SHURUPPAK

(modernFARA)

Sumerian city in southern Mesopotamia. It was inhabited from the Jemdet Nasr period (c. 3000 B.C.) until the end of the Third Dynasty of Ur (c. 2000). The city knew its greatest extent (some 200 hectares) in the Early Dynastic period. From this time of Early Dynastic III (mid-third millennium) come a large quantity of administrativetablets with details about extensive land management involving thousands of workers, as well as literary works and lexical tables. There is also evidence of relationships and collaborative projects with other Sumerian cities, such as Uruk, Adab, Nippur, and Lagash. In the Sumerian tradition, Shuruppak was the home of the flood hero Utnapishtim.