{"it":{"id":"MES-003","kind":"site","sub":"Mesopotamia and Iran","name":"Eridu","place":"Iraq","lat":30.816,"lon":45.996,"date":"In the 3rd Millennium BC a canal, Id-edin-Eriduga (NUN)ki \"the  canal  of  the  Eridug …","mat":"basalt;clay;diorite;earth;mudbrick;sandstone","nfacts":34,"tags":["Near East"],"sum":"The Sumerian King List names Eridu, in southern Iraq, as the first city to receive kingship, when 'kingship descended from heaven'.","why":"Eridu ties a written tradition of the first kingship to one of the longest continuous building sequences ever excavated in Mesopotamia.","src":[314,553],"nsrc":3,"yt":"How did scribes writing many centuries later know, or decide, that Eridu came first?","rel":["MES-001","MES-002"],"hook":"The Sumerian King List gives Eridu's first king, Alulim, a reign of 28,800 years"},"S":{"314":["Wikipedia: Eridu","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eridu"],"553":["ETCSL 2.1.1, The Sumerian King List (Oxford)","https://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/section2/tr211.htm"]},"rec":{"id":"MES-003","alias":[],"ms":[{"f":"Located","a":"distance (not a site dimension)","v":"24","u":"km","o":"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.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eridu&oldid=1376230110","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1376230110 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1977"},{"f":"in a basin approximately 15 mi long and","a":"depth","v":"20","u":"ft","o":"Eridu is located on a natural hill in a basin approximately 15 mi long and 20 ft deep, which is separated from the Euphrates River by a sandstone ridge called the Hazem.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eridu&oldid=1376230110","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1376230110 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1978"},{"f":"Mound 1 Abū Šahrain 580 x","a":"plan dimension (pair)","v":"540","u":"m","o":"*Mound 1 – Abū Šahrain, 580 x 540 m c. 18 hectares (c. 4.5 hectares within the perimeter of the temenos wall) in area NW to WE, 25 m in height, Enki Temple, Ur III Ziggurat () Sacred Area, Early Dynastic plano-convex bricks found, Ubaid Period cemetery (30°49’01.62” N, 45°59’46.57” E)","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eridu&oldid=1376230110","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1376230110 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1979"},{"f":"1 Abū Šahrain 580 x 540 m c","a":"area","v":"18","u":"hectares","o":"*Mound 1 – Abū Šahrain, 580 x 540 m c. 18 hectares (c. 4.5 hectares within the perimeter of the temenos wall) in area NW to WE, 25 m in height, Enki Temple, Ur III Ziggurat () Sacred Area, Early Dynastic plano-convex bricks found, Ubaid Period cemetery (30°49’01.62” N, 45°59’46.57” E)","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eridu&oldid=1376230110","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1376230110 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1980"},{"f":"580 x 540 m c 18 hectares c","a":"area","v":"4.5","u":"hectares","o":"*Mound 1 – Abū Šahrain, 580 x 540 m c. 18 hectares (c. 4.5 hectares within the perimeter of the temenos wall) in area NW to WE, 25 m in height, Enki Temple, Ur III Ziggurat () Sacred Area, Early Dynastic plano-convex bricks found, Ubaid Period cemetery (30°49’01.62” N, 45°59’46.57” E)","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eridu&oldid=1376230110","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1376230110 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1981"},{"f":"the temenos wall in area NW to WE","a":"height","v":"25","u":"m","o":"*Mound 1 – Abū Šahrain, 580 x 540 m c. 18 hectares (c. 4.5 hectares within the perimeter of the temenos wall) in area NW to WE, 25 m in height, Enki Temple, Ur III Ziggurat () Sacred Area, Early Dynastic plano-convex bricks found, Ubaid Period cemetery (30°49’01.62” N, 45°59’46.57” E)","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eridu&oldid=1376230110","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1376230110 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1982"},{"f":"Mound 2 350 x","a":"plan dimension (pair)","v":"350","u":"m","o":"*Mound 2 – 350 x 350 m c. 7 hectares in area, 4.3 m in height, 1 km N of Abū Šahrain, Early Dynastic Palace, remnants of city wall built with plano-convex bricks","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eridu&oldid=1376230110","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1376230110 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1983"},{"f":"Mound 2 350 x 350 m c","a":"area","v":"7","u":"hectares","o":"*Mound 2 – 350 x 350 m c. 7 hectares in area, 4.3 m in height, 1 km N of Abū Šahrain, Early Dynastic Palace, remnants of city wall built with plano-convex