ART AND CULTURE.
An archaeological discovery made by the University of Pisa together with colleagues from the University of Pennsylvania, in the excavations of the Lagash Archaeological Project that, in late 2022, unearthed what may have been a tavern from 2,700 BC.
Under just 50 centimetres of earth, archaeologists have found a veritable treasure trove: an open-air dining area with benches, an oven, storage containers, ancient food remains and even a 5,000-year-old refrigerator.
Tell al-Hiba is located 24 km east of the city of Shatra in the Dhi Qar governorate in southern Iraq..
An archaeological discovery carried out by the University of Pisa together with colleagues from the University of Pennsylvania in excavations at the Lagash Archaeological Project that, in late the 2022, unearthed what may have been a tavern from 2,700 BCE.
Under just 50 centimetres of earth, the archaeologists found a real treasure: an open-air dining area with benches, an oven, storage containers, ancient food remains and even a 5,000-year-old refrigerator.
The area where the excavations took place.
Tell al-Hiba is located 24 km east of the city of Shatra, in the governorate of Dhi Qar, in southern Iraq. Covering more than 400 hectares, Lagash is one of the oldest and largest city-states in southern Mesopotamia
Until the Lagash Archaeological Project, which began in 2019, excavations had always focused on religious architecture and understanding the elites. With the new project, however, archaeologists' focus has been on the non-elite areas of the city, so they can learn more about what life was like in the ancient Mesopotamian city.
The discovery of the tavern sheds new light on the daily life of a popular Sumerian neighborhood probably related to pottery-making craft activities.
The first archaeological explorations in Tell al-Hiba date back to the late 19th century (1887), but it was not until 1953, thanks to the discovery of an inscription by Danish Assyriologist Thorkild Jacobnsen and Fuad Safar, that the site was able to be identified with the ancient Lagash.