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The Ubaid culture appeared in the valley of southern Mesopotamia the Late Neolithic in 5800 BC (7,800 BP), shortly after the great drought between 6200 and 6000 BC decimated agricultural communities in the foothills of the Fertile Crescent. The Ubaid were a peaceful culture that spread throughout the Middle East over the next 1,800 years. After the 3900 BC drought, they gave way to the urban Uruk culture. The region was decimated by the Great Ur Flood in 3500 BC.
The following videos by archeologists are highly recommended.
This video on Ubaid archaeology is very well done
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bey3PGAzNh0
This video is a class lecture by an archaeologist that reviews spread of Ubaid and beginning of civilization
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAWfwqhyiws
Gil Stein (next video) is a famous archaeologist who focuses on the Ubaid and Mesopotamia. The first 20 minutes and last 20 minutes focus on the Ubaid
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHDPGUuAjIo
Animation of Ubaid village of Uruk in 5000 BC
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5HFQvx0u2c
The appearance of the Ubaid corresponded with the last phase of a 100 m rise in sea level after the last glacial maximum (Figure 14‑30). They appeared in Mesopotamia when sea level was approximately 10 m lower than the present sea level (Figure 14‑31). By the end of the Ubaid Period, Mesopotamia was just above sea level in one of the flattest valleys in the world. The original Ubaid homeland was in Eridu (Figure 14‑32) and then spread northward in Mesopotamia (Figure 14‑32) and other adjacent regions.
Figure 14‑30. Measurement points that show the rise of global sea level at end of the last ice age. Credit: Robert Rhode. GNU Free Documentation License.
Figure 14‑31. Measurement points that show the rise of global sea level during Holocene. Credit: Robert Rhode. GNU Free Documentation License.
Figure 14‑32. Ubaid homeland in southern Mesopotamia in Eridu and northward spread of Ubaid cities in Mesopotamia. Credit: Wikipedia.
Recent studies indicate that southern Mesopotamia during the Ubaid Period consisted of deltas and tidal flats near the Persian Gulf, and marshes (backswamps) behind the deltaic regions. As with the modern landscape, marshes stretched from Eridu to near the Persian Gulf. The early Ubaid lived on turtlebacks in the midst of marshes. Turtleback is a strange name, but it is descriptive. Picture a turtle’s shell with a small section of the shell protruding above the water. The turtlebacks were small areas of land that protruded above the general water level in the marsh. Pournelle stated, “The known Ubaid farming villages are uniformly located atop Pleistocene-era turtlebacks, average less than 10 ha. in size, and are presumed to have supported relatively low permanent populations.” [1] The Ubaid eventually used irrigation,[2] but their first agricultural crops on the turtlebacks utilized water that wicked up to the surface from the shallow water table. [3]
During much of the last century, researchers have thought that the region of Southern Mesopotamia at the time of the Ubaid was inundated by seawater (Figure 14‑32); however, several recent studies have shown that the region consisted of tidal flats, deltaic regions, and marshes, which were periodically inundated by high tides and at other times by river flooding; thus, salinity levels in the marshes fluctuated between high and low salinity.
The Ubaid probably lived in many ways like the modern Marsh Arabs. Marsh Arabs are the indigenous people who live in the extensive marshlands of southern Mesopotamia. Prior to Saddam Hussein, there were about 100,000 Marsh Arabs in these wetlands. Then, Saddam Hussein drained the marshes in order to get rid of them. This was an ecological and human disaster. Saddam viewed the Marsh Arabs as political threats. Now the marshlands are being restored and the Marsh Arabs are moving back and reestablishing their lifestyle. Marsh Arabs sometimes build their houses and “mudhif’s” out of reeds (Figure 14‑33) and at other times out of mud bricks, and it appears that the Ubaid also used both of these types of building materials. Much of the activity of the Marsh Arabs takes place on their narrow boats, which they propel through the reeds with poles or use motors (Figure 14‑34). The Ubaid built small sailboats early in their history and eventually built sailing ships out of wood and reeds that traded with Ubaid communities that were located along the Persian Gulf.
Figure 14‑33. Marsh Arab mudhif. Credit. US Army Corp of Engineers.
Figure 14‑34. Marsh Arabs on boat. Credit. Hassan Janali, US Army Corps of Engineers.