bricks","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eridu&oldid=1376230110","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1376230110 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1984"},{"f":"x 350 m c 7 hectares in area","a":"height","v":"4.3","u":"m","o":"*Mound 2 – 350 x 350 m c. 7 hectares in area, 4.3 m in height, 1 km N of Abū Šahrain, Early Dynastic Palace, remnants of city wall built with plano-convex bricks","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eridu&oldid=1376230110","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1376230110 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1985"},{"f":"hectares in area 4 3 m in height","a":"height","v":"1","u":"km","o":"*Mound 2 – 350 x 350 m c. 7 hectares in area, 4.3 m in height, 1 km N of Abū Šahrain, Early Dynastic Palace, remnants of city wall built with plano-convex bricks","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eridu&oldid=1376230110","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1376230110 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1986"},{"f":"Mound 3 300","a":"plan dimension (pair)","v":"150","u":"m","o":"*Mound 3 – 300 × 150 m c. 0.2 hectares in area, 2.5 m high, 2.2 km SSW of Abū Šahrain, Isin-Larsa pottery found","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eridu&oldid=1376230110","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1376230110 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1987"},{"f":"Mound 3 300 150 m c","a":"area","v":"0.2","u":"hectares","o":"*Mound 3 – 300 × 150 m c. 0.2 hectares in area, 2.5 m high, 2.2 km SSW of Abū Šahrain, Isin-Larsa pottery found","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eridu&oldid=1376230110","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1376230110 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1988"},{"f":"150 m c 0 2 hectares in area","a":"height","v":"2.5","u":"m","o":"*Mound 3 – 300 × 150 m c. 0.2 hectares in area, 2.5 m high, 2.2 km SSW of Abū Šahrain, Isin-Larsa pottery found","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eridu&oldid=1376230110","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1376230110 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1989"},{"f":"2 hectares in area 2 5 m high","a":"height","v":"2.2","u":"km","o":"*Mound 3 – 300 × 150 m c. 0.2 hectares in area, 2.5 m high, 2.2 km SSW of Abū Šahrain, Isin-Larsa pottery found","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eridu&oldid=1376230110","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1376230110 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1990"},{"f":"Mound 4 600","a":"plan dimension (pair)","v":"300","u":"m","o":"*Mound 4 – 600 × 300 m c. 10 hectares in area, 2.5 km SW of Abū Šahrain, Kassite pottery found","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eridu&oldid=1376230110","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1376230110 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1991"},{"f":"Mound 4 600 300 m c","a":"area","v":"10","u":"hectares","o":"*Mound 4 – 600 × 300 m c. 10 hectares in area, 2.5 km SW of Abū Šahrain, Kassite pottery found","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eridu&oldid=1376230110","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1376230110 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1992"},{"f":"600 300 m c 10 hectares in area","a":"dimension (unspecified)","v":"2.5","u":"km","o":"*Mound 4 – 600 × 300 m c. 10 hectares in area, 2.5 km SW of Abū Šahrain, Kassite pottery found","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eridu&oldid=1376230110","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1376230110 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1993"},{"f":"Mound 5 500 300 m c","a":"area","v":"25","u":"hectares","o":"*Mound 5 – 500 × 300 m c. 25 hectares in area, 3 m high, 1.5 km SE of Abū Šahrain, Neo-Babylonian and Achaemenid periods","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eridu&oldid=1376230110","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1376230110 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1994"},{"f":"500 300 m c 25 hectares in area","a":"height","v":"3","u":"m","o":"*Mound 5 – 500 × 300 m c. 25 hectares in area, 3 m high, 1.5 km SE of Abū Šahrain, Neo-Babylonian and Achaemenid periods","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eridu&oldid=1376230110","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1376230110 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1995"},{"f":"c 25 hectares in area 3 m high","a":"height","v":"1.5","u":"km","o":"*Mound 5 – 500 × 300 m c. 25 hectares in area, 3 m high, 1.5 km SE of Abū Šahrain, Neo-Babylonian and Achaemenid periods","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eridu&oldid=1376230110","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1376230110 