Residential districtsAlthough archaeologists have generally focused on the remains of palaces and temples
when they could locate them, Mesopotamian settlements were primarily places of
residence, and it is here that satellite imagery becomes the most helpful. At Kish,
Lagash, and Khafajah, we have clear evidence that palaces and temples of all kinds were
surrounded by domestic architecture. The most extensive area of excavated Early
Dynastic domestic architecture is at Tell Asmar. These structures vary from small linear
houses with rooms on two sides of a courtyard through examples with rooms sur-
rounding the court to occasional examples with two courtyards (Delougaz, Hill and
Lloyd 1967 : pl. 26 ), but should be seen as variations on a single theme. When we look
beyond the Asmar data–and indeed beyond the Early Dynastic data–the classic
Mesopotamian house had rooms surrounding a courtyard.^15 In some instances, this was
expanded through the acquisition of part of the neighboring house; in other instances,
it could be split into multiple linear houses consisting of a minimum of an entrance
chamber separated from a main living room by a courtyard. None of the Early
Dynastic houses have staircases, so we do not need to consider the issue of second
stories for this time period.
One important issue in regard to urban organization is whether classes were
physically separated one from the other–as they are in most modern cities–or if rich
and poor lived together as was the case in medieval Islamic cities, of which the best
–– The organisation of a Sumerian town ––Figure 8.4Comparative views of Eridu and Kish showing the locations of late Early Dynastic
temples and palaces (imagery courtesy of the Digital Globe Corporation)