occurrence of a certain social and political organisation at this time. The colloquial use
of the term ‘palace’ implies the existence of a (secular) political authority. Assuming
that a society had a special building at its disposal in which to perform religious duties,
a ‘temple’, implies that the society had representatives of the religious world who took
care of these duties. We can suggest that the social order in such a world was structured
(inter alia) by the functional differentiation of its members and characterised by the
formation of office bearers.THE ‘SUMERIAN WORLD’ AND ITS ‘URBAN REPRESENTATIVES’
During the fourth millennium Mesopotamian societies created the first urban
environment (Adams 1981 ; Heinz 2009 ) (Map 0. 2 ). Villages and towns developed into
cities, cities became centres of trade, cult centres and the seats of political power. Global
trade developed (Algaze 1993 ), dynastic succession became the norm, rebels usurped
power (Heinz 2005 ), and worldly kings proclaimed themselves gods. Among the
locations that stand out because of their buildings was Uruk, the first urban centre in
history, located in the south of the core area of Sumer. Nippur, in central Mesopotamia,
home of the main Sumerian god Enlil, was the religious centre of Sumer during the
third millennium BC. The function of Khafajah, located in the Diyala region, has not
yet been clarified by written sources. It is the architectural development which strongly
suggests the status and function of the city as the seat of powerful institutions. In the
city of Kish, situated south of Khafajah and north of Nippur, resided the Akkadian
kings, the founders of the first Mesopotamian empire, whose politics meant far-
reaching interventions into the cultural and political traditions of the Sumerian world.
It was in the city of Ur, close to Uruk, that the Sumerian world had its first big revival
with the rise of the third dynasty of Ur around 2100 BC, a dynasty whose kings
launched the renaissance of the Sumerian language and the cultural heritage and
history of the pre-Akkadian world. But, as the revival of the Sumerian world had been
connected with the rise of the Ur III dynasty, so its end was sealed with the collapse
of the political and economic power of Ur and its ruling family at about 2000 BC
(Kuhrt 1995 ).
THE ‘SUMERIAN WORLD’ AND ITS BUILT ENVIRONMENT
A complex variety of local and regional cultural developments characterised the
cultural, social and political development in the course of the long history that
constituted the Sumerian world from about 3000 to 2000 BC.
The architectural heritage of three of the above mentioned centres of the Sumerian
world, Uruk, Khafajah and Ur have been chosen to illustrate the local, regional and
supra-regional political and social developments and their material manifestation
(Crawford 1977 )
URUK: BUILT MONUMENTALITY AND SPACE DESIGN
Archaeological research, carried out in Uruk, has concentrated mainly on two areas:
the Anuand the Eannaprecincts (Heinrich 1982 a, b). These areas first attracted the
archaeologists’ attention because of the monumental architecture visible here. The
–– Marlies Heinz ––