PUZRISH-DAGAN
![](puzrishdagan.jpg)
Puzrish-Dagan
/ Drehem shown within Iraq
Location
:
Iraq
Region
:
Al-Qadisiyyah Governorate
Coordinates
:
32°3'29.34544 N 45°17'20.44158 E
Type
:
Archaeological site, human settlement
Area
:
10 hectare, 15 hectare
Height
:
8.5 metre
Site
notes :
Excavation
dates :
2007
Archaeologists
:
Ali Ubeid Shalkam
Puzrish-Dagan
(modern Drehem) is an important archaeological site in Al-Qadisiyyah
Governorate (Iraq). It is best-known for the thousands of clay tablets
that are known to have come from the site through looting during
the early twentieth century.
History
of research :
Puzrish-Dagan came first to the attention of scholars when clay
tablets coming from the site started to appear on the antiquities
market in 1909-1910. Based on information from the antiquities traders
who sold the tablets, Puzrish-Dagan could be identied with modern
Drehem in Iraq. Since then, some 12,000 tablets alledged to have
come from the site have been published. The objects are scattered
across numerous collections, for example those of the Royal Ontario
Museum and the Oriental Institute and the Iraq Museum. The site
was surveyed by Robert McCormick Adams as part of his important
archaeological work in the region. Iraqi archaeologists excavated
the site in 2007 under the direction of Ali Ubeid Shalkam. The Iraqi-Italian
QADIS-project surveyed the site in 2016. The Oriental Institute
has received permission to start new excavations at the site as
part of their renewed work at the nearby site of Nippur and carried
out a preliminary survey in 2019.
The
site and its environment :
Puzrish-Dagan is located some 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) southeast of
Nippur, of which it has sometimes been called a suburb. The site
consists of two areas; a northern and a southern mound. The northern
mound measures 380 by 240 by 4 metres (1,247 by 787 by 13 ft) for
a total area of 10 hectares (25 acres). The southern mound is slightly
larger: it measures 560 by 275 metres (1,837 by 902 ft), is 8.5
metres (28 ft) high and occupies an area of 15 hectares (37 acres).
Parts of the site are now obscured by modern agricultural fields
and several irrigation canals cut through it. The mound has been
described as a "beehive" due to the illegal looting taking
place since the early 1900s.
Based
on the site morphology, the southern mound possibly contains a ziggurat.
Both mounds probably contain large buildings over 100 metres (330
ft) in length. Traces of the walls are still visible on the surface
and the regularity of these traces suggests that the buildings were
planned and built within a short period of time. The QADIS-survey
has documented possible traces of a city wall, a large temple complex
next to the ziggurat, ancient canals that ran alongside and through
the settlement, as well as a harbor.
Occupation
history :
Traces of the Early Dynastic, Akkadian and Ur III periods have been
found at the site according to a 1967 publication of the Iraqi Directorate
General of antiquities. The QADIS-survey found sherds dating to
the Middle Uruk period and confirmed that the Ur III period was
probably the most important settlement level at Drehem. Evidence
for the Isin-Larsa as well as the Parthian and/or Sasanian periods
has also been found. The thousands of texts coming from the site
all date to the Ur III period. In the absence of excavations these
texts from provide the most information on the nature of the settlement
at Drehem. Puzrish-Dagan was founded by king Shulgi as an important
administrative center in the bala tax system of the Ur III period.
Witnessed by thousands of cuneiform tablets, livestock (cattle,
sheep, and goats) of the state was centralized at Drehem and subsequently
redistributed to temples, its officials and royal palaces. The temples
of nearby Nippur were the main destinations of the livestock.
Source
:
https://en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/Puzrish-Dagan