Nippur V

The excavation of area WF in the eighteenth and nineteenth seasons at Nippur (1988/89, 1990) was aimed specifically at delineating the transition between the Early Dynastic and Akkadian periods, and this goal has been realised. Augusta McMahon took on this task through two seasons, working tirelessly. Stratigraphic exposure of floor after floor of artefacts was slowed drastically by a complex stack of burials that took up almost half of the space in the pit. The pit was taken down until it reached Early Dynastic IIIa, and thus had the material to assess the passage from Early Dynastic to Akkadian in artifactual terms.