TEPE GAWRA — SPEISER 439 



mense antiquity of Tepe Gawra that the mound ends with a civiliza- 

 tion which modern archeology has barely begun to appreciate. 

 Levels IV-V represent the Old Assyrian period, and levels VI-VII 

 take us back to the Early Dynastic age, at the beginning of the third 

 millemiium. All the remaining strata are predynastic and hence 

 prehistoric. In the southern lands of Sumer and Akkad excavations 

 have established the presence of three main predynastic civilizations, 

 the first and latest of which is called Jemdet Nasr, the second Uruk, 

 and the third and earliest Obeid, the names being derived from the 

 respective significant sites. It follows that man first settled in those 

 areas in Obeid times, when the marshlands of Lower Mesopotamia 

 had at length become suitable for occupation. It should be pointed 

 out, however, that general designations of this sort do not necessarily 

 imply cultural or ethnic uniformity. As a matter of fact, the Jemdet 

 Nasr and Uruk periods were characterized even in the south by the 

 presence of several disparate elements, each of which can be traced 

 by its own distinctive contribution to the civilization of the age in 

 question. In the north, where Nineveh and Gawra were important 

 contemporary centers, the situation was further complicated by the 

 circumstance that other independent groups, which had never 

 reached Kish or Ur or Uruk, helped to shape the local civilizations. 

 We know, for instance, that Gawra VIII-XI flourished in Jemdet 

 Nasr and Uruk times; but, while cultural contacts with the south 

 were numerous and manifest, there was here also an important inde- 

 pendent residue. These Gawra levels show an exclusive use of the 

 stamp seal, as against the cylinder seal of the Early Dynastic period. 

 In Jemdet Nasr and Uruk proper the cylinder seal is used also in 

 late predynastic times, alongside the stamp. Moreover, the stamps 

 of Gawra differ basically from those in the south in spirit and execu- 

 tion, so much so that the respective craftsmen must have belonged 

 to different racial groups. 



The temple architecture of Gawra VIII-XI is of outstanding 

 significance. In each of these four levels, not to mention a number 

 of sublevels, the design is essentially the same: a severely symmet- 

 rical structure with the entrance on the narrow side and a podium 

 in the center of the long cult chamber. The walls are decorated 

 with double-recessed outside niches, regularly spaced. The shrines 

 of contemporary Uruk bear only a general and superficial resem- 

 blance to this long succession of Gawra temples. 



Gawra XI-A was dominated by a unique Kound House, which 

 combined the features of a temple and a citadel. With Gawra XII 

 we come down to an age which was given over in the south to the 

 Obeid civilization. If it were not, however, for the discoveries in 

 the north, this interesting period could not be seen in its proper light. 



