Babylonian settlements with their earlier counterparts can determine the likelihood of
whether Akkadian and Ur III settlements were similar or different from their late Early
Dynastic counterparts. Features to be examined include the locations of temples and
palaces, a comparison between domestic areas in different parts of settlements and the
location of fortification walls.
Early Dynastic settlements were characterized by the peripheral location of major
temples, by palaces-where they existed-far distant from the temples, residential
districts which are similar across the site, fortification walls surrounding each mound
rather then the whole city in at least some cases, and high-density residence in both
large and small sites.
The separation between temple and palace first seen in the late Early Dynastic
period is also seen at Mashkan-shapir and Uruk. The peripheral location of the main
temples, as at their Early Dynastic counterparts, can be seen at Ischali (Hill, Jacobsen
and Delougaz 1990: 4), Mashkan-shapir (Stone and Zimansky 2004; Stone forth
coming; Figure 8.6), Ur (Woolley and Mallowan 1976: pi. 116) and Larsa (Huot,
Rougeulle and Suire 1989), although, as was the case in late Early Dynastic sites, smaller
temples and shrines were broadly distributed throughout the urban fabric (Figure 8.7).
Palaces also tended to be at the edges of sites, but distant from these temples. At
Mashkan-shapir, traces of a large building resembling other contemporary palaces in
Figure 8.6 Plan of Mashkan-shapir0 50 100 200 300 400 500
MetersLegend
Occupied Surface
Canal
Walls
City Wall
Streets
Width in Meters
2. 7 - 5.6
5. 7 - 8.5
8. 6 - 14.0
The City of Mashkan-shapir
Elizabeth C. Stone