Excavations between 1980 and 1995 at Tell Bi’a, ancient Tuttul[geogr=Tuttul], have yielded many texts from the Old Babylonian period.1About 350 of these are now published (see www.archibab.fr for an updated list of publications). Some of them are of particular interest to us because they contain information about sesame, oil, and people involved in oil pressing: 2 texts mention “sesame” (še.i3.giš: KTT 177 and 306), 8 texts document “oil” (i₃.giš: KTT 72, 75, 77, 80, 171, 178, 181, 343), and “oil pressers” appear in one tablet (lu₂.meš i₃.sur: KTT 177), published in Krebernik 2001; see Dossier A.1.1.24.
The city was known since the time of Ebla for its temple dedicated to Dagan. In the Old Babylonian period, the city was attached to the kingdom of Mari[geogr=Mari] for a time.