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Tell al-'Ubaid

Coordinates: 30°58′12″N 46°1′32″E / 30.97000°N 46.02556°E / 30.97000; 46.02556
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Tell al-'Ubaid
العبيد
Tell al-'Ubaid is located in Iraq
Tell al-'Ubaid
Shown within Iraq
Tell al-'Ubaid is located in Near East
Tell al-'Ubaid
Tell al-'Ubaid (Near East)
LocationDhi Qar Governorate, Iraq
RegionLower Mesopotamia
Coordinates30°58′12″N 46°1′32″E / 30.97000°N 46.02556°E / 30.97000; 46.02556
Typetell, type site
Height2 metre
History
PeriodsEarly Dynastic period, Ubaid period, Jemdet Nasr period, Ur III period
Site notes
Excavation dates1919, 1923-1924, 1937
ArchaeologistsHenry Hall, Leonard Woolley, Pinhas Pierre Delougaz, Seton Lloyd

Tell al-'Ubaid (Arabic: العبيد) also (Tall al-'Ubaid) is a low, relatively small ancient Near Eastern archaeological site about six kilometers west of the site of ancient Ur in southern Iraq's Dhi Qar Governorate. Today, Tell al-'Ubaid lies 250 kilometers from the Persian Gulf, but the shoreline lay much closer to the site during the Ubaid and Early Dynastic periods. Most of the remains are from the Chalcolithic Ubaid period, for which Tell al-'Ubaid is the type site, with an Early Dynastic temple and cemetery at the highest point. It was a cult center for the goddess Ninhursag.[1] An inscription found on a foundation tablet (BM 116982) in 1919 and on a copper strip in 1923 read "For Nin-hursag: A'annepada, king of Ur, son of Mesannepada, king of Ur, built the temple for Ninhursag". Mesannepada (c. 26th century BC) and A'annepada were rulers of the First Dynasty of Ur.[2]

Its ancient name is unknown but Nutur (alt Enutur) has been proposed, mainly based on the 20th year name of Ur III Empire ruler Shulgi (c. 2094–2046 BC) "Year: Ninḫursaga of Nutur was brought into her temple".[3]

Archaeology

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Tel al'Ubaid

Tell al 'Ubaid is an oblong mound measuring approximately 300 meters on a roughly north-south axis rising about two meters above the plain. A fan of surface debris, mainly pottery shards, extended to the south and southwest of the mound.[4]

The site was first worked by Henry Hall of the British Museum in 1919. Hall focused on the area which turned out to be the temple of Ninḫursaĝ, a 50 meter long and 7 meter high outcrop on the northern edge of the mound. At the southeast end the only remains of an Ur III period temple built atop the Early Dynastic temple were found with bricks inscribed with the standard inscription of Shulgi (c. 2094–2046 BC), first ruler of the Ur III Empire, "Sulgi, mighty man, king of Ur, king of the lands of Sumer and Akkad".[5] Hall began work clearing the walls of the Early Dynastic temple finding, by the entrance ramp, multicolored mosaic columns, copper statues of lions, bulls, and birds heads, with some parts of the statues are filled with bitumen. A gold bitumen filled bulls horn was also found. Lastly a large (7 feet 9 1/2 inches long by 3 and a half feet wide) copper relief in a copper frame (6" broad and 4" deep) was found depicting a scene of Anzû.[4] Hall found a 37 centimeter high Early Dynastic III dark green stone statue of Kurlil inscribed (according to the excavator) "Kurlil, Keeper of the Granary of Erech, Damgalnun he fashioned, (her) temple he built". Kurlil is known from a similar inscription found on a statue at Uruk.[6]

Later, C. L. Woolley excavated there in 1923 and 1924,[7] followed by Seton Lloyd and Pinhas Delougaz in 1937, the latter working for the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago.[8][9]

A cemetery was also found with 94 graves, mostly from the Early Dynastic Period, primarily Early Dynastic I. Grave goods included two copper shaft-hole axes and a number of wide conical cups.[10][11]

In 2008 the site was surveyed as part on an investigation of war-time damage to archaeological sites in Iraq by an Iraqi-British team. The team reported extensive damage as a result of "military installations when it was established as an Iraqi command post". This damage included a 4 meter square and 1.5 meter deep pit on the summit of the mound, 10 vehicle bays built around the mound base, and numerous hollows and pits on and around the mound. There was no sign of looting.[12]

Tell al-'Ubaid and its environment

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Finds included a copper framed frieze of limestone birds set in a black shale background.[13]

Occupation history

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The lower level of the site featured large amounts of Ubaid pottery and associated kilns. Evidence for Ubaid period pottery manufacture has also been observed on the surface of the site.[14] The site also yielded a cemetery and some finds from the Jemdet Nasr period. The temple of Ninhursag at the summit was on a cleared oval similar to that at Khafajah. The wall surrounding the temple was built by Shulgi of the Ur III Empire.

