Royal Building Activity at Sumerian Lagash in the Early Dynastic Period

The Structure and Hydrology of the Early Dynastic City of Lagash (Tell Al-Hiba) From Satellite and Aerial Images

“…At Lagash under moist conditions, mudbrick walls mostly appear lighter in colour than surrounding sediments. The one place where reddish bricks are visible is in and around Area C, where the earlier excavations exposed a building destroyed by a conflagration hot enough to bake the bricks (Hansen 1992).…”

“…Area A, at the southwest edge of the city, contained the Ibgal temple of Inanna, goddess of love and sex, identified and dated by inscribed figurines found in foundation deposits to the reign of the Early Dynastic III king Eannatum, c. 2400 BCE. The temple was contained within an oval-shaped precinct bounded to the north and east by a 4 m-wide wall (Ashby 2017; Hansen 1978, 1980-1983, 1992). Area B, located on the highest point of the western side of the site, contained the Bagara temple of Ningirsu, god of springtime thunder, rainstorms, ploughing, and war, who was also the patron deity of the Lagash city-state.…”

“…Area B, located on the highest point of the western side of the site, contained the Bagara temple of Ningirsu, god of springtime thunder, rainstorms, ploughing, and war, who was also the patron deity of the Lagash city-state. The Bagara temple was identified and dated via several inscribed objects naming the king Eannatum to the same period as the Ibgal temple, but the Bagara was also rebuilt through the Isin-Larsa period of the early second millennium BCE (Ashby 2017; Hansen 1978, 1980-1983, 1992). Area C contained a non-religious, possibly administrative building dated to the Early Dynastic IIIB period on the basis of cuneiform texts, inscribed cones, and clay sealings naming ruling members of the Lagash dynasty.…”

“…Area C contained a non-religious, possibly administrative building dated to the Early Dynastic IIIB period on the basis of cuneiform texts, inscribed cones, and clay sealings naming ruling members of the Lagash dynasty. This building had an irregular plan with small rooms and had been destroyed in a conflagration (Bahrani 1989; Hansen 1992). Area G contained a large curved wall and buildings dating to the Early Dynastic I period (c. 2900-2600 BCE).…”

“…Area G contained a large curved wall and buildings dating to the Early Dynastic I period (c. 2900-2600 BCE). These constructions were hypothesized to have been associated with another temple (Hansen 1990, 1992). In total, five temples are known at Lagash from cuneiform texts; the unlocated ones were devoted to the goddesses Gatumdug, Nanshe, and Bau (Hansen 1992: 207).…”