Nippur blev først udgravet af sir Austen Henry Layard kortvarigt i 1851.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=4awUAAAAYAAJ Discoveries among the Ruins of Nineveh and Babylon; with Travels in Armenia, Kurdistan, and the Desert: Being the Result of a Second Expedition Undertaken for the Trustees of the British Museum, Austen H. Layard], Harper, 1856 (also in reprint by Kessinger Publishing, 2007, {{ISBN|0-548-16028-7}})</ref> Fuldskala udgravning blev igangsat af en ekspedition fra University of Pennsylvania. Arbejdet omfattede fire sæsoners udgravninger mellem 1889 og 1900 og ledet af John Punnett Peters, John Henry Haynes, og Hermann Volrath Hilprecht.<ref>[https://archive.org/download/nippurorexplorat01pete/nippurorexplorat01pete.pdf Nippur, or Explorations and Adventures on the Euphrates; the narrative of the University of Pennsylvania expedition to Babylonia in the years 1888-1921 - Volume 1], John Punnett Peters, G. P. Putnam's sons, 1897</ref>
<ref>[https://archive.org/download/nippurexploratio02pete/nippurexploratio02pete.pdf Nippur, or Explorations and Adventures on the Euphrates; the narrative of the University of Pennsylvania expedition to Babylonia in the years 1888-1921 - Volume 2], John Punnett Peters, G. P. Putnam's sons, 1897</ref>
<ref>[https://archive.org/download/cu31924019176217/cu31924019176217.pdf Explorations in Bible Lands during the 19th Century], H.V. Hilprecht, 1903</ref>
[[Fil:D387-_écavation_d’un_temple_à_nippur_-_Liv4-Ch03.png|thumb|Foto fra udgravninger i Nippur.]]
Nippur blev udgravet i 19 sæsoner mellem 1948 og 1990 af et hold fra Oriental Institute of Chicago, nogle gange sammen med University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropologi og American Schools of Oriental Research.<ref>[http://oi.uchicago.edu/pdf/oip78.pdf Nippur I, Temple of Enlil, Scribal Quarter, and Soundings: Excavations of the Joint Expedition to Nippur of the University Museum of Philadelphia and the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120305203827/http://oi.uchicago.edu/pdf/oip78.pdf |date= 5. marts 2012 }}, Donald E. McCown and Richard C. Haines, Oriental Institute Publication 78, 1967</ref>
<ref>[http://oi.uchicago.edu/pdf/as17.pdf Cuneiform Texts from Nippur: The Eighth and Ninth Seasons] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120730000338/http://oi.uchicago.edu/pdf/as17.pdf |date=30. juli 2012 }}, Giorgio Buccellati and Robert D. Biggs, Oriental Institute Assyriological Studies 17, 1969</ref>
<ref>[http://oi.uchicago.edu/pdf/oic22.pdf Excavations at Nippur: Eleventh Season] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120319212032/http://oi.uchicago.edu/pdf/oic22.pdf |date=19. marts 2012 }}, McGuire Gibson et al., Oriental Institute Communication 22, 1976, {{ISBN|0-226-62339-4}}</ref>
<ref>[http://oi.uchicago.edu/pdf/oic23.pdf Excavations at Nippur: Twelfth Season] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110614033524/http://oi.uchicago.edu/pdf/oic23.pdf |date=14. juni 2011 }}, McGuire Gibson et al., Oriental Institute Communication 23, 1978, {{ISBN|0-918986-22-2}}</ref>
<ref>[http://oi.uchicago.edu/pdf/oip97.pdf Nippur, Volume 2. The North Temple and Sounding E: Excavations of the Joint Expedition to Nippur of the American Schools of Oriental Research and the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120731032100/http://oi.uchicago.edu/pdf/oip97.pdf |date=31. juli 2012 }}, D. E. et al., Oriental Institute Publication 97, 1978, {{ISBN|0-918986-04-4}}</ref>
<ref>[http://oi.uchicago.edu/pdf/oip111.pdf Nippur, Volume 3: Kassite Buildings in Area WC-1] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121018122440/https://oi.uchicago.edu/pdf/oip111.pdf |date=18. oktober 2012 }}, R. L. Zettler, Oriental Institute Publication 111, 1993, {{ISBN|0-918986-91-5}}</ref>
<ref>[http://oi.uchicago.edu/pdf/oip114.pdf Nippur, Volume 4: The Early Neo-Babylonian Governor's Archive from Nippur] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120729185502/http://oi.uchicago.edu/pdf/oip114.pdf |date=29. juli 2012 }}, S. W. Cole, Oriental Institute Publication 114, 1996, {{ISBN|1-885923-03-1}}</ref>
<ref>[http://oi.uchicago.edu/pdf/oip129.pdf Nippur V: The Area WF Sounding: The Early Dynastic to Akkadian Transition] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120731082022/http://oi.uchicago.edu/pdf/oip129.pdf |date=31. juli 2012 }}, Augusta McMahon, Oriental Institute Publication 129, 2006</ref>
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