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1996"},{"f":"Mound 6 300","a":"plan dimension (pair)","v":"200","u":"m","o":"*Mound 6 – 300 × 200 m in area, 2 m high, 2.5 km SW of Abū Šahrain","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eridu&oldid=1376230110","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1376230110 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1997"},{"f":"Mound 6 300 200 m in area","a":"height","v":"2","u":"m","o":"*Mound 6 – 300 × 200 m in area, 2 m high, 2.5 km SW of Abū Šahrain","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eridu&oldid=1376230110","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1376230110 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1998"},{"f":"300 200 m in area 2 m high","a":"height","v":"2.5","u":"km","o":"*Mound 6 – 300 × 200 m in area, 2 m high, 2.5 km SW of Abū Šahrain","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eridu&oldid=1376230110","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1376230110 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1999"},{"f":"Mound 7 400 200 m in area","a":"height","v":"1.5","u":"m","o":"*Mound 7 – 400 × 200 m in area, 1.5 m high, 3 km E of Abū Šahrai","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eridu&oldid=1376230110","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1376230110 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M2000"},{"f":"200 m in area 1 5 m high","a":"height","v":"3","u":"km","o":"*Mound 7 – 400 × 200 m in area, 1.5 m high, 3 km E of Abū Šahrai","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eridu&oldid=1376230110","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1376230110 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M2001"},{"f":"Mound 8 Usalla flat area","a":"dimension (unspecified)","v":"8","u":"km","o":"*Mound 8 – Usalla, flat area, 8 km NW of Abū Šahrain, Hajj Mohammed and later Ubaid","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eridu&oldid=1376230110","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1376230110 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M2002"},{"f":"site extended out to an area of about","a":"area","v":"12","u":"hectares","o":"During the Ubaid period the site extended out to an area of about 12 hectares (about 30 acres).","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eridu&oldid=1376230110","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1376230110 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M2003"},{"f":"to an area of about 12 hectares about","a":"area","v":"30","u":"acres","o":"During the Ubaid period the site extended out to an area of about 12 hectares (about 30 acres).","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eridu&oldid=1376230110","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1376230110 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M2004"},{"f":"jpg Bowl mid 6th 5th millennium BC ceramic","a":"dimension (unspecified)","v":"6.99","u":"cm","o":"File:Bowl MET DP104229.jpg|Bowl; mid 6th–5th millennium BC; ceramic; 6.99 cm; Tell Abu Shahrain; Metropolitan Museum of Art","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eridu&oldid=1376230110","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1376230110 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M2005"},{"f":"jpg Cup mid 6th 5th millennium BC ceramic","a":"dimension (unspecified)","v":"8.56","u":"cm","o":"File:Cup MET ME49 133 5.jpg|Cup; mid 6th–5th millennium BC; ceramic; 8.56 cm; Tell Abu Shahrain; Metropolitan Museum of Art","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eridu&oldid=1376230110","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1376230110 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M2006"},{"f":"The palaces measured","a":"plan dimension (pair)","v":"45","u":"meters","o":"The palaces measured 45 meters by 65 meters with 2.6 meter wide walls and were constructed in the standard Early Dynastic period method of plano-convex bricks laid in a herringbone fashion.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eridu&oldid=1376230110","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1376230110 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M2007"},{"f":"The palaces measured 45 meters by","a":"plan dimension (pair)","v":"65","u":"meters","o":"The palaces measured 45 meters by 65 meters with 2.6 meter wide walls and were constructed in the standard Early Dynastic period method of plano-convex bricks laid in a herringbone fashion.