The Sumerian World (Routledge Worlds)

Jason Ur

Southern Mesopotamia witnessed dramatic shifts in settlement, in some cases in
divergent directions depending on the region (Figure 7.7). Overall, urban centers were
smaller than their third millennium antecedents. We are, however, almost completely
ignorant of the major political centers of the northwestern plain, including Babylon
itself, because they fell outside of the major survey regions and have extensive later
settlement.
Settlement collapsed in the central plain between Nippur and Uruk. Cities declined
40 percent in aggregate urban area (Adams 1981:165); smaller settlements also suffered
substantial declines. On the other hand, the region around Ur and Eridu flourished.

Old Babylonian

Settlement

0.1 -4 ha

4.1 -10 ha

10.1 -20 ha

20.1 -40 ha

40.1 -200 ha

200+ ha

Trace

50 Km

Figure 7.7 Settlement and regional abandonment in the Old Babylonian period

(based on Adams 1965,1981; Gasche 1989; Gibson 1972; Wright 1981)

0