The Ubaid culture flourished from 5500 BCE.

Ubaid culture from 6900 BC.

Other finds have included pottery from the Al Ubaid culture of Mesopotamia and northern Arabia ( ca.

* Ubaid culture

The first people at Eridu brought with them the Samarran culture from northern Mesopotamia and are identified with the Ubaid period, but it is not known whether or not these were Sumerians ( associated later with the Uruk period ).

In the following period, Uruk V, about 100 m east of the Stone-Cone Temple the Limestone Temple was built on a 2 m high rammed-earth podium over a pre-existing Ubaid temple, which like the Stone-Cone Temple represents a continuation of Ubaid culture.

The Samarran Culture was the precursor to the Mesopotamian culture of the Ubaid period.

Cultural influences on Ubaid culture: Samarran Farmers from the North, trans-Arabian bifacial indigenous hunter-gatherers, and circum Arabian nomadic pastoral complex

The tell ( mound ) of al -` Ubaid () west of nearby Ur in southern Iraq's Dhi Qar Governorate has given its name to the prehistoric Pottery Neolithic to Chalcolithic culture, which represents the earliest settlement on the alluvial plain of southern Mesopotamia.

The Ubaid culture had a long duration beginning before 5300 BC and lasting until the beginning of the Uruk period, c. 4000 BC.

* Ubaid 3 / 4, sometimes called Ubaid I and Ubaid II — In the period from 4500 – 4000 BC saw a period of intense and rapid urbanisation with the Ubaid culture spread into northern Mesopotamia replacing ( after a hiatus ) the Halaf culture.

Ubaid culture is characterized by large village settlements, characterized by multi-roomed rectangular mud-brick houses and the appearance of the first temples of public architecture in Mesopotamia, with a growth of a two tier settlement hierarchy of centralized large sites of more than 10 hectares surrounded by smaller village sites of less than 1 hectare.

Morton Fried and Elman Service have hypothesised that Ubaid culture saw the rise of an elite class of hereditary chieftains, perhaps heads of kin groups linked in some way to the administration of the temple shrines and their granaries, responsible for mediating intra-group conflict and maintaining social order.

Ubaid culture originated in the south, but still has clear connections to earlier cultures in the region of middle Iraq.

" A contextual analysis comparing different regions shows that the Ubaid expansion took place largely through the peaceful spread of an ideology, leading to the formation of numerous new indigenous identities that appropriated and transformed superficial elements of Ubaid material culture into locally distinct expressions.

The Sumerian civilization spanned over 3000 years and began with the first settlement of Eridu in the Ubaid period ( mid-6th millennium BC ) through the Uruk period ( 4th millennium BC ) and the Early Dynastic periods ( 3rd millennium BC ) until the rise of Assyria and Babylonia in the late 3rd and early 2nd millennium BC respectively.

With the Uruk phase, walled cities grew and many isolated Ubaid villages were abandonned indicating a rise in communal violence.

The earliest history of pottery production in the Near East can be divided into four periods, namely: the Hassuna period ( 7000-6500 BCE ), the Halaf period ( 6500-5500 BCE ), the Ubaid period ( 5500-4000 BCE ), and the Uruk period ( 4000-3100 BCE ).

The history of Sumer, taken to include the prehistoric Ubaid and Uruk periods, spans the 5 < sup > th </ sup > to 3 < sup > rd </ sup > century BC, ending with the downfall of the Third Dynasty of Ur around 2004 BC, followed by a transition period of Amorite states before the rise of Babylonia in the 18th century BC.

Temples of the Uruk Period divided the temple rectangle into tripartite, T-shaped, or combined plans The tripartite plan inherited from the Ubaid had a large central hall with two smaller flanking halls on either side.

* Uruk XVIII-XVI Late Ubaid period ( 4800 – 4200 BC )

Stein and Özbal describe the Near East oikumene that resulted from Ubaid expansion, contrasting it to the colonial expansionism of the later Uruk period.

Thus, Uruk XVIII – XIV are not part of the " Uruk period " proper but are comprised by the Ubaid period.

The Ubaid period marks the Pottery Neolithic to Chalcolithic phase in Mesopotamia, which represents the earliest settlement on the alluvial plain in the south.

Early urbanization begins with the Ubaid period, around 5300 BC.

The invention of the wheel and the beginning of the Chalcolithic period fall into the Ubaid period.

* Ubaid period: 5300 – 4100 BC ( Pottery Neolithic to Chalcolithic )

The history of ancient Mesopotamia begins with the emergence of urban societies during the Ubaid period ( ca.

** Ubaid period (~ 5900 – 4400 BC )

The precursors of the ziggurat were raised platforms that date from the Ubaid period during the fourth millennium BC.

The invention of the potter's wheel in Mesopotamia sometime between 6, 000 and 4, 000 BCE ( Ubaid period ) revolutionized pottery production.

The city dates from the Ubaid period circa 3800 BC, and is recorded in written history as a City State from the 26th century BC, its first recorded king being Mesh-Ane-pada.

Archaeologists have discovered evidence of an early occupation at Ur during the Ubaid period.

Excavations were also made below the royal tombs layer: a-thick layer of alluvial clay covered the remains of earlier habitation, including pottery from the Ubaid period, the first stage of settlement in southern Mesopotamia.

* Ubaid period: 5300 – 4100 BC Early Chalcolithic )

The T-shaped plan, also from the Ubaid period, was identical to the tripartite plan except for a hall at one end of the rectangle perpendicular to the main hall.

The earliest examples of the ziggurat were raised platforms that date from the Ubaid period during the fourth millennium BC, and the latest date from the 6th century BC.

In Ubaid in the 5th millennium BC, blades were manufactured from obsidian mined in what is now Turkey.

Residential design was a direct development from Ubaid houses.

Chronologically, Sumerian temples evolved from earlier Ubaid temples.

The bent axis approach is an innovation from the Ubaid temples which had a linear axis approach, and is also a feature of Sumerian houses.

The precursors of the ziggurat were raised platforms that date from the Ubaid period during the fourth millennium BC.

The topmost layer most likely originated in the Jemdet Nasr period ( 3100 – 2900 BC ) and is built on structures from earlier periods dating back to the Ubaid period.

However, the Limestone Temple was unprecedented for its size and use of stone, a clear departure from traditional Ubaid architecture.

Pottery jar from Late Ubaid Period

* Ubaid 2 — ( 4800 – 4500 BC ), after the type site of the same name, saw the development of extensive canal networks from major settlements.