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SITE ID - NAME :	E2	Eridu
ANCIENT NAME :	Eridu
OTHER NAME :	Abu Shahrain
LOCATION :	South Iraq, Basra
CHRONOLOGY :	Chalcolithic; Protoliterate; Early Historic; Late Historic
PERIOD CODE :	5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
DESCRIPTION :	According to Sumerian mythology, the oldest city in southern Mesopotamia. Excavations by Safar and Lloyd in the 1940's revealed a long sequence of Ubaid and Uruk deposits. Buildings of these periods document the development of tri-partite architecture. Traditionally, these structures were reconstructed as temples, but recently the buildings have been interpreted as elite residences, or audience halls. Ubaid levels provided evidence of a large cemetery. By the end of the Ubaid period the town measured some 12 ha. The early deposits are covered by Sumerian Early Dynastic remains, including a palace, and a ziggurat (= temple tower) of the Ur III period (last century of the 3rd millennium).
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