17: The first Sumerian cities, Early-Middle Uruk periods, 4200-3500 BCE

Guest: Matt

I actually have recorded a myth for this one, but I haven’t edited it yet. Stay tuned for “Enki & Ninhursanga”, with listener Matt!

This episode kicks off Season Two with an all-new (as of Nov 2024) look at the Early Uruk period (ca 4200-3800 BCE). We start in Eridu, where we have the monumental stump of what must have been a very impressive temple, forcing us to look at a smaller and less important building that filled up with sand in a unique way.

After a brief visit to Jemdat Zabi, one of the few sites with well-excavated Early Uruk levels, we get our first look at the process of urbanization which transformed the alluvial plain during the Early and Middle Uruk periods. As we’ll see, this process was inextricable from the Uruk expansion, which overlapped with both periods and likely provided many of the raw materials and much of the labor that built these cities.

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