Inscriptions in cuneiform, a system of writing used in the ancient Middle East, on a slab found during excavations at the Sumerian city of Girsu, now known as Tello, in Iraq's Al Shatrah district. A cone bearing a cuneiform inscription found at the site. Al Shatrah district is in Iraq's southern Dhi Qar province. Part of a bridge excavated at the site of the ancient city. Mud bricks bearing cuneiform inscriptions. For decades, many of these sites eroded after they were left neglected amid conflict in Iraq. Archaeologists and workers excavate the ancient Sumerian city of Girsu. In 2016, Unesco named the wetland marsh areas in Dhi Qar province and three archaeological sites as world heritage sites The province, about 400 kilometres south of the capital Baghdad, is home to many renowned ancient cities and settlements that developed in southern Mesopotamia between the 4th and 3rd millennium BCE.