A new version of "The Death of Gilgamesh," rediscovered at Me-Turan in 1979, serves to confirm the narrative translated by Kramer, while also, because it is more complete, opening up new avenues of understanding concerning the complex nature of Sumerian civilization. This version verifies for the first time the Sumerian custom of collective burial, something for which there is archaeological evidence at Ur and Kish, but which had not been previously confirmed by epigraphic sources. This text also includes confirmation of the legend of Urlugal, the son of Gilgamesh, specifically named in the Sumerian King List as Gilgamesh's son and successor to the throne of Uruk. Similarly, a new version of "Gilgamesh and the Bull of Heaven" was found there in 1979.
Unfortunately the authors of Sumerian narratives featuring Gilgamesh are unknown to us, and scholars are not certain whether it is pure chance that the series of Gilgamesh poems is attributed to a single author.
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