Figure 14‑35. Sumerian King List on Weld-Blundell prism. Public domain. Museum. Wikipedia.
The Ubaid first appeared in southern Iraq, and researchers have wondered where they came from. In order to evaluate this question, Katharina Streit performed an extensive statistical analysis of Ubaid artifacts in 2013. She combined data from radiocarbon dating, Ubaid pottery, Ubaid tripartite buildings, and other artifacts from throughout the Middle East in a Bayesian statistical methodology in order to assess their relationship to other groups in the Middle East. They had unique pottery and other artifacts; thus, Streit concluded that the Ubaid were not an offshoot of any other known group of ancient people and dated the first Ubaid settlement at Oueili at 5800 BC +/- 100 years. This Ubaid study was Streit’s master’s thesis, and now she is a leading researcher in Middle East archaeology.
Ancient Sumerian writings cuneiform tablets indicate that Eridu was the first city of the Ubaid. The Sumerian King List listed 8 kings that ruled before the flood (probably in 3500 BC). The first two were Alulim and Alalngar, who ruled in Eridu. The Sumerian creation myth, Eridu Genesis, also lists Eridu as the first city. Alulim may have been the Biblical Adam, also corresponding with the Egyptian story of Adamu.
Beginning with the Late Neolithic, each ancient culture made its own distinct form of pottery. The first phase (5800 – 5200 BC) of the Ubaid appeared in the southern Mesopotamian villages of Eridu, Oueili, and Abada, The Ubaid 0/1 culture (earliest) had extremely fine quality monochrome painted ware. Then it underwent a process of simplification. Pottery analysis shows that there was little to no contact between the Halaf culture to the north and Ubaid phase 1 (5800-5200 BC). During phases 2 (5200-4800 BC) and 3 (4800-4400 BC), there was increased contact between northern and southern Mesopotamia. Pots from the period 5200 to 4800 are shown in Figure 14‑36.
The early Ubaid seemed particularly unconcerned with material status or possessions. They did not have the typical characteristics of civilization, which include elitism, subjugation, war, power, and wealth. The Ubaid culture, at least their technology, spread throughout the Middle East. Although there is not complete consensus, the majority of archaeologists have concluded that the Ubaid culture spread peacefully in several regions of the Middle East and that the Ubaid never took territory by force.[4] At least the first three phases of the Ubaid were peaceful, egalitarian, and nonmaterialistic. There were no walls around their cities, no weapons of war, probably no large houses for chieftains, and very little jewelry or other signs of wealth. They used communal cemeteries and did not have elite burials (the normal signs of prestige and status). There is little evidence of symbolization of social ranking, exotic or rare trade goods, or precious metals; however, there are some signs of an authority structure and elitism in the village structures and the buildings of the Ubaid.
Figure 14‑36. Ubaid III pottery jars. Louvre Museum. Credit: ALFGRN. Used here per CC BY-SA 2.0.
Temples were always an important part of Ubaid villages. The oldest temple in Eridu dates to the beginning of the city, had a table for animal sacrifice, and was surrounded by a reed fence. This was the first temple used for animal sacrifice in world history. The Ubaid temples became more ornate and complex over time (Figure 14‑37). Unlike the subsequent Sumerian, Egyptian, and Babylonian civilizations, there is no evidence of idols in Ubaid culture. Leading archaeologist Frank Hole thinks that if elites did not control people during the Ubaid period, then ritual (religion) must have controlled them.[5] The many temples indicate that there was a “broadly shared religious ideology” [6] with the leaders probably also doubling as priests. Stein stated that their economic system was “staple finance,” which refers to the control of irrigation or seeds, etc… by the chief.[7]
Figure 14‑37. Eridu temple with offering table for animal sacrifice. Final Ubaid phase. Credit: Zunkir/Cush. Used here per CC BY-SA 3.0.
The Ubaid were skilled at adapting to different environments and obtaining food. One of the key technologies invented by the Ubaid, or their neighbors the Samarrans, was the plow. This was the key to intensive agriculture. The Ubaid also began the development of large irrigation systems in the flat river valleys, which was a key component of later civilizations.
