Puzriš-Dagan : organization of an animal concentration centre during UR III period

Abstract

At the end of the 21st century B.C., after the Akkadian Empire collapsed, the political situation in Southern Mesopotamia was tense under the constant pressure of the kingdom of Elam and the destructive incursions of the guti nomads. With the expulsion of the latter, Sumer began a period of relative prosperity and important administrative changes were made to consolidate the country. The monarchs started a centralization and territorial integration process that would reach its climax with the establishment of Ur as the new capital of the Kingdom. One of the most significant advances in this regard was constructed by Šulgi, second monarch of the III Dynasty of Ur, and consisted of a large animal concentration and distribution settlement in Puzriš-Dagan (present-day Drehem). Its main scope was tax collection delivered in the form of animals from peripheral provinces and the payment of a tribute forced on neighbouring territories. Its management, therefore, became a matter of state. (Read full abstract in the WAHVM 2020 proceedings https://repository.up.ac.za/handle/2263/74425)