Tell al-Dhiba'i, (also Tell edh-Dhiba'i, Tell aḍ-Ḍibāʿī, and Tell adh-Dhiba, Arabic: تل الضباعي), is an archaeological site in Baghdad Governorate (Iraq). It lies within the borders of modern Baghdad near Tell Muhammad and 3 kilometers northeast of Shaduppum (Tell Harmal), more specifically in the neighborhood of New Baghdad.Mustafa, M.A., "Soundings at Tell al-Dhiba’i", Sumer, vol. 5, iss. 2, pp. 173–88, 1949 Uzarzalulu/Uzarlulu/Zaralulu (Za-ra-lu-luki) has been proposed as the original name of the city.Abdullah, A.K., "The paramount god and the old name of Al-Dhiba’i", Sumer, vol. 23, no. 1-2, pp. 189–92, 1967Matoušová , M., "Running Adad", Sumer, vol. 22, iss. 1-2, pp. 115-117, 1966Viaggio, Salvatore, "Tell adh-Dhiba’i / Zaralulu", Geo-Archeologia, vol. 2000/1, pp. 27-41, 2000 A text found at Tell Harmal mentioned "They swore the oath of Tišpak and Daduša the king (Before Ige-eḫ-luma high official of Zaralulu)".Van Wyk, Susandra, "The phrase, 'Should a claimant raise a claim, he will pay...' In the division of an inheritance from Old Babylonia Tell Harmal", Fundamina 24.1, pp. 170-197, 2018 An alternative proposal is Šadlaš. Rashid, F., "The old name of Tell Al-Dhiba’i", Sumer, vol. 23, no. 1-2, pp. 177*-82*, 1967 [in Arabic] Known rulers of Šadlaš are Sumu-Amnānum, Sumu-numḫim and Sumu-Šamaš.Boer, Rients de, "Beginnings of Old Babylonian Babylon: Sumu-abum and Sumu-la-El", Journal of Cuneiform Studies 70.1, pp. 53-86, 2018 The city was occupied mainly during the Isin-Larsa period and Old Babylonian period.Al-Hashimi, R., "New light on the date of Harmal and Dhiba’i", Sumer, vol. 28, no. 1-2, pp. 29–33, 1972 Not to be confused with the Sassanian period site Tell al-Dhiba'i near Uruk. R. McC. Adams and H. Nissen, "The Uruk Countryside: The Natural Setting of Urban Societies", Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1972 A small (80 meters by 95 meters) site, Tell al-Aleimiyat, lies just to the northeast. It had three phases from Isin-Larsa to Kassite. Three cuneiform tablets and a number of cylinder seals were found there.Clayden, Tim, "Early Kassites East of the Tigris1", Archaeology from Every Angle: Papers in Honor of Richard L. Zettler, pp. 44-81, 2024

Archaeology The site consists of three mounds covering a rectangular area of about 45000 square meters (300 meters by 150 meters) and rising to 7 meters. The highest mound is to the north. The Directorate-General of Antiquities of Iraq conducted three seasons of excavations, led by Muhammed Ali Mustafa, in 1947, 1962, and 1965.Al-Gailani, L., "Tell Al-Dhiba’i", Sumer, vol. 21, iss. 1-2, pp. 33–40, 1965Jeffery Orchard, "Recent Archaeological Activity in Iraq: A Review", Iraq, vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 104–09, 1963 Before excavations began the site, being near Baghdad, had already been extensively dug by looters in some areas in search of tablets and small finds. In 1982–84 an Iraqi State Organization for Antiquities and Heritage team led by Nahida Abdul Feta did some additional excavation on Old Babylonian houses there. A 50 meter by 50 meter section was excavated adjacent to the temple, and around 3200 cuneiform tablets were found of which only one third have been published.Hamoudi, K.K., Al-Khayaat, A.A. and Mihawish, N.G., "Excavations at Tell Al-Dhiba’i", Sumer, vol.46, pp. 91*–112*, 1989–90 [in Arabic; English translation in Supplement to Sumer 46 (1999): 20–27]"Excavations in Iraq, 1981-82", Iraq, vol. 45, no. 2, pp. 199–224, 1983"Excavations in Iraq, 1983-84". Iraq, vol. 47, pp. 215–39, 1985

