A illegally excavated cone said to have been found at Tell al-Madineh marked the construction by
Ur-Nammu (c. 2100 BC), a ruler of the Ur III empire, of the
Iturungal canal. The "brotherhood text" in a
cuneiform inscription on a illegally excavated cone said have been found at "Médaïn". A "Médaïn" northeast of
Girsu was investigated and nothing was found there. Speculation on its findspot then shifted to Tell al-Madineh. The cone, of which there are many exemplars, records the friendship pact of
Entemena, governor of
Lagash, and
Lugal-kinishedudu, governor of Uruk (deity Sul-MUS×PA =
Shul-utula). to Inanna and Dumuzid, under his local epithet
Lugal-E-mush. A foundation tablet of En-metena (c. 2400 BC) said to be from the Tell al-Madineh, with multiple exemplars, also mentioned the building of E-Mush "... At that time, En-metena built for Lugalemush, the E-mush (“House — Radiance [of the Land]”) of Pa-tibira, his beloved temple, restoring it. ...". Pa-tibira (pa5-ti-bir5-ra{ki}-ka) appear to be an alternate spelling of Bad-tibira. An inscription of Enmetena states "… He cancelled obligations for the citizens of Uruk, Larsa and Patibira; he restored (the first) to Inana’s control at Uruk, he restored (the second) to Utu’s control at Larsa, he restored (the third) to Lugalemush’s control at the Emush". On a text of
Ur-gigir found at
Ur it reads: In the Isin-Larsa Period possession of the city passed between
Larsa and
Isin. Larsa ruler
Sin-Iddinam (c. 1849-1843 BC) claimed, on a cone thought to be from the site, to have built the great wall of Bad-tibira "by means of his triumph he built in a grand fashion the great wall of Bad-tibira".
Isin ruler
Lipit-Ishtar (c. 1934-1924 BC), "the shepherd of
Nippur", claimed to have built the "House of Righteousness" there. The city was under the control of Larsa during the long reign of
Rim-Sîn I. During the reign of
Rîm-Anum (18th century BC), a ruler of Uruk during the Old Babylonian period, a šagina-official of Bad₃-tibira is recorded as being received by military scribes at Uruk. ==Tell al-Madineh==