Abu Salabikh

The archaeological site of Abu Salabikh (Tell Abū Ṣalābīkh), around 20 km (12 mi) northwest of the site of ancient Nippur and about 150 kilometers southeast of the modern city of Baghdad in Al-Qādisiyyah Governorate, Iraq marks the site of a small Sumerian city that existed from the Neolithic through the late 3rd millennium, with cultural connections to the cities of Kish, Mari and Ebla. Its ancient name is unknown though Eresh and Kesh have been suggested as well as Gišgi. Kesh was suggested by Thorkild Jacobsen before excavations began. More recently, Eresh has been proposed. The Euphrates was the city's highway and lifeline; when it shifted its old bed (which was identified to the west of the Main Mound by coring techniques), in the late third millennium BC, the city dwindled away. Only eroded traces remain on the site's surface of habitation after the Early Dynastic Period. There is another small archaeological site named Abu-Salabikh in the Hammar Lake region of Southern Iraq, which has been suggested as the possible capital of the Sealand dynasty.

Although signs of occupation at the site date back to the Neolithic period, primary occupation occurred during the Uruk period in the Late Chalcolithic and then in the Jemdat Nasr and Early Dynastic II/III periods in the Early Bronze Age. Potsherds from the Late Akkadian or Ur III period were found in a pit on the main mound but no occupational layers were found. An inscripted brick of Ur III ruler Amar-Sin was later found on the site. An examination of the smaller outlying sites nearby showed there was also occupation in the Kassite, Sassanian, Seleucid, and Parthian periods in the area.

The site consists of three mounds primary mounds (Main, Uruk, South) and several subsidiary mounds. The Main Mound is about 12 hectares in area and enclosed by a defensive wall. To the southwest is the 10 hectare Uruk and Jemdet Nasr mound. To the southwest is the 8 hectare South mound with its large Early Dynastic III structure. The full extent of the site, with outer margins now under alluvial deposits, is estimated at 50 hectares.

Main mound - excavations occurred in two sections of the Main mound, Area A in the northwest section and Area E in the southeast section exposing 25% of the mound in total, The Early Dynastic city uncovered had wide main streets, up to 8 meters in width, intersected by much narrower lanes, Numerous Early Dynastic III period cuneiform tablets were found in Area E in the sounding of 1963 and a few more from the floor of Room 48 in Area E by the later excavations, the city wall was constructed with 18 meter wide packed dirt in the north, plano-convex bricks of over 4 meter width on the other sides, the local water table prevented it from being excavated completely A number of graves, some looted in antiquity, were found along with their associated grave goods. Over one hundred pottery shards that had been filed into 3 centimeter discs and pierced were found in a ash tip on the south part of the Main mound and suggested for use in abacus type counting devices. Uruk mound - southeast of the main mound, occupied from the Early to Late Uruk periods abandoned after the Jemdet Nasr period (surface shards only). A sounding was conducted in 1963 and an extensive excavation performed in 1978. Domestic architecture used the hallmark Uruk period Riemchen bricks.A wall, up to 20 meters in width, was found along the west side of the mound with about 300 meters, from north to south, recovered. About 1650 high fired clay sickles were found. Two grain samples from the Middle Uruk layer of the Uruk Mound were accelerator radiocarbon dated with calibrated dates of 3520 ± 130 BC. Calibration was based on that of Pearson. A Uruk period defensive wall up to 20 meters thick was found. Seve

Archaeological site data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).