City, People and Water in Sumer: Researching Urban Life in Fāra / Šuruppak in the Early Dynastic II – IIIa Period (ca. 2700-2475 BC)

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Adelheid Otto
• Subject Area: Egyptology and Ancient Near Eastern Studies
• Term: since 2026
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 567943918

At the time of the second urbanisation in the 3rd millennium, the majority of Sumer's population is thought to have lived in large cities, as is known from textual sources and surveys. However, only the mound of Fāra (Iraq) offers the unique opportunity to comprehensively explore an Early Dynastic (ED) II–IIIa-period (ca. 2700-2475 BC) urban center with the help of the entire arsenal of cutting-edge archaeological and scientific methods. The urban structures of ancient Šuruppak lie directly on the surface, without later overbuilding, and allow systematic and large-scale investigation using non-invasive methods (geophysics, remote sensing) and, on this basis, the precise planning of limited excavations and drillings. Architectural and archaeological finds and features, as well as fauna, flora, residue and human remains, will be analysed in close interdisciplinary collaboration between archaeology and the natural sciences. The results can be directly related to the history, society and economy of the city, which is already reasonably well known from the more than 800 cuneiform texts excavated here in 1902-1903. Our preliminary work (surface surveys, geophysics and pilot excavations) has already provided clues as to the location of large and small households, the temple, production areas, granaries, city walls, harbours and canals in the 250-hectare city area. The proposed project aims to explore the urban structures and the layout of the city, the human activities in the urban environment, as well as the urban society, economy and administration. Furthermore, water as a central factor of both favour and danger for a large city in the South Mesopotamian alluvial plain and the watery environment of that time will be examined. Archaeologically documented sediment layers in and outside the city are to be examined geoarchaeologically, because the Sumerian flood myth is located in Šuruppak and one or several mega-flood(s) cannot be ruled out.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants