Uruk period

The Uruk period is a period of the protohistoric Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age in Mesopotamia and the ancient Near East. It follows the Ubaid period and precedes the Jemdet Nasr period. In the broadest sense, this period coincides with the 4th millennium BC. Uruk culture is also used to refer to the culture originating in Lower Mesopotamia during this period.
Named after the city of Uruk in southern Mesopotamia, this period saw a set of major innovations that lay the foundations of ancient Mesopotamian civilization. It is the period of the appearance of cities and the State, a phenomenon particularly visible in Lower Mesopotamia, notably on the site of Uruk, where excavations of the monumental center for the levels of the second half of the 4th millennium BC have revealed the existence of this culture. This phenomenon is marked by a greater specialization of activities and functions, which are accompanied by technical innovations: development of irrigated agriculture, appearance of the potter's wheel and of ceramics and bricks of standardized formats produced in large quantities, establishment of sheep farming producing wool, also on a large scale, in textile workshops, etc. The development of state institutions is accompanied by that of management instruments allowing the supervision of workers and other resources, and it is in this context that the first form of writing, 'Proto-cuneiform', appears around 3400-3300, essentially for administrative purposes.
These innovations were once thought to have originated in Uruk and southern Mesopotamia, but it has become increasingly evident that neighboring regions participated in the process and were not mere imitators. Other "proto-urban" sites and complex political entities also appeared in Susiana, southwestern Iran, northern Mesopotamia and western Syria, as well as in southeastern Anatolia. Nevertheless, Lower Mesopotamia is the most dynamic region of all, the most urbanized, the most innovative, and the most influential. It is the starting point of an 'Urukean expansion', a much-discussed long-term process seeing the implantation of outposts and colonies from southern Mesopotamia and a significant cultural impact of this region on the others. After a 'Late Uruk' phase marking the apex of this phenomenon, after 3300/3200 BC this dynamic ceased and the Near East became culturally more fragmented.

Chronology

Periodization

The term "Uruk period" was coined at a conference in Baghdad in 1930, along with the preceding Ubaid period and the following Jemdet Nasr period, based on data previously collected during the excavation of a few sites, supplemented by the first discoveries made by German archaeologists in Uruk in 1929. In the following years, a thorough study conducted in Uruk, followed by the excavation of the Uruk period levels, with their objects and tablets, completed in the 1950s and 1960s, provided the basis for the definition of Uruk material culture.
The traditional chronology is very imprecise and is based on some key sondages in the Eanna quarter at Uruk. The most ancient levels of these sondages belong to the end of the Ubaid period ; pottery characteristic of the Uruk period begins to appear in levels XIV/XIII. The Uruk period is traditionally divided into three main periods, subdivided in sub-phases. The first is the "Early Uruk" and then "Middle Uruk". From the middle of the 4th millennium BC, we gradually move towards the best-known phase, that of the "Late Uruk", which lasted until around 3100 BC, or, according to more recent proposals based on carbon 14 dating, around 3300 BC. The Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative dates the tablets of the last phase, Uruk IV, ca. from 3350 to 3200 Then comes a transitional phase, Uruk III or Jemdet Nasr, sometimes considered a final Late Uruk period. It ends ca. 3000 BC.
With the exploration of other parts of the Near East in the last decades of the 20th century, especially northern Mesopotamia and Syria, there was a need for a new periodization. In 2001, a new chronology was proposed by the members of a colloquium at Santa Fe, based on recent excavations, especially at sites outside Mesopotamia. They consider the Uruk period to be the "Late Chalcolithic". Their LC 1 corresponds to the end of the Ubaid period and ends around 4200 BC, with the beginning of LC 2, which is the first phase of the Uruk period. They divide "Early Uruk" into two phases, with the dividing line placed around 4000 BC. Around 3800 BC, LC 3 begins, which corresponds to the "Middle Uruk" phase and continues until around 3400 BC, when it is succeeded by LC 4. It rapidly transitions to LC 5, which continues until 3000 BC.
Some other chronological proposals have also been put forward, such as by the ARCANE team.

