Jemdet Nasr Period - History of Research

History of Research

In the beginning of the 20th century, clay tablets with an archaic form of the cuneiform script started to appear on the antiquities market. A collection of 36 tablets was bought by the German excavators of Shuruppak (Tell Fara) in 1903. While they thought that they came from Jemdet Nasr, it has later been shown that they probably came from nearby Tell Uqair. In 1915, similar tablets were offered for sale by a French antiquities dealer, and these were again reported to have come from Jemdet Nasr. Similar tablets, together with splendidly painted monochrome and polychrome pottery, were also shown to Stephen Langdon, then director of the excavations at Kish, by local Arabs in 1925. They told him the finds came from Jemdet Nasr, a site some 26 kilometres (16 mi) northeast of Kish. Langdon was sufficiently impressed, visited the site and started excavations in 1926. He uncovered a large mudbrick building with in it more of the distinctive pottery and a collection of 150 to 180 clay tablets bearing the proto-cuneiform script. The importance of these finds was realized immediately and the Jemdet Nasr period – named after the eponymous type site, was officially defined on a conference in Baghdad in 1930, where at the same time the Uruk and Ubaid periods were defined. It has later been shown that some of the material culture that was initially thought to be unique for the Jemdet Nasr period also occurred during the preceding Uruk and the subsequent Early Dynastic period. Nevertheless, it is generally believed that the Jemdet Nasr period is still sufficiently distinct in its material culture as well as its socio-cultural characteristics to be recognized as a separate period. Since the first excavations at Jemdet Nasr, the Jemdet Nasr period has been found at numerous other sites across south–central Iraq, including Abu Salabikh, Shuruppak, Khafajah, Nippur, Tell Uqair, Ur and Uruk.