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Fragments of Officialdom from Fara

The site of Fara, ancient Shuruppak, lies approximately halfway between Nippur and Uruk at the very core of the Sumerian urban heartland. The city was renowned as the home of Utnapishtim who survived the flood and went to live in Dilmun where he was visited by Gilgamesh. As was the case with so many Mesopotamian mounds excavated early this century, Fara was investigated in a less than ideal manner. Almost thirty years passed between the first season of excavations by the Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft in 1902-3 and its publication (Heinrich 1931), while a second season by the University of Pennsylvania in 1931 received only brief coverage in print (Schmidt 1931). A great many of these inadequacies have been rectified with the recent publication of H. Martin's book on Fara (Martin 1988), the culmination of her earlier work on the site (Martin 1975; 1983), in which she has presented and discussed a considerable amount of new information concerning these early excavations, particularly with regard to the provenances of artifacts. Martin has also established the chronology of occupation at the site, with a foundation in the Jemdet Nasr period, extensive Early Dynastic I–IIIa occupation, a fairly rapid decline thereafter and a virtual abandonment at the end of the Ur III period (Martin 1983). In the present study of Early Dynastic administration at Fara the extent to which I have made use of Dr. Martin's work will be readily apparent. Additionally, this study is founded on a spell of research carried out by the writer at the Vorderasiatische Museum of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin in July 1987 during which 1,015 Fara sealings were examined.