Tokens were simply lumps of clay fashioned into standardized shapes. Precursors to the Uruk tablets took the form of clay “tokens” sealed in “bullae” and clay tablets impressed with numerical notations. A second phase of writing is dated to Uruk level III, also called the Jemdet Nasr period because a large number of texts from this date were found at the site of Jemdet Nasr, just south of modern day Baghdad.Īlthough the first written tablets that appear in the Uruk IV period are quite underdeveloped in relation to the fully formed cuneiform systems of later periods, they did not appear spontaneously. The earliest phases of writing then dates to Uruk level IV, and more specifically, it probably dates to the latest subphase of that level, IVa. The tablets themselves, therefore, must date to a period prior to level III. These archaic tablets were used to fill in pits left by the levelling the Uruk IV buildings in order to build foundations for level III buildings. Other more complete tablets from the same period have been found at sites in both in the northern and southern extents of southern Mesopotamia (see also proto-cuneiform). From the Eanna complex of Uruk itself, nearly 5000 tablets from this earliest phase of writing were excavated primarily from rubbish dumps. A buttressed wall surrounded the tripartite temple building, and the temple itself was decorated with colored stone cones which formed geometric patterns on the walls in the same fashion as the Mosaic Court.Īmong the other technological advances that the Uruk period witnessed was the advent of pictographic representations on clay tablets and the development in stages of written language. The Stone Cone Mosaic Temple was constructed to the west, apart from the complex of temples and ceremonial buildings attached to the Mosaic Court. Three other buildings may have been the residences of the officials in charge of the temples in the Eanna precinct. Northwest of the Mosaic Court, several buildings with tripartite plans may have been temples. Both the interior courtyard and exterior facade of the building had the niching characteristic of Uruk temples, but the plan of the building was unique, and its function is not certain. To the southwest of the Mosaic Court, the Square Building had a large square courtyard with a long rectangular hall on each side. Red, white, or black baked clay cones were then pushed into the mud plaster walls, creating colorful geometric patterns along the pillars and walls. This building and its columns were made of small mud bricks, which were then faced with a layer of mud plaster. In this level, the sacred precinct was entered from the south through the Mosaic Court. The whole building was set upon a platform 13 meters high, a clear precursor to the ziggurat (a temple set on top of several stacked platforms) that would become so ubiquitous in later periods of Mesopotamian history. The niched and buttressed walls of the White Temple were covered with white gypsum plaster. Outside of the Eanna precinct, the earliest phases of the White Temple dedicated to the god Anu also probably date to the end of Level V. In Level V, the Limestone Temple, so called because the wall foundations (and possibly the entire building) were constructed of large slabs of limestone quarried from a site 80km from Uruk on the west side of the Euphrates, exhibited both of these classical Mesopotamian features. Tripartite temple plans (i.e., a long central hall with rows of smaller rooms on either side) and niched and buttressed facades were characteristic of the earliest levels of the Uruk period. Uruk temples continued the architectural tradition of the preceding Ubaid period. The Eanna Precinct in the Late Uruk Period van Ess returned to Uruk to begin mapping the site using subsurface magnetometry. The 39 campaigns of German excavations came to a halt in 1989 and in 2001, a team direected by M. Lenzen continued to direct excavations for the German Archaeological Institute after the war from 1953 to 1967. Lenzen until WW II forced a halt in 1939. When Jordan became Director of Antiquities in Baghdad in 1931, German excavations continued under A. Jordon’s excavation set a precedent by concentrating primarily in the Eanna district of the site, the main religious complex in the center of Uruk. Jordan returned to the site in 1928, with A.

After only one season of work, however WW I put an abrupt halt to work at Uruk. It wasn’t until 1912 that large scale excavations began under J. Andrae, who would later excavate Babylon and Assur, each visited the site in the early years of the 20th century. During his excavations, he uncovered several small items, including a numerical tablet, and prepared a map of the site. Loftus was the first archaeologist to visit Uruk in 18.

Anu ziggurat and white temple