The low tells at Abu Salabikh, around 12 miles (19 km) northwest of the site of ancient Nippur in Al-Qādisiyyah Governorate, Iraq mark the site of a small Sumerian city of the mid third millennium BCE, with cultural connections to the cities of Kish, Mari and Ebla. Its contemporary name is uncertain: perhaps this was Eresh. Kesh has also been suggested. The Euphrates was the city's highway and lifeline; when it shifted its old bed, in the middle third millennium BCE, the city dwindled away.