I chose the archeological site Eridu, now known as modern Abu Shah Rain. Eridu is 196 miles southeast of Baghdad, Iraq. It was the earliest known city of Sumer (Southern Mesopotamia).There are also an important group of temples in Eridu (Britannica, 1999)
Eridu is also known for the patron god Eriki (EA), "god of the sweet waters that flow under the earth" (Britannica). Eriki's waters were essential to the fishing and irrigation. Eridu's inhabitants had a agricultural based economy. Some claim that in ancient times the city may have been linked to the sea by waterways (McDonald, 98).
Eridu was located by the mound called Abu Shayhrayan. This was one of the most important prehistoric urban centers in southern Babylonia. It was built on sand dunes probably in the fifth millennium B.C. It completely showed the sequence of the pre-literate Ubaid civilization. Eridu had a long succession of super imposed temples portraying the growth and development of intricate mud brick architecture (Britannica, 1999).
The earliest village settlement (circa 5000 B.C.) had grown into a substantial mass of mud brick and reed houses by (circa) 2900 B.C., covering the city. Eighteen super imposed mud brick temples at the site underlie the unfinished Ziggurat of Amar-Sin (circa 2047-2039 B.C.) (McDonald, 1998).
The apparent continuity of occupation and religious observance at Eridu provide convincing evidence for the (indigenous origin of Sumerian civilization. The site was excavated between 1946 and 1949 by the Iraq Antiquities Department (McDonald The city continued to be occupied until 600 B.C. but was less important in historic periods.
"Eridu". Encyclopedia Britannica Online. 27 Nov 1999.
McDonald, Francis. Eridu. N.Y., Greenhouse Pub. 1995.
Written by: Tracy Binek