Discovery of 4,500 year old Sumerian palace could reveal secrets of early civilisation

It has been described by the director of the British Museum as “one of the most fascinating sites” that he has visited. But the archaeologist who led the discovery of a lost Sumerian temple in the ancient city of Girsu yesterday said he had been accused of “making it up” and wasting funding when he was promoting the project.

- Tobi Thomas

Dr Sebastien Rey led the project that found the 4,500-year-old palace in modern-day Iraq – thought to hold the key to unlocking more information about one of the first known civilisations.

The Lord Palace of the Kings of the ancient Sumerian city of Girsu – now located in Tello, southern Iraq – was discovered during fieldwork last year by British and Iraqi archaeologists. More than 200 cuneiform tablets were also discovered, containing administrative records of the ancient city.

Rey said that when he first brought up the project at international conferences no one believed him. “Everyone basically told me, ‘Oh no, you’re making it up, you’re wasting your time, you’re wasting British museum UK government funding’ – that’s what they were telling me,” he said.

Girsu, one of the earliest known cities in the history of humankind, was built by the ancient Sumerians, who emerged between 3,500 and 2,000 BC, invented writing, built the first cities and created the first codes of law.

The ancient city was first discovered 140 years ago, but the site has been the target of looting and illegal excavations.

The discovery is the result of the Girsu Project, an archaeological collaboration established in 2015 and led by the British Museum, and funded by the Getty Museum in Los Angeles.