In the late fourth millenium BCE southern Mesopotamia, the region known in antiquity as Sumer, witnessed a great increase in the number of populated sites. Living along the alluvial plains of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, Sumerian farmers grew grain and other crops in abundance, a surplus which enabled them to create the world’s first urban settlements. By ca. 3,200 BCE, the Sumerians had established numerous city-states. These were independent political entities, each centered on a temple dedicated to the patron god or goddess and ruled over by a king or priestly governor. One site, the city of Uruk, surpassed all the others, covering approximately one square mile with monumental mudbrick buildings. Around 2,800 BCE, the Sumerians developed cuneiform, one of the earliest writing systems.

In the arts, large-scale sculpture in the round and relief sculpture appeared for the first time, together with metal casting using the lost-wax method. Outstanding examples of Sumerian sculpture are the votive figures from the Square Temple at Eshnunna (Tell Asmar, Iraq). The ziggurat, a mudbrick temple platform, was a characteristic form of Sumerian architecture. Sumer was conquered by the Semitic-speaking kings of the Akkadian Empire around 2,270 BCE. Web resources here and here.

Digital reconstruction of the Anu Ziggurat and White Temple of Uruk (modern Warka, Iraq). Ca. 3517–3358 BCE. German Archaeological Institute.