The Uruk Expansion

 

The Uruk Expansion

                      The first “true” city in the Ancient Near East developed in southern Mesopotamia and is know to us as Uruk. In the fourth millennium BCE, an increase in labor specialization and economic centralization[1] created an urban population that continued to grow. This Uruk Period is characterized by an increase in specialized religion, certain administrative strategies, such as writing, and the development of monumental art and architecture.[2] After about 3,500 BCE[3], the Uruk culture saw the rise of an elite class due to economic specialization that can be seen in the material remains of house size and construction as well as grave goods.[4]

            Sometime around the mid-fourth millennium BCE, there is extensive evidence of an expansion of Uruk culture to other areas of the Near East. The Urukian material culture can be seen to spread out of southern Mesopotamia to the area of modern day Iran in the east, as well as to northern Mesopotamia, and the areas of modern-day Syria and southern Turkey.[5] There was not, however, a single result of influence, by instead was characterized by a number of different types of interactions.[6] To the east of Uruk, in Susa, there is substantial evidence of Uruk influence. The area controlled by Susa, known as Susiana, lies in the alluvial plain south of the Zagros Mountains. Susiana itself was a relatively large area and the examples of Uruk culture that was spread by Susa reaches to the Zagros Mountains and across Iran, even as far as Pakistan (for examples the site of Miri Qalat.)[7]

            Soon after Uruk material culture appeared in Susa, it also began to appear in northern Iraq, Syria, and southern Turkey.[8] Material evidence of Uruk influence has even been found as far as the Syrian coast and may have also influenced Egypt.[9] There is evidence of structural and pottery design that is similar to the Uruk culture in central Egypt, however not in northern Egypt. This suggests the possibility that Uruk culture may have come to Egypt by way of the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea.[10] The spread of material culture to Iraq, Syria, and Turkey however showed dissimilarities from that of Susa. There appears not to be a single influencing development but was instead introduced in a variety of interactions. At one extreme was the introduction of entirely new urban centers, such as Habuba Kabira, along the middle Euphrates River, which seems to be an implanted Urukian colony.[11] At other levels were small pockets of Uruk immigrants who influenced the local population to varying degrees.

            Evidence for this Uruk Expansion comes from various archaeological remains. The single largest identifier was the spread of Bevel-Rimmed Bowls (BRB’s). BRB’s are a crude mold-made bowl that was created through mass-production beginning in Uruk.[12] BRB’s, following the Uruk Expansion, have been found across the Near East in the hundreds of thousands [13]as far as the coast of modern-day Syria.[14] Also found in the archaeological remains is evidence of the system of writing developed in Uruk. The earliest cuneiform tablets, found in the Uruk IV level,  were numeric in nature, not pictographic (which developed later)[15] and were used for accounting purposes.[16] Van De Mieroop refers to this writing as proto-cuneiform.[17] Also found amongst the various sites outside of southern Mesopotamia are bullae with tokens, a precursor to proto-cuneiform.[18] Other material evidence for Uruk influence include basic residential structure design[19] as well as elements of monumental architecture such as the use of cone mosaics.[20]

            In analyzing data, researchers have also show that social elements from Uruk also were transplanted to new areas in the expansion, such as the use of the Urukian accounting and number systems, which were based on a Sexagesimal and Bisexagesimal system[21] Basic social design that developed in initially in Uruk can also be found, primarily in the growth of centralized services[22] as well as the accompanying social stratification that came with it.[23] The evidence of sites like Habuba Kabira, as well as the social and material influence on other cities suggest that possibility of purposeful implantation of colonies from Uruk.

            It is not clear what caused the Uruk Expansion or if it was in fact groups of colonies who intentionally left southern Mesopotamia in order to start a new life, bringing with them their old way of life. Possibilities include a rising elite class in Uruk who were becoming more desirous of luxury goods that could only be found in other regions or perhaps the deliberate planting of colonies seeking new resources.[24] What is clear, however, is that by the end of the fourth millennium BCE, Uruk Expansion had ended and there is clear evidence of the demolishing of the existing Uruk site.[25] There is no evidence of a violent destruction, but as in the Eanna Temple complex, the entire Uruk IV site was razed and new construction began on top of it with the Uruk III level. No material remains have been found outside of Uruk after the Uruk IV period.[26] After the end of this expansion and influence, many areas outside of Uruk showed a reversion from the introduced centralization and urbanization and a return to a previously known “village life.”[27]

            While it is not known precisely why and through what mechanisms the culture of Uruk spread to other areas of the Near East, it is clear from the archaeological data that material remains coming from Uruk spread both east and west of their original home in southern Mesopotamia. These remains include pottery, architecture, writing and accounting systems, as well as economic and social constructs. At the end of the fourth millennium BCE, it all came to an end, equally as mysterious as its beginning.

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[1] Earley-Spadoni, Tiffany. Online lecture for “Uruk Period.” Ancient Mesopotamia.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Van De Mieroop, Marc. A History of the Ancient Near East ca. 3000-323 BC. 3rd Ed. West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2016, 21.

[4] Ibid, 25.

[5] Earley-Spadoni, Tiffany. Online lecture for “Uruk Period.” Ancient Mesopotamia.

[6] Van De Mieroop, Marc. A History of the Ancient Near East ca. 3000-323 BC. 3rd Ed. West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2016, 39.

[7] Ibid, 39.

[8] Earley-Spadoni, Tiffany. Online lecture for “Uruk Period.” Ancient Mesopotamia.

[9] Van De Mieroop, Marc. A History of the Ancient Near East ca. 3000-323 BC. 3rd Ed. West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2016, 40.

[10] Ibid.

[11] Ibid.

[12] Van De Mieroop, Marc. A History of the Ancient Near East ca. 3000-323 BC. 3rd Ed. West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2016, 21.

[13] Ibid, 27.

[14] Ibid, 40.

[15] Earley-Spadoni, Tiffany. Online lecture for “Uruk Period.” Ancient Mesopotamia.

[16] Ibid.

[17] Van De Mieroop, Marc. A History of the Ancient Near East ca. 3000-323 BC. 3rd Ed. West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2016, 31.

[18] Ibid, 32.

[19] Ibid, 40.

[20] Earley-Spadoni, Tiffany. Online lecture for “Uruk Period.” Ancient Mesopotamia.

[21] Van De Mieroop, Marc. A History of the Ancient Near East ca. 3000-323 BC. 3rd Ed. West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2016, 33.

[22] Ibid, 23.

[23] Ibid, 40.

[24] Ibid, 41.

[25] Ibid, 41.

[26] Ibid, 41.

[27] Van De Mieroop, Marc. A History of the Ancient Near East ca. 3000-323 BC. 3rd Ed. West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2016, 41.