Irrigation innovations as well as a supply of raw materials for craftsmen provided an impetus for this growth. Uruk probably had a population of around 45000 at the end of the period. This time saw an enormous growth in urbanization with impressive structures and the earliest evidence of writing. The Uruk Period stretched from 3800 to 3200 BC. Īrchaeological Site Photographs: Mesopotamia: Uruk - 2014 The Oriental Institute of The Ubaid Period in Lower Mesopotamia was particularly critical because it immediately preceded urbanization ( 1). Huot) near Larsa have revealed a predecessor Ubaid 0 occupation which appears to be derived from the Samarran Culture ( B 4 5). French excavations at Tell Oueili ( J.-L. The culture to which this Oueili Phase is linked is unknown but certain architectural similarities suggest a connection with the Hassunan Culture of Samarra ( 1). The lowest levels of this hamlet are earlier than the hitherto attested phases of the Ubaid Culture. The earliest known settlement in Sumer however has been excavated at the small site Tell (mound) Oueili.

This culture is properly divided into two phases which both precede and are also regarded as proto-Ubaidian the earlier Eridu and later Hajji Muhammed. Thus the distinctive types of pottery serve to delineate strigraphic layers and cultures as well. Ubaid pottery was more austere in form and decoration than that of the Halaf. The Ubaid Culture developed as a result of increasing sophistication in irrigation techniques.

It is characterised by large village settlements and the appearance of the first temples in Mesopotamia. In the mid-5th millennium BC the Ubaid Culture spread into northern Mesopotamia and replaced the Halaf Culture. This prehistoric Ubaid Culture had a long duration beginning before 5000 BC and lasting until the beginning of the Uruk Period. Ubaid Culture:The earliest settlement of the southern alluvial flood plain in the late 6th millennium ( G) was by a non-Semitic people called proto-Euphrateans ( H).

They are the Uruk Period - which saw the dominance of the city-state of that same name - the Jemdet Nasr Period - the Early Dynastic Periods (2900-2370 BC) - the Akkadian Period - Ur III Period the entire span lasting from circa 3800 to 2000 BC ( A) The history of Sumer tends to be divided into five periods. Although evidence for human presence exists in western Asia far back into paleolithic times the prehistory of southern Iraq is relatiely late in coming there are no archaeological remains preceding the sixth millennium BC ( 1) Each of these cities had individual rulers although as early as the mid fourth millennium BC the leader of the dominant city-state was considered to have been the king of the region ( ibid). Ībstract: Sumer was a collection of city-states around the Lower Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in what is now southern Iraq. Sumerian cuneform - the earliest written language - was borrowed by the Old Babylonian Kingdom which also took many of their religious beliefs ( A). From its beginnings as a collection of farming villages before 5000 BC through its conquest by Sargon (Sharrukin) of Agade ( Akkad) around 2370 BC and its final collapse from the Amorite invasion around 2000 BC the Sumerians developed a religion and a society which influenced both their neighbors and their conquerers. Sumer may very well be the first civilization in the world (although long term settlements at Jericho and Catal Hoyuk predate Sumer and examples of writing from Egypt may predate those from Sumer). Overview: The Sumerians may have migrated from the East - either ancient India or Iran - and were unrelated on the basis of their language to the various groups speaking Semitic languages in the Ancient Near East ( F).

Sumer civilization