In 1872¸an earnest banknote–engraver–turned–clay–tablet–expert named George Smith was sorting through the dusty fragments of Assyrian king Assurbanipal´s royal library in the British Museum. Suddenly¸ he came across a tablet bearing a reference to a large ship grounded on a mountain. Immediately¸ he realized he had found an account of a flood that bore a remarkable resemblance to the biblical story of the flood in the Book of Genesis. A prophet named Hasisadra is warned of the god´s intention to destroy all of sinful humankind. He builds a large ship¸ loads it with his family¸ “the beast of the field¸ animal of the field. “The fold destroys” all (other) life from the face of the earth.” The ship goes aground on a mountain. Hasisadra releases the animals¸ becomes a god, and lives happily every after.

George Smith´s discovery caused a public sensation at a time when people believed in the literal historical truth of the Scriptures. Seventeen lines of the story were missing¸so the London Daily Telegraph paid Smith's way to Nineveh to find the missing fragments. Incredible through it may seem¸ Smith found them within five days. The tablets can be seen on display in the British Museum¸ duly labeled “DT” for Daily Telegraph.

---

Controversy surrounds the first settlement of the land between the rivers. Intensely hot in summer¸bitterly cold in winter¸ the plains were far from a hospitable environment for village farmers. We know that by 5¸500 B.C.E. hundreds of small farming villages dotted the rolling plains of northern Mesopotamia upstream¸ settlements connected by long–distance trade routes that carried obsidian¸ finely painted pottery¸ and other goods over hundreds of miles¸ from Turkey as far as southern Iraq. However¸ this time¸ much of the trade¸ especially in pottery¸ was concentrated in the hands of a small elite¸ living in key centers along water routes. Although, we do not know whether the uninhabited plains were settled by village farmers from the north around 6¸000 B.C.E.¸ as many scholars believed¸ or whether much earlier indigenous foragers adopted farming along the shores of the Persian Gulf at this time¸ or even earlier.

No one knows when foragers first settled on the shores of the Persian Gulf, which, during the late Ice Age¸ was a large river estuary. One school of thought believes that¸ as sea levels rose after 15¸000 years ago¸ the Gulf Stream far up into what is now southern Iraq¸ perhaps creating coastal and riverside marshlands rich in fish and plant foods. The ancient coastlines of the early and middle Holocene now lie below many feet of river alluvium and sand, as dose the archaeological record of potential early occupation. As the climate dried up during the Holocene, goes this argument¸ forager populations tended to concentrate in more resource–rich areas. As elsewhere in Western Asia¸ it may have been in such locations that people first experimented with growing cereal grains. With a few thousands years¸ farming villages clustered along riverbanks and better–watered areas of the desert.

Whatever their origins, the earliest farmers developed methods of cultivation using canals and natural waterways, which allowed higher crop yields. The first known farming community´s data to around 5¸800 B.C.E. small communities located in clusters along the Euphrates river channels. As early as 5¸000 B.C.E.¸ a few farming communities were diverting flood waters from the Euphrates and Tigris onto their fields¸ then draining then away to prevent salt building in the soil. The largest of these clusters consisted of small rural communities located around a larger town that covered 28 acres (11.3 hectares) and housed between 2¸500 and 4¸000 people. Some of their small irrigation canals extended out about 3 miles (5 kilometers) from the river. From the very beginning some of these 'Ubiad culture settlements (named after a village near Ur) boasted of substantial buildings¸ alleyways¸ and courtyards. Other consisted of little more than humble mud–brick and reed huts. Each cluster was a group of villages linked by kin leader living in one larger settlement overseeing village affairs¸ and probably¸the irrigation schemes that connected them.

We do not know anything about how the first inhabitants of the Mesopotamian flood plain acquired or developed the skills needed to survive in their harsh environment. Interdependence among members of the community was essential because raw materials suitable for building houses had to be improvised from the plentiful sand, clay¸ palm trees¸ and reeds between the rivers. Digging even the smallest canal required at least a little political and social leadership. The annual backbreaking task of clearing silt from clogged river courses and canals could only have been achieved by communal efforts. Distinctive social changes came from the more–efficient systems for producing food that were essential in the delta. As food surpluses grew and the specialized agricultural economies of these 'Ubaid villages became successful, the trend toward sedentary settlement and higher population densities increased. Expanded trade networks and the redistribution of surpluses and trade goods also affected society¸ which eventually supported more and more people who were not farmers.