Archaeologists can determine what people ate by looking at their garbage heaps. In addition to continuing the domestication of crops and animals, the Ubaid were also opportunistic hunters and gatherers. Depending on the region, they fished, hunted, or gathered wild vegetation. Their domesticated animals varied by region. In Eridu and Ur in the marshy region of the south, more than half of the identified bones were from domesticated pigs. Upstream, in a drier region of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, cattle were the primary animals. Sheep and goats were the primary animals on the Deh Luran plain of western Iran and in the dry farming area of north Syria, where the Ubaid irrigated their crops.
Figure 14‑38. Female figurines from Ubaid 4 period. 4500-4000 BC. Credit: Mary Harrsch. Used here per CC BY 2.0.
One of the more interesting aspects of late Ubaid culture during the Ubaid IV period (4500 – 4000 BC) was that the Ubaid began to practice circumferential head shaping by wrapping bandages around the infant heads. [8] The Ubaid had apparently adopted this practice from ancient Iranian groups, probably due to intermarriage.[9] Another interesting aspect of the late Ubaid was Ophidian figurines, mostly female, with long heads (Figure 14-38). The figurines are all youthful and slender, unlike the matronly figurines found in other ancient cultures. Although the original interpretation was that the faces represented the head of a snake, Frank Hole stated that the faces of the ophidian figurines probably represented goat type masks that were similar to the masks found in Susa (Iran) seals. At this time, the Ubaid were adopting the characteristics of their neighbors.
The climate became arid in Arabia and Mesopotamia in 3900 BC (the 5.9 ka event) and it remains arid to this day. Lakes in the Arabian Peninsula dried up, and the Ubaid abandoned many of their communities in outlying areas of the Arabian Peninsula. The Uruk period (4000 – 3100 BC) began at this time and saw the beginning of large cities and civilization. This was also what appeared to be the beginning of Uruk colonization, with Uruk cities in places as far away as northern Syria. It is difficult to determine whether the Ubaid culture morphed into the Uruk culture or whether the Uruk culture consisted of people outside of the Ubaid culture. Colonial powers emerged and subjugated people and cities. This was the beginning of civilization. Civilization in Mesopotamia was interrupted by the Great Ur Flood, which covered the Mesopotamian region in 3500 BC.
References
References
[1] Hritz, Carrie, Jennifer Pournelle, and Jennifer Smith. "Revisiting the Sealands: Report of Preliminary Ground Reconnaissance in the Hammar District, Dhi Qar and Basra Governorates, Iraq 1." Iraq 74 (2012): 37-49.
[2] Jacobsen, Thorkild. 1960. The Waters of Ur. Iraq, Vol. 22, Ur in Retrospect. In Memory of Sir C. Leonard Woolley, ed. M.E.L. Mallowan and D.J. Wiseman (Spring - Autumn, 1960):174–185. London: British Institute for the Study of Iraq. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4199683
[3] Pournelle, Jennifer and Guillermo Algaze. Travels in Edin. Deltaic Resilience and Early Urbanism in Great Mesopotamia. Preludes to Urbanism: Studies in the Late Chalcolithic of Mesopotamia in Honour of Joan Oates. Edited by H. Crawford, A. McMahon, and N. Postgate. B.A.R. International Series. Oxford: Archeopress.
[4] Carter, Robert, and Graham Phillip. Deconstructing the Ubaid.Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization (SAOC) 63. Beyond the Ubaid: Transformation and Integration in the Late Prehistoric Societies of the Middle East. p. 13.
[5] Hole, Frank, A monumental failure, the collapse of Susa. In Beyond the Ubaid, Transformation and Integration in the Late Prehistoric Societies of the Middle East. Ed. Robert Carter and Graham Phillip. Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization, Number 63. The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 2010. Pp. 227-244.
[6] Stein, Gil, Local identities and interaction spheres: modeling regional variation in the Ubaid horizon, In Beyond the Ubaid, Transformation and Integration in the Late Prehistoric Societies of the Middle East. Ed. Robert Carter and Graham Phillip. Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization, Number 63. The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 2010. Pp. 23-44.
[7] Stein, Local identities.
[8] Kirsi Lorentz, Ubaid headshaping: negotiations of identity through physical appearance, In Beyond the Ubaid, Transformation and Integration in the Late Prehistoric Societies of the Middle East. Ed. Robert Carter and Graham Phillip. Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization, Number 63. The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 2010. Pp. 125-148
[9] Lorentz, Ubaid headshaping.
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Marsh Arab on boat. Credit: Salim Virji. Used here per CC BY-SA 2.0.
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