Garšana

It is known to have been sited in the Umma province though was under direct royal control by Ur III rulers and had close relations with the unlocated ancient city of Iri-Saĝrig.

Though the city has not yet been found a number of cuneiform tablets have appeared on the antiquities market which have enabled important insights into everyday life in that period.

It was one of at least 20 royal settlements in the Umma province including Zabalam, Karkar, and NAGsu, of which Garšana was the largest.

[4] Contemporary texts indicate that the city had 1,347 royal settlers (heads of household) for a total population of about 5,000.

Šu-Kabta, who is known to have had a larger residence in Nippur, died in the year Shu-Sin 8 and his wife, Simat-Ištaran, subsequently took over that role.

[12] About 1500 of the tablets are from a single archive and stem from Shu-Sin years 6 and 7 and involve a royal construction project.

[16] Most of the tablets concern minor, everyday matters but taken as a whole they provide a useful look at life in the Ur III period.

The alternative view is that the above location is actually that of the unlocated ancient city of NAGsu, also a large royal settlement (Site #275 in an archaeological survey of the area).

A surface survey found pottery from the Ur III and Old Babylonian periods and there was heavy looting at the site after the Gulf War in 1991.