Topographie Sumeriennes III. L'lturungal et le Sud Sumerien", Acta Sumerologica 15, pp. 11-69, 1993</ref> It has been suggested that Ga’eš was mentioned in [[Early Dynastic II]] period administrative texts.<ref>Sallaberger, W., Schrakamp, I., "History and Philology", ARCANE III, Turnhout, 2015</ref> The final textual mention of was from the time of [[Larsa]] ruler [[Sin-Iddinam]] (c. 1849-1843 BC) a cone reading "Sm-i[ddinam], mighty man, [s]on [born] in Ga’eš  provider  of U[r], king of Lars[a], king of the land of S[umer] and Akkad] ...".<ref>Douglas Frayne, "Larsa", Old Babylonian Period (2003-1595 B.C.): Early Periods, Volume 4, Toronto: University of Toronto Press,  pp. 107-322, 1990</ref> Apparently Ga’eš had a gate tower based on a text from [[Drehem]] "1 fattened sheep for the great gate tower in Ga’eš" dating to the reign of Su-Sin.<ref>Owen, David I., "Transliterations, Translations, and Brief Comments", The Nesbit Tablets, University Park, USA: Penn State University Press, pp. 13-110, 2016</ref>

One of the ''[[Temple Hymns]]'' of [[Enheduanna]], the daughter of [[Sargon of Akkad]] (c. 2334-2279 BC), is dedicated to Ga’eš and the Karzida temple of [[Sin (mythology)|Nanna/Sin]] there.<ref>Helle, Sophus, "The Temple Hymns", Enheduana: The Complete Poems of the World's First Author, New Haven: Yale University Press, pp. 53-94, 2023</ref>
{{blockquote|text="Shrine, great sanctuary?, founded at a cattle-pen, ‘Small’ city, . . . . of  Suen Karzida, your interior is a . . . . place, your foundation is holy and clean, Shrine, your Gipar is founded in purity, Your door is (of) strong copper, set up at a great place, Cattle-pen (filled with) the lowing (of  the cows), like a young bull you . . . the horn,Your prince, the lord of  heaven, standing in the . . . ., At noon (like the sun) radiating . .  . ., O Karzida, he, Ašimbabbar, has placed the house upon your . . . . has taken his place on your dais. The house of Nanna in Ga’eš"<ref name="Zimansky2021" >Zimansky, Paul, "Was the Karzida of Ur’s Akītu Festival at Tell Sakhariya?", 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, pp. 525-532, 2021</ref>
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Ga’eš was also mentioned in the Sumerian literary composition [[Lament for Sumer and Ur]]
{{blockquote|text="... Mighty strength was set against the banks of the Id-nuna-Nanna canal. The settlements of the E-danna of Nanna, like substantial cattle-pens, were destroyed. Their refugees, like stampeding goats, were chased (?) by dogs. They destroyed Gaeš like milk poured out to dogs,  and shattered its finely fashioned statues. 'Alas, the destroyed city, my destroyed house,' Its sacred Ĝipar of en priesthood was defiled. Its en priestess was snatched from the Ĝipar and carried off to enemy territory. A lament was raised at the dais that stretches out toward heaven. Its heavenly throne was not set up, was not fit to be crowned (?)."<ref>[https://cdli.earth/artifacts/469682 "CDLI Literary 000380 (Lament for Sumer and Ur) Composite Artifact Entry", (2014) 2024. Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (CDLI), July 15, 2024]</ref><ref>Kröll, N., & Fink, S.,"How to Destroy Sanctity? Some Insights from Sumerian Cuneiform Texts", in The Human and the Divine, Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, pp. 124-147, 2025</ref>
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And in another composition:
{{blockquote|"O, sanctuary, big chamber built like ? a stall, mighty beaming city of Suen, Karzida, your interior is a powerful place, your foundation is holy and clean. O, sanctuary, your Ĝipar is established in purity, your door is copper, something (very) strong, established in the Underworld. O, cattle-pen, which rai[ses] the horns like a breeding bull, your prince, the lord of heaven standing in ... joy. ... at midday and ... O Karzida, Ašimbabbar, a house has established in your holy space and took (his) residence in your sanctuary!"<ref>[https://iris.uniroma1.it/bitstream/11573/1405325/1/D%27Agostino-Greco_Abu-Tbeirah_2019.pdf] D'Agostino, Franco, and Angela Greco, "Abu Tbeirah. philological and epigraphic point of view", Abu Tbeirah. Excavations I. Area 1. Last Phase and Building A – Phase 1, pp. 465-477, 2019</ref>
}}