The Uruk period was an age in southern Mesopotamia, named after the great city of Uruk, in what is now southern Iraq, when the first cities and states appeared. It saw the growth of large urban settlements, the building of huge temples such as the Eanna precinct, and the development of administrative tools, including cylinder seals, clay tokens and, toward the end of the period, the earliest writing in the form of proto-cuneiform tablets. Standard mass-produced pottery, such as the beveled-rim bowl, suggests organized labor. Uruk's influence spread far afield, with trading colonies as far as Syria and Anatolia, and the period is often seen as a key stage in the development of civilization.
Before and after
- c. 4,050 BCEEruption of Masaya
- from 5th millennium BCE to 1st millennium BCEAncient Egypt
- 5th millennium BCEOrigins of Jerusalem
- c. 4,000 BCEOrigins of Thinis
- from c. 4,000 BCE to 3,100 BCEUruk period
- c. 4,000 BCEEruption of Witori
- c. 3,600 BCEConstruction of Ġgantija
- from c. 3,600 BCE to 2,500 BCEOrigins of Megalithic Temples of Malta
- c. 3,580 BCEEruption of Taal
More in Civilizations & archaeology
- from c. 7,090s BCE to 4,950s BCEOrigins of Jarmo
- 71st century BCEMaize is domesticated in Mexico
- 71st century BCERice is domesticated in the Yangtze valley
- from 7th millennium BCE to 2nd millennium BCEUgarit
- 34th century BCEWriting is invented in Mesopotamia
- from c. 3,300 BCE to 1982Origins of Qatna
The era
This moment belongs to the Human prehistory (300,000 years ago to 3,200 BCE), the human story before writing.