Ressources numériques en sciences humaines et sociales OpenEdition Nos plateformes OpenEdition Books OpenEdition Journals Hypothèses Calenda Bibliothèques OpenEdition Freemium Suivez-nous

Rejibah (Southern Iraq): A city at the dawn of Mesopotamian urbanisation

Introduction: urbanisation at the margins of Ur

In October 2025, the EURUK Project (Early Urbanisation: Roots, Unfolding and Kick-off) launched its first field season at Rejibah, a vast archaeological site located less than 15 km southwestof Ur, in southern Iraq (Fig. 1). The project aims to investigate the origins of a Mesopotamian city, from the proto-urban phase of the 4th millennium BCE to the emergence of an early Sumerian centre in the first centuries of the 3rd millennium BCE.

Fig.1: Satellite map of Rejibah and the main contemporary sites (4th-3rd millennia BCE) in southern Iraq (© EURUK).

Early urbanisation in the heartland of cities (Adams 1981) has long been a fundamental and much-debated topic in Mesopotamian archaeology, ever since the first excavations at major sites in the southern alluvium between the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In recent years, it has again become the focus of renewed interest, accompanied by a new wave of field investigations. While the process of urbanisation in Lower Mesopotamia has been extensively studied from a landscape perspective (Hritz 2010; Hammer 2022; Giosan and Goodman 2025), research addressing the timing and pattern of the development of proper urban features within major southern Mesopotamian centres remains limited (Ur 2014). The size of large sites such as Uruk or Ur and their very long occupation extending into late periods have been a challenge for this kind of investigation. Moreover, fieldwork was largely confined to monumental areas and rarely extended to workspaces or residential districts. The paradoxical outcome is that, although southern Mesopotamia is the cradle of the very notion of an “Urban Revolution” (Childe 1950), currently available data on the earliest stages of urbanisation are more abundant for Syria and northern Mesopotamia, where sites tend to be smaller.

Although severely affected by heavy looting, the site of Rejibah offers a rare opportunity in this regard. It lies in an area that has been densely inhabited since the proto-urban phase. Currently estimated at almost 120 ha – though its southern limits remain to be determined – its size alone suggests that it was certainly not a satellite settlement. It was closely connected to major centres such as Ur and Eridu, and developed through the aggregation of several mounds, according to a complex logic whose functional and organisational implications remain to be documented.

Beneath the surface, a city revealed

The first campaign marked the beginning of survey activities, focused on the western part of the site and, in a more preliminary way, the eastern sector, as well as the start of excavations with the opening of four stratigraphic operations (RJ-1 to RJ-4) and three test trenches (TO-1 to TO-3). The site extends over an area almost twice as large as previously estimated and includes two main sectors: the western part, Rejibah al-Gharbi – itself subdivided into Rejibah al-Janoub to the south and Rejibah al-Shamal to the north – and a broad eastern sector extending beyond a wide canal, which we designate Rejibah al-Sharqi (Fig. 2-3).

Fig. 2: Digital Elevation Model (DEM) of the site of Rejibah (© EURUK – S. Poudroux).
Fig. 3: Orthomosaic of Rejibah showing the location of Operations RJ-1 to RJ-4 (© EURUK – S. Poudroux).

The latter has suffered only minimal disturbances and appears largely intact, with extensive occupation during the Jemdet Nasr (c. 3200-2900 BCE) and Early Dynastic I periods (c. 2900-2700 BCE). The western sector, Rejibah al-Gharbi, has been more heavily affected by looting (Fig. 4), particularly in the area of Rejibah al-Shamal, where the operations were conducted. Nevertheless, the stratigraphic sequences exposed in the different operations are, in many cases, remarkably deep and well preserved, so that the impact of clandestine excavations is relatively limited when compared to the overall readability of the site’s stratigraphy.

Fig. 4: Large looting pits in Rejibah al-Gharbi (© EURUK).
Digging into Rejibah’s memory

Operation RJ-1 covered a total area of 10 × 12 m (120 m2) (Fig. 5). Despite heavy disturbance caused by several large looting pits, the excavation revealed a large Early Dynastic I period building (early 3rd millennium BCE) with a complex plan and circulation system, including at least two courtyards. The architecture was characterised by stone and mudbrick walls, enclosed within a mudbrick casing. The entire edifice was founded on a mudbrick terrace sealing an earlier occupation phase and equipped with drainage channels set beneath doorways and floors.