As Mesopotamian society grew rapidly in complexity in the centuries that followed¸ so did the need for social¸ political¸ and religious institutions that would provide some form of centralized authority. In time¸ the small village ceremonial centers grew. Eridu¸ a rapidly growing town¸ consisted of a mud–brick temple with fairly substantial mud–brick houses around it¸ often with a rectangular floor plan. The crafts–workers lived a short distance from elite clustered around the temple¸ and still farther away were the dwellings of the farmers who grew the crops that supported everyone. By 4¸500 B.C.E.¸ the Eridu temple had grown large¸ containing altars and offering places and a central room bounded by rows of smaller compartments. The population of Eridu was as high as 5¸00 at this time, but exact computations are impossible. Places like Eridu assumed great importance after 4¸500 B.C.E.¸ among them Uruk¸ the world's first city.

The First Cities: Uruk

---

Uruk began life as a small town and soon became a growing city¸ quickly absorbing the populations of nearby villages. During the fourth millennium B.C.E.¸ Uruk grew to cover an estimated 617 acres (250 hectares). Satellite villages extended out at least 6 miles (10 kilometers), each with their own irrigation systems. All provided grain¸ fish¸ or meat for the growing urban population. The city itself was a densely packed agglomeration of houses¸ narrow alleyways¸ and courtyards¸ probably divided into distinct quarters where different kin groups or artisans such a potters¸ sculptors¸ and painters lived. The stepped temple pyramid¸ the ziggurat¸ and the towered overshadowed everything over the lowlands for miles around. The ziggurat complex and its satellite temples were the center of lands for miles around. The ziggurat complex and its satellite temples were the center of Uruk life. Not only were they places of worship, but storehouses¸ workhouses¸ and centers of government.

The ruler of Uruk and the keeper of the temple was both a secular and spiritual ruler. His carried out by his priests¸and he wishes by a complex hierarchy of minor officials¸ wealthy landowners¸ and merchants. Trades people and artisans were a lowlier segment of society. Under them were thousands of fisher folk¸ farmers, sailors, and slaves that formed the bulk of Uruk¸ and other cities´ burgeoning populations. By 3¸500 B.C.E.¸ the Mesopotamian city had developed an elaborate system of management. This system organized and regulated society¸ meted out reward and punishment¸and made policy decisions fir the thousands of people who lived under it.

Writing and Metallurgy

---

Two innovations appeared as Uruk and other cities grew rapidly. The first was writing, the second metallurgy. The origins of written records go back thousands of years before the Sumerians¸ to a time soon after the adoption of food production when the volume of inter–village trade demanded some means of tracking shipments. As early as 8¸000 B.C.E. villagers were using carefully shaped tokens¸ which they carried around on strings. By 5¸000 B.C.E., commercial transactions of all kinds were so complex that there were endless possibilities for thievery and accounting errors. Some clever officials made small clay tablets and scratched then with incised signs that depicted familiar objects such as pots or animals. From there it was a short step to simplified¸ more conventionalized¸ cuneiform.

At first¸specially trained scribes dealt almost entirely with administrative matters¸ compiling lists and inventories. Eventually¸ the more creative among them explored the limitless opportunities afforded by the ability to express themselves in writing. Kings used tablets to trumpet their victories. Fathers chided their errant sons¸ lawyer´s recorded complicated transactions. Sumerian literature includes great epics¸ love stories¸ hymns to the gods¸ and tragic laments.

