II.

Prehistoric Period

The earliest traces of art and architecture known to date in Mesopotamia come from the proto-Neolithic site of Qermez Dere in the foothills of Jebel Sinjar, in northern Mesopotamia. Levels dating to the 9th millennium bc have revealed round sunken huts with one or two stone pillars rendered with plaster. When the buildings were abandoned, human skulls were placed on the floors, a practice that indicates some sort of ritual.

Mesopotamian art of the Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods (c. 7000-c. 3500 bc), before writing was fully developed, is designated by the names of archaeological sites: Hassuna, in the north, where houses and painted pottery were excavated; Samarra, where figurative and abstract designs on pottery may have had religious significance; and Tell Halaf, where seated female figures (presumed to be mother-goddesses) and painted pottery were made. In the south, the early ages are called Ubaid (c. 5500-c. 4000 bc) and early and middle Uruk (c. 4000-c. 3500 bc). Ubaid culture is also represented by dark-painted light pottery, the earliest of which is found at Ubaid; later examples are found at Ur, Uruk, Eridu, and Uqair. One of the earliest features in the long sequence of archaeological levels uncovered at Eridu is a small square sanctuary (c. 5500 bc); it had been rebuilt, incorporating a niche with a platform that could have supported a cult statue, and an offering table nearby. Subsequent temple structures built on top of it are more complex, with a central cella (sacred chamber) surrounded by small rooms with doorways; the exterior was decorated with elaborate niches and buttresses, typical features of Mesopotamian temples. Clay figures from the Ubaid period include a man from Eridu and, from Ur, a woman holding a child.

Artefacts from the late Uruk and Jamdat Nasr periods, also known as the Protoliterate period (c. 3500-2900 bc), have been found at several of the sites mentioned above. The major site was the city of Uruk, the biblical Erech and modern Warka, Iraq. The major building from level five at Uruk (c. 3500 bc) is the Limestone Temple; its superstructure has not survived, but limestone slabs on a layer of compacted earth show that it had niches and was monumental in size, measuring 76 by 30 m (250 by 99 ft). Some buildings from level four at Uruk were decorated with colourful cones set into the walls to form geometric patterns. Another decorative technique was whitewashing, as in the White Temple, so named after its long, narrow, whitewashed inner shrine. It was built in the area of Uruk dedicated to the Sumerian sky god Anu. The White Temple stood about 12 m (40 ft) above the plain, on a high platform prefiguring the ziggurat—a stepped tower, the typical Mesopotamian religious structure that was intended to bring the priest or king nearer to a particular god, or to provide a platform where the deity could descend to communicate with the worshippers.

A few outstanding stone sculptures were unearthed at Uruk. The most beautiful is a white limestone head of a woman or goddess (c. 3500-3000 bc, Iraq Museum, Baghdad), with eyebrows, large open eyes, and a central parting in her hair, all intended for inlay. A tall alabaster vase (c. 3500-3000 bc, Iraq Museum) with horizontal bands, or registers, depicts a procession in the upper band, with a king presenting a basket of fruit to Inanna, goddess of fertility and love, or her priestess; naked priests bringing offerings in the central band; and in the bottom band a row of animals over a row of plants. In the late Uruk period, the cylinder seal was introduced, probably in close association with the first use of clay tablets. The cylinder remained the standard Mesopotamian seal shape for the following 3,000 years. These small engraved stones, used for personal identification in letters and documents, were rolled along soft, damp clay to create a continuous pattern or a ritual scene in miniature. The earliest seals display decorative motifs; bulls; priests or kings bringing offerings; animal husbandry, hunting, or boating scenes; architecture; and serpent-headed lions and other grotesque figures. Animals, imaginary or real, are depicted with great vitality, even when they are rendered in abstract form. The seal-cutter’s craft was as much an expression of Mesopotamian culture as were the monumental arts.