The Sumerian World

689 Pages·2013·15.564 MB·English

by  Harriet Crawford

THE SUMERIAN WORLD
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The Sumerian Worldexplores the archaeology, history and art of southern Mesopotamia
and its relationships with its neighbours from c.3000 to 2000BC. Including material
hitherto unpublished from recent excavations, the articles are organised thematically
using evidence from archaeology, texts and the natural sciences. This broad treatment
will also make the volume of interest to students looking for comparative data in allied
subjects such as ancient literature and early religions.
Providing an authoritative, comprehensive and up-to-date overview of the Sumerian
period written by some of the best-qualified scholars in the field, The Sumerian World
will satisfy students, researchers, academics and the knowledgeable layperson wishing
to understand the world of southern Mesopotamia in the third millennium.
Harriet Crawford is Reader Emerita at UCL’s Institute of Archaeology and a senior
fellow at the McDonald Institute, Cambridge. She is a specialist in the archaeology of
the Sumerians and has worked widely in Iraq and the Gulf. She is the author of Sumer
and the Sumerians(second edition, 2004).
THE ROUTLEDGE WORLDS
THE REFORMATION WORLD THE ROMAN WORLD
Edited by Andrew Pettegree Edited by John Wacher
THE MEDIEVAL WORLD THE HINDU WORLD
Edited by Peter Linehan, Janet L. Nelson Edited by Sushil Mittal and Gene Thursby
THE BYZANTINE WORLD THE WORLD OF THE
Edited by Paul Stephenson AMERICAN WEST
Edited by Gordon Morris Bakken
THE VIKING WORLD
Edited by Stefan Brink in collaboration THE ELIZABETHAN WORLD
with Neil Price Edited by Susan Doran and Norman Jones
THE BABYLONIAN WORLD THE OTTOMAN WORLD
Edited by Gwendolyn Leick Edited by Christine Woodhead
THE EGYPTIAN WORLD THE VICTORIAN WORLD
Edited by Toby Wilkinson Edited by Marin Hewitt
THE ISLAMIC WORLD THE ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN
Edited by Andrew Rippin WORLD
Edited by Augustine Casiday
THE WORLD OF POMPEI
Edited by Pedar W. Foss and John J. Dobbins Forthcoming:
THE RENAISSANCE WORLD THE MORMON WORLD
Edited by John Jeffries Martin Edited by Carl Mosser, Richard Sherlock
THE EARLY CHRISTIAN WORLD THE BUDDHIST WORLD
Edited by Philip F. Esler Edited by John Powers
THE GREEK WORLD THE ETRUSCAN WORLD
Edited by Anton Powell Edited by Jean MacIntosh Turfa
THE SUMERIAN
WORLD
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Edited by
Harriet Crawford
First published 2013
by Routledge
2Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX144RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
711Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2013Harriet Crawford for selection and editorial matter; individual
contributions, the contributors.
The right of Harriet Crawford to be identified as the author of the
editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has
been asserted in accordance with sections 77and 78of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or
other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval
system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN: 978–0–415–56967–5(hbk)
ISBN: 978–0–203–09660–4(ebk)
Typeset in Adobe Garamond
by Keystroke, Station Road, Codsall, Wolverhampton
CONTENTS
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List of illustrations ix
List of contributors xv
Chronological framework for fourth millennium southern Mesopotamia xxi
Historical phases and kings of the third millennium BC xxiii
Introduction 1
Harriet Crawford
PART I: THE BACKGROUND 11
1 Physical geography 13
Jennifer R. Pournelle
2 Hydraulic landscapes and irrigation systems of Sumer 33
Tony J. Wilkinson
3 Sumerian agriculture and land management 55
Magnus Widell
4 The end of prehistory and the Uruk period 68
Guillermo Algaze
5 The Sumerian language 95
Graham Cunningham
6 History and chronology 111
Nicole Brisch
v
–– Contents ––
PART II: SUMERIAN SOCIETY:
THE MATERIAL REMAINS 129
7 Patterns of settlement in Sumer and Akkad 131
Jason Ur
8 The organisation of a Sumerian town: the physical remains of ancient
social systems 156
Elizabeth C. Stone
9 Public buildings, palaces and temples 179
Marlies Heinz
10 Kings and queens: representation and reality 201
Claudia E. Suter
11 The Sumerian sacred marriage: texts and images 227
Kathleen McCaffrey
12 In the service of the gods: the ministering clergy 246
Joan Goodnick Westenholz
PART III: SYSTEMS OF GOVERNMENT 275
13 Democracy and the rule of law, the assembly and the first law code 277
Marc Van De Mieroop
14 Administrators and scholars: the first scribes 290
Jon Taylor
15 Calendars and counting 305
Tonia Sharlach
16 Seals and sealings in the Sumerian World 319
Holly Pittman
PART IV: LIFE AND DEATH 343
17 Everyday life in Sumer 345
Paul Collins
18 Women and agency: a survey from Late Uruk to the end of Ur III 359
Julia M. Asher-Greve
19 A note on Sumerian fashion 378
Lamia al Gailani Werr
20 Sumerian and Akkadian industries: crafting textiles 395
Rita P. Wright
vi
–– Contents ––
21 Death and burial 419
Helga Vogel
22 Sumerian mythology 435
Benjamin R. Foster
PART V: THE NEIGHBOURS 445
23 Trade in the Sumerian World 447
Harriet Crawford
24 North Mesopotamia in the third millennium BC 462
Augusta McMahon
25 Cultural developments in western Syria and the middle Euphrates
Valley during the third millennium BC 478
Lisa Cooper
26 Sumer, Akkad, Ebla and Anatolia 498
Christoph Bachhuber
27 The Kingdom of Mari 517
Jean-Claude Margueron (translated by Harriet Crawford)
28 Ebla 538
Frances Pinnock
PART VI: THE ENDS OF THE SUMERIAN WORLD 557
29 Iran and its neighbors 559
C.C. Lamberg-Karlovsky
30 The Sumerians and the Gulf 579
Robert Carter
31 Mesopotamia, Meluhha, and those in between 600
Christopher P. Thornton
32 Egypt and Mesopotamia 620
Alice Stevenson
POSTSCRIPT 637
The Mesopotamian marshlands: a personal recollection 639
Azzam Alwash
Index 643
vii

