Eridu

Eridu was a Sumerian city located at Tell Abu Shahrain, also Abu Shahrein or Tell Abu Shahrayn, an archaeological site in Lower Mesopotamia [1]. It is located in Dhi Qar Governorate, Iraq, near the modern city of Basra [1]. Located 24 km south-southwest of the ancient site of Ur, Eridu was the southernmost of a conglomeration of Sumerian cities that grew around temples, almost in sight of one another [1]. The site was initially excavated by John George Taylor in 1855 [1]. Eridu is one of the earliest settlements in the region, founded c. 5400 BC during the early Ubaid period, at that time close to the Persian Gulf near the mouth of the Euphrates, although in modern times it is about 90 miles inland [1]. Excavation has shown that the city was founded on a virgin sand dune site with no previous habitation [1]. Eighteen superimposed mudbrick temples at the site underlie the unfinished ziggurat of Amar-Sin (c. 2047–2039 BC) [1]. Occupation increased in the Early Dynastic period with a monumental 100 m × 100 m palace being constructed [1].