Outline of the 4th millennium BC in the Near East

In the broad sense, the Uruk period covers the entire 4th millennium BC, since there is no radical change at the end of the Ubayd culture and the Jemdet Nasr is often understood as a final phase of the Uruk culture.
The early phases of the Late Chalcolithic, at the end of the 5th millennium BC, are equivalent to the latest phases of the Ubaid period. The following stages LC 2 and 3 roughly match the Early Uruk period, initially characterized by a substantial change in the ceramic assemblage. Those periods are very poorly documented in Lower Mesopotamia. The study of settlement through land surveys indicated a complexification of its structure, which became multimodal and very differentiated, in contrast to the more simple, bi-modal, Ubayd organization. Larger, urban-size, sites appear, as well as other smaller settlements down to the village/hamlet level. A cultural homogenization occurred, contributing to the formation of the Early Uruk culture, which also affected Susiana: stone vessels, architectural decorations, the presence of accounting tokens. The first colonial settlements can also be seen in neighboring regions. Further north, a homogenization of the ceramic repertoire is observed, making it possible to delineate several geographically larger horizons than previously, notably the group comprising northern Mesopotamia, Syria, eastern Anatolia, and the southern Caucasus. Important settlements appear in Upper Mesopotamia and Syria: Tell Brak, Hamoukar, Nineveh, Tepe Gawra
While northern and southern Mesopotamia followed the same trend during the first half of the 4th millennium BC, a significant change occurred after 3700/3600 BC at the beginning of the Middle Uruk period. The South began to surpass its neighbors in terms of scale, population density, and social complexity, increasing its influence in the Near East, a phenomenon that culminated in the later stages of the Uruk period.
In Lower Mesopotamia, the Middle Uruk period, which corresponds roughly to the LC 4 period, is marked by important changes in the ceramic assemblage, notably a diversification of forms. Uruk greatly exceeds in size the other urban settlements of the region, acquires large-scale monumental architecture, and the first symbolic cylinder seals and bullae appear there, testifying to the development of the administration. The expansion of Uruk culture increased between 3800 and 3500 BC, with the development of enclaves and the first colonies.
The Late Uruk period is defined by levels VI to IV. Its ceramic assemblage is poorly known; it is therefore better characterized by its glyptics, monumental architecture, and administrative tablets. Most of the data on the Uruk period date from this late period, including the extensively studied epigraphic documentation, which explains why studies are mainly focused on its final phase. Uruk reached an impressive area of 250 hectares during the Uruk IV phase, and was at the center of a polity of about 80,000 to 90,000 inhabitants, the result of an 'explosive' growth, while other cities in the region appeared to be in decline. The large-scale building program, which produced monumental buildings of unprecedented size, also reveals the central importance of Uruk at this phase. The development of bookkeeping devices culminates in the invention of Proto-cuneiform writing at the end of the period, ca. 3350-3200 BC. Urukean expansion reached its peak during this period, ca. 3500-3200 BC, with the creation of new colonies such as Habuba Kabira and the increased acculturation of local sites. Urukean influence is less and less marked the further one moves away from southern Mesopotamia, although it remained perceptible over a vast area.
The Uruk IV level at Uruk ends around 3300 BC according to recent data, ending Uruk period strictly speaking. The subsequent phase, Uruk III, also referred as Jemder Nasr period in southern Mesopotamia, is a 'transitional' phase, often seen as a final stage of the Late Uruk and therefore included in the studies of the period. The beginning of this phase sees important changes: the monumental buildings of Uruk are leveled and replaced by new ones, maybe reflecting a political crisis, the beveled rim bowls are replaced by coarse conical bowl, painted ceramic reappear. The settlement pattern of the region shifts towards new configurations. But many urukean cultural traits are preserved, and most of the Proto-cuneiform tablets date from this period. The transition to the 3rd millennium opens a new era, the Early Dynastic Period. Beyond southern Mesopotamia, the colonial sites have been deserted and Urukean influence declined in the Near East, replaced by several regional traditions.

Lower Mesopotamia

Environment and settlement

This is the region of the Near East that was the most agriculturally productive, as a result of an irrigation system which developed in the 4th millennium BC and focused on the cultivation of barley and the pasturing of sheep for their wool, combined with the exploitation of the resources of the marshes scattered in this region. It seems that the climate was wetter during the first half of the 4th millennium BC, and that the arid climate that still characterizes this region gradually appeared during the second part of the millennium. With these new conditions, irrigation agriculture became increasingly important. These changes could explain some of the social and political developments during the second part of the Uruk period, such as the Uruk expansion. Although it lacked mineral resources and was located in an increasingly arid area, southern Mesopotamia had undeniable geographic and environmental advantages: it consisted of a vast delta, a flat region transected by waterways, resulting in a potentially vast area of cultivable land, over which communications by river or land were easy.
It may also have become a highly populated and urbanized region in the 4th millennium BC, with a social hierarchy, craft specialization, and long-distance commerce. It has been the focus of archaeological investigations led by Robert McCormick Adams Jr., whose work has been vital to understanding the emergence of urban societies in this region. A clear settlement hierarchy has been identified, dominated by a number of agglomerations which grew more and more important over the 4th millennium BC, of which Uruk seems to have been the most important by far, making this the most ancient known case of urban macrocephaly, since its hinterland seems to have reinforced Uruk itself to the detriment of its neighbors in the final part of the period.
The ethnic composition of this region in the Uruk period cannot be determined with certainty. It is connected to the problem of the origins of the Sumerians and the dating of their emergence or their arrival in lower Mesopotamia. There is no agreement on the archaeological evidence for a migration, or on whether the earliest form of writing already reflects a specific language. Some argue that it is actually Sumerian, in which case the Sumerians would have been its inventors and would have already been present in the region in the final centuries of the 4th millennium at the latest. Whether other ethnic groups were also present, especially Semitic ancestors of the Akkadians or one or several 'pre-Sumerian' peoples is also debated and cannot be resolved by excavation.