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eridu&oldid=1376230110","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1376230110 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M2008"},{"f":"right Jar mid 6th 5th millennium BC ceramic","a":"dimension (unspecified)","v":"15.24","u":"cm","o":"thumb|right|Jar; mid 6th–5th millennium BC; ceramic; 15.24 cm; Tell Abu Shahrain; Metropolitan Museum of Art","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eridu&oldid=1376230110","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1376230110 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M2009"},{"f":"left Cup mid 6th 5th millennium BC ceramic","a":"dimension (unspecified)","v":"9.53","u":"cm","o":"thumb|left|Cup; mid 6th–5th millennium BC; ceramic; 9.53 cm; Tell Abu Shahrain; Metropolitan Museum of Art","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eridu&oldid=1376230110","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1376230110 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M2010"}],"lab":[{"k":"Materials","mat":"site material (as stated in article)","m":"documentary mention (Wikipedia, auto-extracted)","v":"Eridu is located on a natural hill in a basin approximately 15 mi long and 20 ft deep, which is separated from the Euphrates River by a sandstone ridge called the Hazem.","by":"no inline ref in article","b":"S","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eridu&oldid=1376230110"},{"k":"Materials","mat":"site material (as stated in article)","m":"documentary mention (Wikipedia, auto-extracted)","v":"Eighteen superimposed mudbrick temples at the site (see above, section \"Architecture\") underlie the unfinished ziggurat of Amar-Sin (c. 2047–2039 BC).","by":"no inline ref in article","b":"S","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eridu&oldid=1376230110"},{"k":"Materials","mat":"site material (as stated in article)","m":"documentary mention (Wikipedia, auto-extracted)","v":"Uruk finds included decorative terracotta cones topped with copper, copper nails topped with gold, a pair of basalt stone lion statues, columns several meters in diameter coated with cones and gypsum, and extensive Uruk period pottery including beveled rim bowls, diagnostic for the period.","by":"no inline ref in article","b":"S","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eridu&oldid=1376230110"},{"k":"Materials","mat":"site material (as stated in article)","m":"documentary mention (Wikipedia, auto-extracted)","v":"Manishtushu: Fragmentary inscriptions on black diorite vessels found at Eridu indicate he dedicated luxury objects to the temple of Enki (E-Abzu).","by":"no inline ref in article","b":"S","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eridu&oldid=1376230110"}],"eng":[],"ori":[],"gaps":[],"dat":[],"aa":[],"ac":[],"me":[],"ci":[],"cq":[],"sd":[],"sub":[],"site":{"age":"In the 3rd Millennium BC a canal, Id-edin-Eriduga (NUN)ki \"the  canal  of  the  Eridug  plain\", connected Eridu to the Euphrates River, which later shifted its course.","dm":"[see dating_excerpt; method not extracted]","lab":"NO: inference only (style/context/king list/textual)","weak":"no direct lab result on the structure in our records; date from stylistic, contextual or textual inference","unesco":"https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1481","dens":"CENSUS"},"co":{"lat":"30.81583333","lon":"45.99611111","src":"Wikidata P625 + UNESCO WHC list XML (agree ≤0.05°)","agree":"agree","b":"V","note":"two independent sources agree; max delta 0.0038 deg (~0.42 km)","osm":"https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/851753386"},"src":[{"id":"S0297","t":"no inline ref in article","u":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eridu&oldid=1376230110"},{"id":"S0481","t":"Wikipedia: Eridu","u":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eridu"},{"id":"S2554","t":"ETCSL 2.1.1, The Sumerian King List (Oxford)","u":"https://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/section2/tr211.htm"},{"id":"VMES-003-4","t":"Wikipedia: Zecharia Sitchin","u":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zecharia_Sitchin"},{"id":null,"t":"The Flood story, translation, ETCSL 1.7.4, University of Oxford.","u":"https://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/section1/tr174.htm"},{"id":null,"t":"Enki and the world order, translation, ETCSL 1.1.3, University of Oxford.","u":"https://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/section1/tr113.htm"},{"id":null,"t":"J. E. Taylor, “Notes on Abu Shahrein and Tel el Lahm”, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 15 (1855), from p. 404. JSTOR Early Journal Content scan.","u":"https://archive.org/details/jstor-25228662"},{"id":null,"t":"Metropolitan Museum of Art, Ubaid bowl from Abu Shahrein, accession 49.133.9, collection record as mirrored by the Internet Archive.","u":"https://archive.org/details/mma_bowl_324093"},{"id":null,"t":"UNESCO World Heritage Centre, “The Ahwar of Southern Iraq: Refuge of Biodiversity and the