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  • Stone statue of Kurlil, Early Dynastic III, 2500 BC Tell Al-'Ubaid
    Stone statue of Kurlil, Early Dynastic III, 2500 BC Tell Al-'Ubaid
  • Parts of mosaic columns from the entrance to the Temple of Ninhursag at Tell al-'Ubaid, Iraq, 2800-2600 BCE. Iraq Museum
    Parts of mosaic columns from the entrance to the Temple of Ninhursag at Tell al-'Ubaid, Iraq, 2800-2600 BCE. Iraq Museum
  • Recumbent cow, part of a frieze once decorated the facade of the Temple of Ninhursag at Tell al-'Ubaid, Iraq, 2800-2600 BCE. Iraq Museum
    Recumbent cow, part of a frieze once decorated the facade of the Temple of Ninhursag at Tell al-'Ubaid, Iraq, 2800-2600 BCE. Iraq Museum
  • Sumerian scene, milking cows and making dairy products. From the facade of the Temple of Ninhursag at Tell al-'Ubaid, Iraq, 2800-2600 BCE. Iraq Museum
    Sumerian scene, milking cows and making dairy products. From the facade of the Temple of Ninhursag at Tell al-'Ubaid, Iraq, 2800-2600 BCE. Iraq Museum
  • A'annepada foundation tablet (BM 116982). British Museum
    A'annepada foundation tablet (BM 116982). British Museum

See also

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tell Al-Ubaid.

References

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  1. ^ Frayne, Douglas R. and Stuckey, Johanna H., "N", A Handbook of Gods and Goddesses of the Ancient Near East: Three Thousand Deities of Anatolia, Syria, Israel, Sumer, Babylonia, Assyria, and Elam, University Park, USA: Penn State University Press, pp. 219-287, 2021
  2. ^ Gadd, C. J., "A New Copy of A-Anni-Padda's Inscription from Al-'Ubaid", The British Museum Quarterly, pp. 107-108, 1930
  3. ^ [1]Firth, Richard, "Notes on Year Names of the Early Ur III Period: Šulgi 20-30", Cuneiform Digital Library Journal CDLJ 2013-1, 2013
  4. ^ a b [2]H. R. Hall, "Season's Work at Ur; Al-'Ubaid, Abu Shahrain (Eridu), and Elsewhere; Being an Unofficial Account of the British Museum Archaeological Mission to Babylonia, 1919", Methuen, 1930
  5. ^ Frayne, Douglas, "Šulgi", Ur III Period (2112-2004 BC), Toronto: University of Toronto Press, pp. 91-234, 1997
  6. ^ Reade, Julian, "Early monuments in Gulf stone at the British Museum, with observations on some Gudea statues and the location of Agade", vol. 92, no. 2, pp. 258-295, 2002
  7. ^ Hall, Henry R. and Woolley, C. Leonard, "Al-'Ubaid. Ur Excavations 1", Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1927
  8. ^ Delougaz, P. (1938). "A Short Investigation of the Temple at Al-'Ubaid". Iraq. 5: 1–11. doi:10.2307/4241617. JSTOR 4241617. S2CID 130499268.
  9. ^ Seton Lloyd, "Ur-al 'Ubaid, 'Uqair and Eridu. An Interpretation of Some Evidence from the Flood-Pit", Iraq, vol. 22, Ur in Retrospect. In Memory of Sir C. Leonard Woolley, pp. 23-31, (Spring - Autumn, 1960)
  10. ^ Harriet P. Martin, "The Early Dynastic Cemetery at al-'Ubaid, a Re-Evaluation", Iraq, vol. 44, no. 2, pp. 145-185, 1982
  11. ^ Moorey, P. R. S., "The Archaeological Evidence for Metallurgy and Related Technologies in Mesopotamia, c. 5500-2100 B.C.", Iraq, vol. 44, no. 1, pp. 13–38, 1982
  12. ^ Curtis, John, et al., "An Assessment of Archaeological Sites in June 2008: An Iraqi-British Project", Iraq, vol. 70, pp. 215–37, 2008
  13. ^ [3]Paszke, Marcin Z., "Bird species diversity in 3rd millennium BC Mesopotamia: The case of the Al-Ubaid bird frieze from the Temple of Nin", Bioarchaeology of the Near East 15, pp. 25-54, 2021
  14. ^ Moore, A.M.T. (2002). "Pottery Kiln Sites at al 'Ubaid and Eridu". Iraq. 64: 69–77. doi:10.2307/4200519. JSTOR 4200519.

Further reading

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  • Collins P., "Al Ubaid", in Art of the first cities. The third millennium B.C. from the Mediterranean to the Indus, J. Aruz, R. Wallenfels (eds.), New Haven, London: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Yale University Press, pp. 84–88, 2003
  • Hall, H. R., "The Discoveries at Tell El-’Obeid in Southern Babylonia, and Some Egyptian Comparisons", The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, vol. 8, no. 3/4, pp. 241–57, 1922
  • Hall, H. R., "Notes on the Excavations of 1919 at Muqayyar, el-‘Obeid, and Abu Shahrein", Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 56.S1, pp. 103-115, 1924
  • Hall, H. R., "The Excavations of 1919 at Ur, El-’Obeid, and Eridu, and the History of Early Babylonia (Brussels Conference, 1923)", Man, vol. 25, pp. 1–7, 1925
  • Korbel, Günther, "Zur zeitlichen Gliederung des Al-Ubaid-Friedhofs in Ur", BaM, vol. 14, pp. 7-14, 1983
  • [4]Mansor, Mohammed Abdulridha, and Jabbar Madhy Rashid, "Evaluation of natural radioactivity for building materials samples used in Tall Al Ubaid Archaeologist in Dhi-Qar governorate-Iraq", Samarra Journal of Pure and Applied Science 2.1, pp. 53-66, 2020
  • Woolley, C. Leonard, "Excavations at Tell el Obeid", The Antiquaries Journal 4.4, pp. 329-346, 1924
  • Woolley, C. L., "Ur and Tel El‐Obeid", Journal of the Central Asian Society 11.4, pp. 313-326, 1924
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