Uruk period

The Uruk period (c. 4000/3900 to 3300/3100 BC; also known as Protoliterate period) is a period of the protohistoric Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age in Mesopotamia and the ancient Near East. It follows the Ubaid period and precedes the Jemdet Nasr period (although it is often considered a final stage of the Late Uruk period). In the broadest sense, this period coincides with the 4th millennium BC. Uruk culture is also used to refer to the culture originating in Lower Mesopotamia during this period.

Named after the city of Uruk in southern Mesopotamia, this period saw a set of major innovations that lay the foundations of ancient Mesopotamian civilization. It is the period of the appearance of cities and the State (the so-called "urban revolution"), a phenomenon particularly visible in Lower Mesopotamia, notably on the site of Uruk, where excavations of the monumental center for the levels of the second half of the 4th millennium BC have revealed the existence of this culture. This phenomenon is marked by a greater specialization of activities and functions, which are accompanied by technical innovations: development of irrigated agriculture, appearance of the potter's wheel and of ceramics and bricks of standardized formats produced in large quantities, establishment of sheep farming producing wool, also on a large scale, in textile workshops, etc. The development of state institutions is accompanied by that of management instruments allowing the supervision of workers and other resources, and it is in this context that the first form of writing, 'Proto-cuneiform', appears around 3400-3300, essentially for administrative purposes.

These innovations were once thought to have originated in Uruk and southern Mesopotamia, but it has become increasingly evident that neighboring regions participated in the process and were not mere imitators. Other "proto-urban" sites and complex political entities also appeared in Susiana, southwestern Iran, northern Mesopotamia and western Syria, as well as in southeastern Anatolia. Nevertheless, Lower Mesopotamia is the most dynamic region of all, the most urbanized, the most innovative, and the most influential. It is the starting point of an 'Urukean expansion', a much-discussed long-term process seeing the implantation of outposts and colonies from southern Mesopotamia and a significant cultural impact of this region on the others. After a 'Late Uruk' phase (ca. 3500-3300/3200 BC) marking the apex of this phenomenon, after 3300/3200 BC this dynamic ceased and the Near East became culturally more fragmented.