Town planning in 3rd millennium Mesopotamia: a view from the alluvial plain
Abstract
The urban history of Mesopotamia has the distinction of being the world’s longest. At least from the fourth millennium onwards, the necessity to organize growing human communities compelled political authorities to intervene in the management of the space available, whether public or private. In some historical circumstances, this process took on spectacular forms, as in the Jezirah and later on in the arid margins of Syria, with the foundation of round cities. But it also occurred earlier and in a very different manner in the lowlands of Mesopotamia. This paper will briefly present some data from various sites (Abu Salabikh, Khafadjah, Tell Asmar), providing comparative evidence that illustrates the cultural diversity of ‘Greater Mesopotamia’ in the third millennium BC.