The Sumerian´s homeland had no metals¸ so they imported copper¸ gold¸ and other ores from the Iranian (Persian) highlands and elsewhere as early as 3¸500 B.C.E. At first these shiny metals had high prestige value¸ but the advent of lead and tin alloying after 2¸000 B.C.E. led to widespread use of bronze artifacts for farming tools and weapons of war. The adoption of bronze–edged weapons had momentous consequences for Sumerian life¸ for their appearance in local armies can be linked directly to a rising penchant for using war as a means of attaining political ends. Cities like Eridu and Uruk were not isolated from other centers. Indeed they were only too aware of their neighbors. For example¸ the city–states of Lagash and Umma were uneasy neighbors and engaged in a tendentious border dispute that dragged on for three or four centuries. Cities soon had walls¸ a sure sign that they needed protection against marauders. Sumerian seals bear scenes with prisoners of war (POW).

By the time¸ too¸ there was southern Mesopotamia “colonies” in what is now northern Iraq¸ at Susa across the Tigris¸ in the Zagros and elsewhere on the northern and northeastern peripheries of the lowlands. Some of these colonies were entire transplanted communities; characteristic Uruk–style artifacts far from their homelands represent others. Artifacts and artistic characteristic of Uruk have come from the Nile Valley during centuries when long–distance caravan trade was expanding rapidly in Egypt and across the Sinai.

Site

The Temple at Eridu, Iraq

Sumerian legends called Eridu the earliest city of all¸ the dwelling place of Enki¸ God of the Abyss¸ the foundation of human wisdom. “All lands were the sea¸ then Eridu was made¸” proclaims a much later Mesopotamian creation legend. Sumerians considered Enki´s word to have created order from the chaos of the primordial waters. Eridu itself once lay in the heart of a fertile riverside land–scape. Today¸ harsh desert surrounds the ancient city¸ its ruined temple platform stands at one end of the great city mounds¸ a low flat mass of clay and sand with a dune forming downwind of the crumbling mound. For generations¸ the desolate site defined some of the best archaeologists in the world¸ who lacked the expertise to distinguish sundried mud bricks from the surrounding soil. British archeologist Richard Campbell–hompson dug into Eridu in 1918 and complained that he found nothing but loose sand. Thirty years later¸ Iraq archaeologist Fuad Safar and his British colleague Seton Lloyd returned to the city with a large labor force and a small mining railroad¸which enabled them to move enormous amounts of sand. They also had an expertise with mud–brick structures¸ using methods developed by German archeologists at the great city of Babylon just before the First World War¸ which used pricks to “feel” different soil textures. To this simple technique¸ they added brushes and compressed air¸ which proved an excellent way to clear mud–brick. The two excavators removed enough sand to expose a small complex of mud–brick public buildings still standing about 8 feet (2.4 meters) high. Then the embarked on a long–term project to decipher the history of the great shrine that once stood at the heart of the city. Safar and Lloyd soon found a solid brickwork platform extending from the base of the much later ruined ziggurat (temple). They spent two weeks piecing together scattered brick and reconstructed the foundations of a small¸ retangular building by concentric brickwork triangles. After days of puzzlement, they realized they were looking at a temple platform that had been extended again and again by the simple expedient of building another layer of brick work around the shrine to build even-larger, brilliantly decorated shrines, culminating in the great ziggurat that adorned the city before it was abandoned. At least five temples had stood atop the one exposed by Safar and Lloyd. They dismantled the rectangular structure and penetrated deep toward bedrock, uncovering no less than ten earlier shrines, each built atop its predecessor. Temple XVI, dated to c. 4,500 B.C.E. lay on clean sand, small mud-brick shrine 45 feet (14 meters) square, with one entrance, an altar, and an offering table. Hundreds of fish bones, including the complete Skelton of a sea perch, still lay on the offering table. Sea perch live in brackish water, like the shallow estuaries that were once close to Eridu. Five hundred years later Eridu's temple platform lay inside a sacred enclosure at least 200 (yards) 180 meters) square. A magnificent stepped ziggurat now rose in the center of the city, its facade adorned with brightly colored fired bricks. Crowded residential quarters and markets crowded on the sacred enclosure, while the ziggurat was visible for miles (kilometers) around. Thanks to months of sophisticated and painstaking mud-brick excavation, we know that this imposing shrine was the descendant of much humbler temples that had commemorated the same sacred place.