Girsu

Girsu (Sumerian ; cuneiform )  was a city of ancient Sumer, situated some  northwest of Lagash, at the site of modern Tell Telloh, Dhi Qar Governorate, Iraq. 

History

Girsu was possibly inhabited in the Ubaid period (5300-4800 BC), but significant levels of activity began in the Early Dynastic period (2900-2335 BC).  At the time of Gudea, during the Second Dynasty of Lagash, Girsu became the capital of the Lagash kingdom and continued to be its religious center after political power had shifted to city of Lagash.  During the Ur III period, Girsu was a major administrative center for the empire.  After the fall of Ur, Girsu declined in importance, but remained inhabited until approximately 200 BC. 

Archaeology
Telloh was the first Sumerian site to be extensively excavated, at first under the French vice-consul at Basra, Ernest de Sarzec, from 1877 to 1900, followed by his successor Gaston Cros from 1903–1909.  Excavations continued under Abbé Henri de Genouillac in 1929–1931 and under André Parrot in 1931–1933.  It was at Girsu that the fragments of the Stele of the Vultures were found.  The site has suffered from poor excavation standards and also from illegal excavations.  About 50,000 cuneiform tablets have been recovered from the site.  Excavations at Tello have now resumed as part of a training program for Iraqi archaeologists organized by the American Schools of Oriental Research.  A foundation tablet and a number of inscribed building cones have been found. 

Ubaid IV artifacts (4700-4200 BC) in Girsu

Uruk Period artifacts (4000-3100)

Early dynastic artifacts in Girsu (3rd millennium BC)

See also

Gudea cylinders
Ningirsu
Statues of Gudea
Short chronology timeline
Cities of the ancient Near East

Notes

Further reading
Harriet Crawford, The Construction Inférieure at Tello.  A Reassessment, Iraq, vol.  49, pp.  71–76, 1987
Benjamin R. Foster, The Sargonic Victory Stele from Telloh, Iraq, Vol.  47, pp.  15–30, 1985
Claudia E. Suter, A Shulgi Statuette from Tello, Journal of Cuneiform Studies, vol.  43/45, pp.  63–70, (1991–1993)

External links
Fragment of a stone plaque depicting Enannatum found in Tello (Girsu), from the collection of the British Museum, on the site of Google Cultural Institute
Images of Girsu - Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago
Stele of the Vultures at the Louvre
The world's oldest bridge is being preserved in Iraq
The Iraq Emergency Heritage Management Training Scheme: an update

Category:Sumerian cities
Category:Archaeological sites in Iraq
Category:Dhi Qar Governorate
Category:Former populated places in Iraq

fr:Lagash#Girsu/Tello