Relict Landscape of the Mesopotamian Cities” (list entry 1481), Brief Synthesis.","u":"https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1481/"},{"id":null,"t":"Simon & Schuster, The Lost Book of Enki by Zecharia Sitchin, publisher’s page with excerpt from the Introduction.","u":"https://www.simonandschuster.net/books/The-Lost-Book-of-Enki/Zecharia-Sitchin/9781591430377"}],"sum":"At the bottom of the deepest trench at Eridu, the excavators reached a room about 2.8 metres square. It was a small mud-brick cell, built on clean sand. Above it, on exactly the same spot, lay another shrine, and above that another, eighteen levels in all, each new temple raised on the ruins of the one before, until in the age of the kings of Ur a ziggurat was set over the whole stack. For thousands of years, through changes of rulers and perhaps of language, people kept coming back to rebuild a holy house precisely where the last one stood. The Sumerians had a simple explanation for why. This was where kingship began.\n\nEridu, called Eridug in Sumerian, is a mound in the desert of southern Iraq known today as Tell Abu Shahrain, about 24 kilometres south-south-west of the ancient city of Ur, in Dhi Qar province. The main mound measures about 580 by 540 metres, some 18 hectares, and rises 25 metres; its sacred area alone covers about 4.5 hectares. It sits on a natural hill in a basin about 15 miles long and 20 feet deep, cut off from the Euphrates by a sandstone ridge. UNESCO includes it in a World Heritage property inscribed together with the marshes of southern Iraq, and the pairing is the key to the place. Eridu stands in dry desert now. It was built on the edge of water.\n\nPeople first settled there around 5400 BC, in the early Ubaid period, on a sand dune with no earlier habitation. At that time the site lay close to the Persian Gulf near the mouth of the Euphrates; today it is about 90 miles inland. UNESCO says that between 5000 and 3000 BC the sea reached about 200 kilometres inland of today's coast, and that Uruk, Ur and Eridu \"were originally situated on the margins of freshwater marshes.\" After 2000 BC the sea retreated, the marshes dried and the great cities declined. Nebuchadnezzar II, who reigned from 605 to 562 BC, still left inscribed bricks there, and the city was finally abandoned around 600 BC.\n\nThe city belonged to Enki, god of the fresh waters beneath the earth, of wisdom and of magic. His temple was called the House of the Aquifer, the E-abzu, after the Abzu, the sweet underground water that was his realm. A Sumerian flood story lists five cities founded by the gods: \"The first of the cities, Eridug, was given to Nudimmud the leader,\" Nudimmud being a name of Enki. In the poem Enki and the World Order he is a \"great dragon who stands in Eridug,\" and he says he brought \"the arts and crafts\" to \"my Abzu in Eridug.\" In Sumerian thought, Eridu was more than an old town. It was where civilisation was handed down and kept.\n\nThe Sumerian King List puts it plainly. \"After the kingship descended from heaven, the kingship was in Eridug. In Eridug, Alulim became king; he ruled for 28800 years.\" His successor, Alaljar, ruled 36,000 years. \"2 kings; they ruled for 64800 years. Then Eridug fell,\" and kingship moved on to Bad-tibira. Scholars read the list as a political document, compiled long after Eridu's prime, and its reigns as the Sumerian way of describing a time beyond memory.\n\nKings kept paying their respects. Inscriptions record work on Enki's temple by rulers of Ur, of Lagash and of Larsa. The Akkadian king Manishtushu dedicated vessels of black diorite to it. Ur-Nammu's bricks read \"Ur-Nammu, king of Ur, the one who built the temple of the god Enki in Eridu.\" Amar-Sin left an unfinished ziggurat over the eighteen temples; sources credit the ziggurat to Ur-Nammu and to Amar-Sin, and both rebuilt there. The high priestess of Enki at Eridu held what was then the highest religious office in the land. To honour Eridu was to borrow its age.\n\nThe first person to dig there was J. E. Taylor, an Englishman writing from Basra in January 1855. He saw the ruins as \"a ruined fort, surrounded by high walls, with a keep or tower at one end,\" standing \"in the centre nearly of the dry bed of an inland sea.\" Around the tower's second stage he found agate, alabaster and polished marble, \"small pieces of pure gold\" and copper nails with gilded heads, which he guessed had fixed thin gold plate to a wall or dome. The walls, he noticed, \"rested simply upon sand.\" Later digs found decorative clay cones, copper nails topped with gold, and a pair of basalt lions from the Uruk period.