Eridu

**Eridu** is situated on the Persian Gulf coast. It is arguably the world's first city, where three separate cultures may have fused: that of peasant Ubaidian farmers, living in mud-brick huts and practicing irrigation; that of mobile nomadic Semitic pastoralists living in black tents and following herds of sheep and goats; and that of fisher folk, living in reed huts in the marshlands, who may have been the ancestors of the Sumerians.

## Ubaid 1

*Ubaid 1* is the Eridu phase of the Ubaid period (5400–4700 BCE). This timeframe is limited to the extreme south of Iraq, on what was then the shores of the Persian Gulf. The period shows a clear connection to the Samarra culture to the north, with the establishment of Eridu's first permanent settlement south of the 5 inch rainfall isohyet. The Eridu people pioneered the growing of grains in the extreme conditions of aridity, thanks to the high water tables of Southern Iraq.

* Ubaid 0
* Ubaid 1
* Ubaid 2
* Ubaid 3

**Ubaid 0**, or Oueili, (6500–5400 BCE), an early Ubaid phase first excavated at Tell el-'Oueili

**Ubaid 1** is the Eridu phase of the Ubaid period (5400–4700 BCE). This phase is limited to the extreme south of Iraq, on what was then the shores of the Persian Gulf. This phase, showing a clear connection to the Samarra culture to the north, established the first permanent settlement south of the 5 inch rainfall isohyet. The Eridu people pioneered the growing of grains in the extreme conditions of aridity, thanks to the high water tables of Southern Iraq.

* Ubaid 2 (4800–4500 BCE), after the type site of the same name, saw the development of extensive canal networks from major settlements. Irrigation agriculture, which seems to have developed first at Choga Mami (4700–4600 BCE) and rapidly spread elsewhere, form the first required collective effort and centralised coordination of labour in Mesopotamia.

- Ubaid 3/4, sometimes called Ubaid I and Ubaid II — In the period from 4500–4000 BCE saw a period of intense and rapid urbanisation with the Ubaid culture spread into northern Mesopotamia and was adopted by the Halaf culture. The earliest evidence for sailing has been found in Kuwait indicating that sailing was known by the Ubaid 3 period.Ubaid artifacts spread all along the Arabian Littoral zone, showing the growth of a trading system that stretched from the Mediterranean coast through to Oman.

## References

1. ↑ Leick, Gwendolyn (2003), "Mesopotamia, the Invention of the City" (Penguin)
Kurt, Amélie *Ancient near East V1 (Routledge History of the Ancient World)* Routledge (31 Dec 1996) ISBN 978-0-415-01353-6 p.22
 Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; name "KurtAmelie" defined multiple times with different content
3. ↑ Roux, Georges "Ancient Iraq" (Penguin, Harmondsworth)
4. ↑ Roux, Georges "Ancient Iraq" (Penguin, Harmondsworth)
5. ↑ Wittfogel, Karl (1981) "Oriental Despotism: Comparative Study of Total Power" (Vintage Books)
6. ↑ Issar, A; Mattanyah Zohar *Climate change: environment and civilization in the Middle East* Springer; 2nd edition (20 Jul 2004) ISBN 978-3-540-21086-3 p.87
7. ↑ Susan Pollock; Reinhard Bernbeck (2009). *Archaeologies of the Middle East: Critical Perspectives*. p. 190. https://books.google.nl/books?id=bRUMQb\_1uKcC&pg=PA190#v=onepage&q&f=false.
8. ↑ Peter M. M. G. Akkermans, Glenn M. Schwartz (2003). *The Archaeology of Syria: From Complex Hunter-Gatherers to Early Urban Societies (c.16,000-300 BCE)*. p. 157. https://books.google.nl/books?id=\_4oqvpAHDEoC&pg=PA157#v=onepage&q&f=false.
9. ↑ Carter, Robert (2006). "Boat remains and maritime trade in the Persian Gulf during the sixth and fifth millennia BCE". *Antiquity* **80** (307). https://www.academia.edu/173149/Boat\_remains\_and\_maritime\_trade\_in\_the\_Persian\_Gulf\_during\_the\_sixth\_and\_fifth\_millennia\_BC.
10. ↑ Bibby, Geoffrey (2013), "Looking for Dilmun" (Stacey International)
11. ↑ Crawford, Harriet E.W.(1998), "Dilmun and its Gulf Neighbours" (Cambridge University Press)