Intro: The Early Dynastic Period

The Early Dynastic period continues patterns that began in Uruk period, particularly in the intensification of urbanism. The Early Dynastic period can be considered an apogee (high point) of urbanism. In fact, Robert McCormick Adams observed that 75% of the population lived in "urban" settlements (>40 ha.) during this period.

The archaeological chronology is divided into three periods.

EDI 2900-2700

EDII 2700-2600

EDIII 2600-2350 (subdivided into an earlier EDIIIa and a later EDIIIb)

Peer-Polity Interaction: a Battle of the City States

The so-called "peer polity" model of state formation was originally proposed by Colin Renfrew and John Cherry, based upon Aegean city-state (polis) formation, but was later applied to Mesopotamia.

The "interactions" of the peer polities includes a range of exchanges (such as emulation, competition, warfare, and exchange of material goods and information) between autonomous sociopolitical units, generally within the same geographic region. These city-states are mediated through a "neutral" place, in this case the holy city of Nippur, home of the god Enlil.

Written Sources that Shed Light on the Early Dynastic Period

What is a major source for our understanding of the Early Dynastic kings? The Sumerian King List, known from manuscripts dating to the first centuries of the 2nd Mil. But the SKL can't be taken too literally. The earlier parts of the list are legendary, recounting a primordial, antediluvian past, attributing impossibly long reigns to mythological figures such as Dumuzi (flute playing shepherd husband of Inanna/Ishtar) although the later lists have been shown to be more or less accurate by corroborating historical evidence from inscriptions and tablets.

The ED period is the first period in history for which we can reconstruct anything like a historical narrative. Specifically, there are a variety of texts written on tablets and inscribed on decorative objects that describe a series of conflicts between the Sumerian city-states of Umma and Lagash. Most of these sources Download sources

are told from the point of view of the victorious party, Lagash. A number of these sources that provide evidence for the Umma-Lagash border conflict are contained in the primary source reading assigned for this module (the Cooper reading).

Archaeological Sources for the ED Period

The Royal Tombs of Ur

The Royal Tombs of Ur are some of the most striking evidence from the EDIII period and no analysis of the period is complete without taking them into account. The tombs were discovered, not surprisingly, in the southern Mesopotamian city of Ur, and excavated by Sir Leonard Woolley in the late 1920’s. The Ur Royal Cemetery probably dates to EDIIIa, about 2500.

Most of the more than 600 graves were simple inhumations, rather than the more elaborate burials that are well-known from the cemetery. The majority were simple pit burials consisting of grave goods including a cup, jar, and bowl placed near the body.  Of the simpler inhumations at the Royal Tombs of Ur, Richard Zettler Links to an external site. says: "Woolley assigned 660 burials to the Early Dynastic Royal Cemetery. The overwhelming majority were simple inhumations in which the body, wrapped in reed matting or placed in a coffin, was set at the bottom of a rectangular pit that varied in size but averaged .50 by 0.70 meters. The body was invariably placed on its side, with the legs slightly flexed and the arms and hands in front of the breast at about the level of the mouth. Clothed and accompanied by his/her personal belongings--for example, jewelry, cylinder seal, and dagger--the deceased generally held a cup, and a jar and bowl were placed nearby. Other utilitarian goods such as bowls and jars containing foodstuffs, weapons and tools, and so on might be distributed around the pit, the quantity probably reflecting wealth and social status."

However, there are also 16 so-called Royal Tombs. The most famous of these is attributed to a Quen Puabi.

Image: "Diadem of Puabi," University of Pennsylvania Museum 

Rather than being pit burials, the Royal Tombs are multi-chambered tombs constructed of stone.

The Royal Tombs often contain objects made of gold and lapis lazuli, two of the most prestigious goods in ancient Mesopotamia.

Other Royal Tombs had only a single chamber, but were associated with a large pit or ramp and up to 70 attendants and oxen carts complete with oxen, sacrificed to serve them in the afterlife. Human sacrifice in general, but especially on this scale, is almost unparalleled in Mesopotamian history.

One of the most interesting objects to come from the Royal Cemetery of Ur was the so-called Standard of Ur which is probably not a military standard at all but some other kind of fine object.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

The so-called Standard of Ur from the Royal Tombs of Ur Links to an external site. depicts a battle on its obverse and the resulting celebration on its reverse. It was recovered in Tomb PG 779. It is one of the earliest depictions of an army in Sumeria.

Stele of the Vultures

Figure: Winter 1985

The Stele of the Vultures is one of the most celebrated artworks of the Early Dynastic period, along with artifacts from the Royal Tombs of Ur Links to an external site. (above). The Stele of the Vultures, currently in the Louvre, is poorly preserved. Originally it was a large, rectangular slab of white limestone with a rounded top. The modern restoration of the whole is based upon only seven fragments. Six were excavated during the 1880s at the site of modern Tello, ancient Girsu, a satellite town within the citystate of Lagash in the Early Dynastic period and seat of the deity Ningirsu (depicted on the obverse). The seventh fragment, plundered from the site, was acquired by the British Museum in 1900 and later given to the Louvre for the restoration. As restored, the monument measures 1.80 m X 1.30 m.

The stele derives its name from a scene depicted on the reverse of the monument that shows vultures flying with victim's heads in their beaks at a pivotal battle between the city-states of Umma and Lagash. The work is understood as being important in showing the development of Mesopotamian divine kingship as well as respecting the spirit of the age.  The text that accompanies the images on the Stele of the Vultures is a part of this module's primary source readings (Cooper, La 3.1).

Reminder: this overview is an introduction to the corresponding reading in History of the Ancient Near East.