During the third season of excavation at Nippur an Early Dynastic temple was discovered in the northwestern part of the Religious Quarter which became the site of the major activity of the fourth season. This volume details the findings and results uncovered at this temple by the joint expedition of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago and the Baghdad School of the American Schools of Oriental Research. The first task on the resumption of excavations in the North Temple area (the designation given the region of the Early Dynastic temple) was to expand the area of excavations to be sure that it included all the territory of the temple or complex surrounding that building. This involved rapid digging of levels dating around the middle of the first millennium b.c. A second phase ensued with the excavation of levels from the third millennium around the North Temple proper.

This volume publishes all of the cuneiform tablets excavated at Tell Abu Salabikh in 1963 and 1965 with the exception of a very few fragments considered illegible. All other tablets are represented by a copy, by a photograph, or by both. Except for the copies of especially fragile tablets made in the field, preliminary copies were prepared from casts and photographs. Subsequently they were checked against the original tablets in the Iraq Museum.