Tell Jokha Also called Tell Djokha and Tell Yokha. The site of Tell Jokha was visited by
William Loftus in 1854 and
John Punnett Peters of the
University of Pennsylvania in 1885. Peters found it to be half covered with sand dunes and found fragments of worked stone and copper fragments. In the early 1900s, many illegally excavated Umma tablets began to appear on the antiquities market. Many of these tablets used an unusual "mul-iti" dating system (year x, month y, day z) from the reigns of
Akkadian Empire rulers
Naram-Sin and
Shar-kali-shari. From 1999 to 2002 Jokha, already heavily looted, 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. The cuneiform tablets are in the process of being published. On the northern end of the main mound the Ešagepadda temple of
Shara (Šara), primary deity of Umma, was found. Preparations for the temple construction began in the last year of
Amar-Sin and the temple was finished in the 8th year of
Shu-Sin. It is known that a "Ešagepada of Umma (ĜIŠ.KUŠU₂ki)" existed in the early
Akkadian Empire period though no trace has been found. The large mudbrick temple was 90 meters by 130 meters with a 6 meter thick exterior wall. The exterior wall had buttresses, recesses, and two entrances. The main temple courtyard measured 42 meters by 30 meters. Artifacts found dated primarily to the Ur III and the Early Old Babylonian periods with a few from the Akkadian period. The temple was the findspot for all cuneiform tablets and bullae. A number of door sockets were found, some in situ. The site was visited around 1900 by archaeologist
Walter Andrae who described the site as being 1000 meters long and 15 meters high with a small plateau to the north holding the remains of a 70 meter by 70 meter building, The site was visited during a regional archaeological survey in 1967. The site was estimated to cover an area 150 meters in diameter. A surface survey showed "Late Early Dynastic and Old Babylonian are dominant in surface collections, but intervening Akkadian, Ur III, and Larsa periods also are well represented".
Umm al-Aqarib (Gišša) The site of Umm al-Aqarib (located at 45.80°E longitude and 31.60°N latitude) lies about 6 kilometers southeast of Tell Jokha, covers about 5 square kilometers and is made up of 21 mounds the largest of which is 20 meters above the level of the plain. It is thought to be the ancient city of Gišša and was abandoned after the Early Dynastic period. 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. Excavation was triggered by widespread looting at the site. Looting has continued. At Umm al-Aqarib, archaeologists uncovered levels from the
Early Dynastic Period (c. 2900–2300 BC), including residences, palaces, and several monumental buildings, including two Early Dynastic temples (the White Temple and Temple H). About 70 "cuneiform sources" were also excavated. The tutelary god is thought to be
Ama-ušumgal-ana. Uruk period clay cone mosaics have also been found at the site.
Tell Shmet 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 4 kilometers to the east. It is on the banks of the eastern branch of the Euphrates river just above the canal leading to Zabala. It was part of the Umma province in the Ur III period. The site measures 990 by 720 meters (712,800 square meters). The site was examined during a regional archaeological survey in 1967 (as site WS 168) and determined to have been occupied from the Late Uruk period () based on Uruk period clay cone mosaics), the Early Dynastic period, and to a lesser extent in the Akkadian period. All of the paper records of the excavation were lost in looting of residential areas after the 2003 war. Plano-convex bricks and a residential area of the Early Dynastic III and Akkadian periods were uncovered. Finds included 67 clay cuneiform tablets, dozens of cylinder seals, and a number of stone and metal objects. The tablets mostly date ED III with the latest being Ur III. The tablets support the proposal that the ancient name of the site was Ki.anki. They mention the names of the gods
Ninazu and Dumuzi-Maru. Only six of the tablets have been published. Previous textual analysis had indicated that KI.AN was very near to
Zabala. 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. In the Ur III period KI.AN had an ensi (governor). In that period it is known to have had a temple to the deified ruler
Shulgi (called "e-dSulgi-ra") as well as temples to the gods
Šara,
Ninurra, Amarsuena,
Geštinanna, Dumuzi, Gula, Ninlagaša, and Nine'e.
Looting During the
2003 invasion of Iraq,
looters descended upon the sites of Tell Jokha and Tell Umm al-Aqarib which are now pockmarked with hundreds of ditches and pits. The prospects for future official excavation and research were seriously compromised in the process. In 2011,
Global Heritage Network, which monitors threats to cultural heritage sites in developing nations, released aerial images comparing Umma in 2003 and 2010, showing a landscape devastated by looters' trenches during that time—approximately 1.12 square km in total. Confiscated Umma area cuneiform tablets continue to make their way to the Museum of Iraq, including a group of 1500 in 2009. ==List of rulers==