Fig. 5: General plan of the buildings and structures belonging to the two phases identified in RJ-1 (© EURUK).

Operation RJ-2 targeted one of the two deepest looting pits located in the northern sector of Rejibah al-Shamal. The goal was to clean out the pit and to record the site’s deep stratigraphy visible along its edges.

The uppermost level, dating to the beginning of the Early Dynastic I period, was characterised by mudbrick constructions built over a destruction layer composed of mudbricks and burnt material. Beneath this, two distinct construction phases of a large mudbrick terrace nearly 2m high, both Jemdet Nasr in date, were preserved (Fig. 6). The foundations of a NW-SE-oriented stone wall were set into the mudbrick terrace. The wall formed a westward angle that was partially destroyed by looters. At the base of the mudbrick terrace, a group of vessels was discovered, possibly part of a foundation deposit (Fig. 7). The terrace rested on a substructure of large stone slabs equipped with a drain (cf. Fig. 6). Pottery sherds recovered from between and beneath the stone slabs suggest a Late Uruk period date (c. 3400-3200 BCE) for this level.

Fig. 6: South-west section of Operation RJ-2 (© EURUK).
Fig. 7: Possible foundation deposit beneath the mudbrick terrace in Operation RJ-2 (© EURUK).

During this first campaign, Operation RJ-2 did not expose the complete stratigraphic sequence of the site. Several sherds collected from the surface indicate the presence of Middle and Early Uruk (c. 4000-3400 BCE) occupations at Rejibah, as well as the probable existence of an Ubaid 5 settlement (second half of the 5th millennium BCE). Nevertheless, the season provided strong evidence of an uninterrupted monumental occupation in the northern sector of Rejibah al-Shamal, spanning from the Late Uruk to the Early Dynastic I period.

Operation RJ-3 is a 6 × 4m excavation unit located on the northeastern edge of Rejibah al-Shamal that yielded evidence of distinct late 4th millennium (Jemdet Nasr) occupations. At the surface, to the east, numerous green and deformed pottery wasters were recovered. Ashy deposits and traces of burning were also identified, suggesting the presence of a pottery production area, whose heavily eroded facilities were uncovered just beneath the surface.

Deeper down, a distinct destruction layer was identified, composed of compacted clay mixed with ash and numerous pottery sherds – particularly conical bowls and goblets – as well as animal and fish bones. A large fragment from the shoulder of a purple-painted jar, as well as handles of trays with appliqué decorations featuring the Inanna standard were also recovered (Fig. 8). This phase was represented by a building associated with remarkably elaborate water management facilities (Fig. 9).

Fig. 8: Internal handles of a tray bearing a schematic representation of Inanna’s standard (Jemdet Nasr period, c. 3200-2900 BCE), from Operation RJ-3 (© EURUK).
Fig. 9: General view of the Level 2 building in RJ-3 (© EURUK).

All of the building’s spaces exposed were organised around a NW-SE oriented wall. To the southeast of the latter, a series of sherd-paved basins and spaces were connected by a system of channels. The fill of the largest basin contained clay nodules, a significant amount of salt, and traces of fine mat impressions in bitumen. It was probably supplied with water by ducts passing through the base of the walls. One of these ducts yielded a large pierced baked-clay cylinder, probably intended to regulate the water flow. The floors of these spaces, covered by pottery sherds that appear to have been broken in situ, were not entirely flat, but rather shaped with stones to form two curved sections, with certain areas coated with bitumen (Fig. 10).

Fig. 10: Detail of the sherd-paved floor coated with bitumen in RJ-3 Level 2 (© EURUK).

Finally, Operation RJ-4, located at the northern end of Rejibah al-Shamal, targeted one of its two deepest looters’ pits in order to use it as a sounding (Fig. 11). The stratigraphy of the cross-sections revealed a succession of three large pits, probably kilns, each cut into the previous one and filled with ash, pottery – mainly spouted jars, conical bowls, and beakers – and some ceramic waste dating to the Early Dynastic I period. The evidence strongly points to a ceramic workshop, one of the rare production areas of this kind documented in Lower Mesopotamia for this period.