\n\nThe deep sequence came in 1946 to 1949, when Fuad Safar and Seton Lloyd excavated for Iraq's antiquities service. They found the stacked temples, a cemetery of about 1,000 graves from the end of the Ubaid period, and a clay model of a boat with a socket for a mast. Twelve clay tokens from the Ubaid levels are early ancestors of writing. The Metropolitan Museum holds Ubaid pottery from the site, now dated to the mid-sixth to fifth millennium BC.\n\nThe mainstream case is solid. Eridu was one of the earliest settlements in the region, founded by Ubaid farmers on the edge of the marshes, and its temple sequence, apparently the first such buildings in the region, seems to back the Sumerian claim that it was a very early place of worship.\n\nOther readings have grown around the numbers. Alulim's 28,800 years is exactly eight times 3,600, and 3,600 is 60 times 60, a round number in Sumerian base-60 counting. The writer Zecharia Sitchin claimed that astronauts from another planet came to Earth some 445,000 years ago in search of gold, \"waded ashore and established Eridu,\" and gave his planet Nibiru a 3,600-year orbit. Astronomers and Assyriologists reject it, and the King List's own figure for Eridu is 64,800 years, not 445,000. The pottery is the work of farmers.\n\nWhat remains is a genuine puzzle of memory. The scribes who wrote that Eridu came first had no excavations, yet the ground agrees with them. How did a people of the third millennium BC remember which of their cities was oldest?\n\nPicture the mound as the Ubaid settlers first saw it: a bare dune at the edge of a freshwater marsh, the sea not far off, reeds moving in the wind, and a few people setting down the first mud bricks of a small square room that their descendants would never stop rebuilding.","qs":["How did scribes writing many centuries later know, or decide, that Eridu came first?","Eighteen temples on one spot: what keeps a sacred place sacred through changes of language, rulers and gods?","Should impossible reign lengths make us distrust the king list's order of cities, or only its numbers?"],"gal":[{"src":"https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/67/Ziggurat_at_Eridu_%2830809118442%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled","page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ziggurat_at_Eridu_(30809118442).jpg","title":"Ziggurat at Eridu (30809118442).jpg","lic":"CC BY 2.0","licurl":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0","by":"David Stanley from Nanaimo, Canada","cap":"Some of the baked bricks used in the construction of the Sumerian ziggurat at Eridu, southwest of Nasiriyah, Iraq, are stamped with the name of King Ur-Nammu (2"},{"src":"https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/Bowl_MET_DP104227.jpg/1280px-Bowl_MET_DP104227.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail","page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bowl_MET_DP104227.jpg","title":"Bowl MET DP104227.jpg","lic":"CC0","licurl":"http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en","by":"Unknown","cap":"Ubaid; Bowl; Ceramics-Vessels"},{"src":"https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fd/Bowl_MET_DP104228_%28cropped%29.jpg/1280px-Bowl_MET_DP104228_%28cropped%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail","page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bowl_MET_DP104228_(cropped).jpg","title":"Bowl MET DP104228 (cropped).jpg","lic":"CC0","licurl":"http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en","by":"Unknown","cap":"Ubaid; Bowl; Ceramics-Vessels"},{"src":"https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/50/Bowl_MET_DP104229.jpg/1280px-Bowl_MET_DP104229.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail","page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bowl_MET_DP104229.jpg","title":"Bowl MET DP104229.jpg","lic":"CC0","licurl":"http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en","by":"Unknown","cap":"Ubaid; Bowl; Ceramics-Vessels"},{"src":"https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/Cup_MET_ME49_133_5.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled","page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cup_MET_ME49_133_5.jpg","title":"Cup MET ME49 133 5.jpg","lic":"CC0","licurl":"http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en","by":"Unknown","cap":"Ubaid; Cup; Ceramics-Vessels"}]},"img":null,"md":null,"hh":[{"v":"5400 BC","h":"Founded in the early Ubaid period, one of the region's first settlements","s":[67]},{"v":"Basalt","h":"Made of: Basalt, clay, diorite, earth, mudbrick, sandstone","s":[67]}],"hs":{"67":["Wikipedia: Eridu (and sources cited there)","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eridu"]},"lh":{"s":"img/h/MES-003.webp","w":1024,"h":768,"o":"https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/67/Ziggurat_at_Eridu_%2830809118442%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled"}}