Sarzec

Sarzec is a surname. A notable bearer is Ernest de Sarzec, a French archaeologist and engineer who conducted early excavations at Lagash (Telloh) in southern Mesopotamia, beginning in the late 1870s. Working for a French archaeological mission, he uncovered the ruins, catalogued cuneiform tablets and statues, and established Lagash as an important site for the study of ancient Sumer. His work contributed to the recognition of the Sumerian civilization and to the chronology of Mesopotamian history. The finds documented urban institutions, religious practices, and daily life in one of the earliest city-states. The excavations were part of a broader 19th-century wave of Western research in Mesopotamia and spurred further study by later generations of Assyriologists. Today, Sarzec's name remains associated with Lagash and with the early history of Sumerian studies.