Secrets of the Dark Mound: Jemdet Nasr 1926-1928

by Roger Matthews

Excavations in the 1920s at Jemdet Nasr, 100 km south of Baghdad, exposed a large building with an intriguing assemblage of painted pots, stylized cylinder seals and a uniquely important collection of early cuneiform tablets, all dating to around 3,000 BC. The distinctiveness of this material assemblage meant that the site gave its name to the Jemdet Nasr period of early Mesopotamian history. The excavations were not fully published at the time and since the 1920s there has been considerable debate about the value and significance of the excavation results. Following two seasons of renewed excavations at Jemdet Nasr in the late 1980s, a program of recording and analysis of the 1920s material has been underway, now resulting in this final publication of all non-textual objects excavated at Jemdet Nasr in the 1920s seasons, excluding some items now in the Iraq Museum, Baghdad. The bulk of this material has not been adequately published before, and its publication here will add notably to the body of evidence relevant to the study of early society at the time of the development of urban literate civilization on the south Mesopotamian plains.

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002