Such information could also give an indication of where specific officials worked within the complex. It is in seeking just this kind of information that Reichel has made tremendous progress. By using the general project's databases and adding to them new information from the objects and tablets found within the complex, he can argue very convincingly that the original dating of specific levels of the complex must be revised. He has suggested some intriguing correlations between archaeological evidence and historical data on changes of dynasty. With the sealings alone, he has been able to work out genealogies of officials that span four generations, showing that even though the Ur III kings lost the Diyala and local kings took over, the families of officials continued in place.
Dynasties come and dynasties go, but bureaucrats go on forever.
The new ways in which Reichel is using computers in his work has been recognized by his receiving a Walsh Award, given by the University to encourage innovative use of computers. With the end of funding from a 3-year grant received in 1995 from the National Endowment for the Humanities, we have been anticipating a drastic slowing of the project. Claudia Suter, the project coordinator, has left the project to pursue her career in Europe. Her departure would have meant that only student assistants, working a few hours a week on whatever funding we might raise in-house, would have been carrying on the piecemeal analysis of individual categories of objects. But a proposal submitted to the provost's office has resulted in a grant, coming into effect on 1 July 1999, to help complete the project.