ILLUSTRATIONS
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FIGURES
1.1 (a) The Mesopotamian Zone geosyncline. (b) Mesopotamian Zone
tectonic subunits. (c) Mesopotamian alluvial topology. (d) Boundary
uplands. (e) The Shatt al-Arab deltaic system. (f) Contemporary
(1) Levees, (2) Crevasse splays, (3) Alluvial soils, (4) Bird’s foot delta.
1.2 (a) Tigris south of Amara (Qalat Salih-al-Azair). (b) Outlines
demarcate relict levee between sites WS375and WS400.(c) The Kut
barrage on the Tigris between Sheikh Sa’ad and Ali al-Gharbi.
(d) A relict avulsion south of Wilaya
1.3 (a) Amara, straddling Tigris distributaries arrayed in a bird’s foot
delta. (b) Warka (ancient Uruk), straddling a relict bird’s foot
1.4 The Mesopotamian Delta, c.5000–3000BC
1.5 Sumerian cities founded within marshlands
1.6 (a) Hundreds of thread-like channels suggesting levee cultivation
combined with intensive marshland exploitation. (b) ES156in the
Eridu Basin. (c) Abu Dakar in the al-Khuraib (Tigris) marshes south
of Amara. (d) Desiccated water channels (white) infilled with dry
sand skirt EP156. (e) Dendritic water channels (black) through reed
beds skirt Abu Tanam
1.7 Changing shape of the Mesopotamian Delta
2.1 Section through levees showing the deposits of canals and ancient
channels
2.2 Levees and flood basins in the southern alluvium around modern
Suq al-Shuyukh
2.3 Archaeological sites of the Ur III, Larsa and Old Babylonian periods
and associated channels in the area of Umma
2.4a Layout of an ancient canal system
ix