The site is a small conical mound on top of a platform of about 40 feet in height. It was excavated by a crew of
William Loftus for a few days in 1854. A number of unbaked clay cuneiform tablets were found, many "enveloped". The tablets, 100 in total with most complete, were found in a brick structure, protected by reed matting. The envelopes partially surrounding the tablets were also inscribed and sealed using cylinder seals. An Old Babylonian period assemblage of copper tools was found. The copper assemblage, which had also been wrapped in reed matting, and the tablets are now held at the
British Museum. The tablets were later published. They were dated to the reigns of Larsa king
Rim-Sin, and Babylon kings
Hammurabi and
Samsu-iluna. Most come from the family archive of one Sillii-Eshtar and his brother Awil-ili, sons of Ilu-Sukkal. While the brothers were active for about 20 years the texts in the archive include earlier texts dating back to
Nur-Adad,
Rim-Sin, and
Warad-Sin of Larsa Most of the texts were sealed, some multiple times and 200 different seals were found. After further analysis it has been suggested that one third of the tablets actually came from
Ur (excavated by J. E. Taylor) and were inadvertently mixed in with the Loftus tablets from Tell Sifr during shipping. Mislabeled Tell Sifr text actually from Ur are "1–2, 4–9, 11, 13–16, 20–26, 87–94, 96–98, and 105–10". Some additional Tell Sifr have since appeared resulting from clandestine excavation. Most of the texts involve property and legal maters. One snippet from a tablet reads: ==Kutalla==