History Five occupation layers were found on the central mound, underlain by scattered Akkadian Empire and Ur III period remains. The city of Zaralulu was known in the Akkadian Empire period.Gentili, P., "Sargonic Names in the Diyala Region and Beyond", Cuneiform Digital Library Preprints 12, 2008 Level IV was marked by the remains large Kassite era foundations that cut into the lower level. The most significant level was Level V, where roughly 100 cuneiform tablets, mostly business or administrative records, and a temple (14.5 by 18.5 meters) of the god Lasimu (or Lassimu), dLa-si-mu, were uncovered. Lasimu was called "King of Uzarlulu" and 4% of the loan contracts found at the site named him as the creditor. The Level V occupation was destroyed by conflagration, and the site was abandoned. The tablets were mainly administrative and loan contracts. Date formulas on tablets, including the death of Belakum, king of Eshnunna. He was a contemporary of Sumu-la-El (c. 1880–1845 BC) of Babylon, showing this level to date to the early period of the First Dynasty of Babylon. Most of the city rulers had Amorite names.Baqir, T., "Date formulae from Dhiba’i", Sumer, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 140–3, 1949 Cylinder seals were also recovered, some the same as at Tell Harmal.Matoušová-Rajmova, M., "Some cylinder seals from Dhiba’i and Harmal", Sumer, vol. 31, no. 1-2, pp. 49–66, 1975Beatrice, Teissier, "Tbe Old Babylonian Period", Ancient Near Eastern Cylinder Seals from the Marcopoli Collection, Berkeley: University of California Press, pp. 20-27, 1984 The northern and southern mounds had levels III, IV, and V with level III having a large building. The north mound produced a number of tablets and other finds. In total, roughly 300 tablets were found at the site: 183 administrative documents, 45 receipts, 31 letters, 9 loan contracts, 3 mathematical texts and 8 miscellane".Baqir, T., "Tell Dhiba’i: new mathematical texts", Sumer, vol. 18, iss. 1-2, pp. 11–14, 1962Khalid Salim Isma’el and Eleanor Robson, "Arithmetical tablets from Iraqi excavations in the Diyala.", YOUR PRAISE IS SWEET, British Institute for the Study of Iraq, pp. 151-164, 2010Abdul Karim and Abdullah Ahmad, "Old Babylonian Loan Contracts in the Iraq Museum from Tell Al-Dhiba'i and Tell Harmal", University of Baghdad, 1964 An important discovery was a copper-smith operation including most of its tools including bellows, crucibles, and lost wax molds, dated to the Old Babylonian period.Davey, C. J., "The Metalworker's Tools from Tell Edh Dhiba'i", Bulletin of the Institute of Archaeology, London University, vol. 20, pp. 169-185, 1983Davey, Christopher J., "Tell edh-Dhiba’i and the southern Near Eastern metalworking tradition", The Beginning of the Use of Metals and Alloys, pp. 63-8, 1988Davey, Christopher J., "The early history of lost-wax casting", Metallurgy and civilisation: Eurasia and beyond, pp. 147-154, 2009 There are some Neo-Babylonian and Kassite graves at the surface level of the site.

See also Cities of the ancient Near East IM 67118

References

Further reading Al-Hashimi, Ridha, "Some Old Babylonian Purchase Contracts in the Iraqi Museum from Harmal and Dhiba'I", Dissertation, 1964

External links Some Old Babylonian Archives in Context: Tell aḍ-Ḍibāʿī (Zaralulu) and Šaduppûm (Tell Ḥarmal) - Laith M. Hussein - 25 May 2023