Qalat Sukar is located on a ridge west of the Gharraf Canal (the old canal that the Sumerians dug up some 4000 years ago). Qalat Sukar is 6 km northeast of the remains of the ancient Sumerian city of Larsa.[2] A modern drainage canal separates Qalat Sukar from Larsa Tell.[2]
James Abbott Sauer and Khair Yassine, believe that because of the name, and the former marshlands in the area,[3] it is likely that Qalat Sukar was originally the site of a sugar mill,[4] constructed after sugarcane was introduced into the area in the ninth century.[5]
The nearest large city is An Nasiriyah, Iraq with a population of 587,000.
Airfield
During the Iraq War, the Qalat Sukkar Airfield was occupied by the US Marines and called
Camp Fenway.[6]
^Dougherty, Raymond P; (1926); Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research; "An Archæological Survey in Southern Babylonia I;" No. 23; pp. 15–28
^Tell es-Sukkar in Ibrahim; Mo 'Awiyah; Sauer, James Abbott and Yassine, Khair; (1976); Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research; "The East Jordan Valley Survey, 1975;" No. 222, pp. 41–66
^Yeats, John (1887) The Natural History of the Raw Materials of Commerce (3rd ed.) George Philip & Son, London, p. 177, OCLC6066004
