88 i Flora Unveiled
The beginning of the Uruk period was marked by a vast increase in the number and
size of settlements. Since there does not appear to be any marked cultural discontinu-
ity between the Ubaid and Uruk cultures, much of the expansion appears to have been
indigenous.^7 Many factors could have contributed to a population surge. The art of
irrigation was mastered, allowing the cultivation of much previously nonarable land.
The widespread use of the ox- drawn seeder plow also greatly increased agricultural
efficiency. The consumption of milk and other dairy products provided an impor-
tant nutritional boost. Commerce and trade were facilitated by the improvements
in transportation brought about by the ox- drawn cart. This was important because
Uruk’s own agricultural output was insufficient to support its population and much
of their food had to be obtained from neighboring villages, either through taxes, trib-
ute, or trade. Wheeled transport facilitated this f low of materials to and from the
city. Archeologist V. Gordon Childe called this phase of Mesopotamian history the
“Urban Revolution,” on a par with the agricultural revolution in terms of its impact
on human society.^8 It was also during this period that the first script, called “proto-
cuneiform,” was invented.^9
The Uruk period was succeeded by a 600- year period called the Early Dynastic period
(3000– 2350 bce), in which the various Mesopotamian city- states were governed by local
dynasties.^10 An important development during the Early Dynastic Period in Mesopotamia
was the emergence, after 2400 bce, of two separate languages: Akkadian in the north and
Sumerian in the south. Akkadian is a Semitic language, related to the later Hebrew, Arabic,
and Aramaic. Sumerian does not seem to be related to any other language. Although
Akkadian was the main language of the North, there were many Sumerian speakers liv-
ing in Akkad and vice versa. Apart from their different languages, both Akkadians and
Sumerians had much in common thanks to the persistence of the earlier Uruk culture,
which extended from Eridu to the Mediterranean.
The Agricultural Goddess InannaThe Uruk period (4000– 3000 bce) saw the emergence of religious institutions that
kept pace with the expansion of the settlement. Temples proliferated and became more
elaborate in construction. In parallel with the rise in population and the number of cit-
ies, the number of deities seems to have increased exponentially. Sumerian cuneiform
tablets from the Early Dynastic III Period (2600– 2340 bce) record the names of hun-
dreds of gods and goddesses. In Uruk, two major religious centers stood out: Kullaba
and Eanna. Among Kullaba’s buildings was the ziggurat of An, the supreme sky god.
According to the extant written records of neighboring Nippur, the sky god An,
together with the earth goddess, Ki, comprised the divine elements that gave rise to the
universe— an- ki.^11 However, other compositions, although written later, are thought to
record an even earlier tradition. These state that both An and Ki were the children of
Nammu, the primordial goddess of subterranean waters, who possessed parthenogenic
procreative powers. The idea of Nammu is thought to have arisen from the experience
of coming to water whenever deep holes were dug into the ground due to the high water
table. Such an experience might have led to the belief that earth is supported by a vast
subterranean ocean.