The Sumerian World (Routledge Worlds)

Patterns of Settlement in Sumer and Akkad

Figure 7.2 Surveys and site density in Sumer, Akkad, and adjacent regions.

Land over 100 m is hillshaded.

Urban origins r.4000-3100 BC

During the fourth millennium, the settlement landscape evolved. The most startling
transformation took place at Uruk, where a pair o f adjacent Ubaid villages grew into
a 250 ha urban concentration by 3100 BC (Finkbeiner 1991:193-194). The nascent city
included new monumental forms o f architecture and the first instances o f proto­
cuneiform record keeping. No other site even approximated Uruk’s growth, but several
cities grew to between 10 and 50 ha. The precise extents o f many o f these places are

0 50 Km

Site Density

per 10 km2

0 - 0.5

0 .6-1

1.1 -2

2.1 -3

>3