Umma (Sumerian: 𒄑𒆵𒆠)[1] in modern Dhi Qar Province in Iraq, was an ancient city in Sumer.

[3][4] One or both were the leading city of the Early Dynastic kingdom of Gišša, with the most recent excavators putting forth that Umm al-Aqarib was prominent in EDIII but Jokha rose to preeminence later.

[19][20] In the early 1900s, many illegally excavated Umma tablets from the Third Dynasty of Ur began to appear on the antiquities market.

[21] From 1999 to 2002 Jokha was worked by an Iraqi team led by Nawala Ahmed Al-Mutawalli, recovering a number of tablets and bullae from the Early Dynastic, Sargonic, Ur III, and Old Babylonian periods as well as an Ur III period temple and Old Babylonian residences.

[22][23][4][24][25] In 2016, a team from the Slovak Archaeological and Historical Institute led by Drahoslav Hulínek began excavations at Tell Jokha focusing on the Temple of Shara.

In 2017 a square at the top (Trench 2) of the tell was opened, amidst numerous looter holes, and at Level 5 found Early Dynastic construction.

In 2019 and 2020 eighteen cuneiform tablets from the Old Babylonian, Ur III, Old Akkadian and Early Dynastic periods were found in Trench 2, three in situ.

The location was first visited by John Punnett Peters in the late 1800s, finding it relatively free from sand and featuring two prominent elevations of baked bricks set with bitumen.

[34] The site of Tell Shmet (also Tell Schmidt and Tell Shmid) also lies nearby, around 10 kilometers to the northwest of Umma and within visual distance of Zabala.

The main Sargonic and Ur III remains of the site were destroyed by a Ministry of Agriculture program to plant trees so as to prevent sand dunes.

In response to looting which began in 1994 the Iraqi State Board of Antiquities and Heritage conducted salvage excavations in 2001 and 2002 under Mohammad Sabri Abdulraheem.

Finds included 67 clay cuneiform tablets, dozens of cylinder seals, and a number of stone and metal objects.

[40] During the reign of Rimush, second ruler of the Akkadian Empire, KI.AN, under its governor Lugal-KA, joined a regional revolt and was defeated.

[42][43][44] During the 2003 invasion of Iraq, after Coalition bombing began, looters descended upon the site which is now pockmarked with hundreds of ditches and pits.

[46] Confiscated Umma area cuneiform tablets continue to make their way to the Museum of Iraq, including a group of 1500 in 2009.