The Sumerian World (Routledge Worlds)

URBAN TRENDS

Early foundations: the ‘Ubaid

During the Neolithic Ubaid 0 ( 6500 – 4900 BC), archaeologically visible early villages
in the southern Mesopotamian alluvium were concentrated on river levees at locations
bordering swamps and marshes. Many of these early sites continued to be occupied
into the Chalcolithic Ubaid 4 ( 4900 – 4350 BC), accounting for half of the sites known
in the Warka and Eridu survey areas for that period. Of the newly founded sites, all
but one were situated on exposed surfaces of Pleistocene “turtlebacks” that once over-
looked anastomosing distributaries subject to seasonal flooding. Innumerable smaller,
scattered sites may be buried beneath the Holocene deposits. These Ubaid towns
presaged an explosion of newly visible sites founded during the Early Uruk period,
when virtually all identifiable turtlebacks became inhabited (Safar, Mustafa, and Lloyd
1981 ; Huot et al. 1981 ; Pournelle 2007 ) (Figure 1. 4 a, Figure 1. 5 ).

–– Jennifer R. Pournelle ––

WS 230 1 km Umma 1 km WS 125 1 km

Girsu 1 km Lagash 1 km Nina 1 km

Uruk 1 km Larsa 1 km Bad Tibira 1 km

Eridu 1 km 1 km

Harbors

Ur ES 156 1 km

Figure 1.5Sumerian cities founded within marshlands. Uruk straddles a bird’s foot delta; Bad

Tibira fronts a marsh edge. The rest surmount turtlebacks. WS 125 , Umma, WS 230 , ES 156 :

USGS CORONA May 1968. All others: NIMA SPOT 1991.