Fig. 11: SE-NW section of Operation RJ-4, illustrating the succession of pits and mudbrick construction levels (© EURUK – S. Poudroux).
A city in the making… and in excavating

The October 2025 campaign marked the beginning of a long-term project. In the coming seasons, we plan to undertake the geomorphological study of the hydraulic installations and related infrastructure within the site and in its surroundings, as well as a geophysical investigation of the outskirts of the city and its eastern half. In fact, while the looting pits make it impossible to conduct a geophysical survey of the western sector, the eastern area, which is flat and essentially untouched, appears very suitable for revealing the layout of an early urban site. Furthermore, the topographical configuration observable from the ground and from satellite images of the settlement’s perimeter seems to suggest the existence of city gates, fortifications or water containment systems in the surrounding area.

Determining the nature of these structures and dating their origin – whether to the beginning of the 3rd millennium BCE or to the Jemdet Nasr period, when Rejibah may have already been a fully-fledged city – will shed new light on the material and organisational processes by which a burgeoning city first defined its physical form in space and its relationship with its own society.

Our first activities at Rejibah have only scratched the surface. And yet, what lies beneath it has already exceeded all expectations, which is perhaps the best outcome a first season can offer.

We warmly thank Jasmine Vese (Sapienza, University of Rome) for her outstanding work as draughtsperson, the representatives of the State Board of Antiquities and Heritage of Iraq (SBAH) – Mohannad Mohammed Mnathir, Tahir Ali Khadem, Intizar Khalaf Khudhur, and Haider Shanyour Kadhem – as well as our driver Hussein Shanyour Kadhem and the local workers, for their invaluable contribution to the success of this first season (Fig. 12).

Fig. 12: October 2025: Rejibah’s team during an intense work session (© EURUK).

References

Adams McC. 1981. Heartland of Cities. Survey of Ancient Settlement and Land Use on the Central Floodplain of the Euphrates, Chicago, University of Chicago Press.

Childe G. 1950. The Urban Revolution, The Town Planning Review 12/1: 3-17.

Giosan L., Goodman, R. 2025. Morphodynamic Foundations of Sumer, PloS One 20/8. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0329084

Hammer E. 2022. Multi-centric, Marsh-based Urbanism at the early Mesopotamian city of Lagash (Tell al-Hiba, Iraq), Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 68. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaa.2022.101458

Hritz C. 2010. Tracing Settlement Patterns and Channel Systems in Southern Mesopotamia Using Remote Sensing, Journal of Field Archaeology 35/2: 184-203.
DOI : https://doi.org/10.1179/009346910X12707321520477

Ur J. 2014. Households and the Emergence of Cities in Ancient Mesopotamia, Cambridge Archaeological Journal 24/2: 249-268. DOI : https://doi.org/10.1017/S095977431400047X

The authors

Melania Zingarello is an archaeologist and ceramologist specialising in Bronze Age Mesopotamia. She is currently leading the ANR Access ERC project DRAFT_BREW on Mesopotamian brewing traditions (4th-2nd mill.) at UMR 7264 CEPAM, Nice.

Johnny Samuele Baldi is an archaeologist and ceramologist specialising in the proto-urban phase in Mesopotamia and the Northern Levant. He is a researcher at the CNRS and member of UMR 5133 Archéorient, Lyon.

Claire Padovani is an archaeologist specialising in pyrotechnologies and ceramic production in pre- and protohistoric societies of Southwest Asia. She is associate researcher at UMR 5133 Archéorient, Lyon.

Camille Abric is a PhD student specialising in protohistoric ceramics from Northeast Iran. She is affiliated with Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne/EUR ArChAl.

Sébastien Poudroux is an archaeologist, topographer, and GIS specialist working in Egypt and Sudan. He is an associate researcher at the École Pratique des Hautes Études, Paris (EA 4519-EPHE), and project coordinator at the Section française de la Direction des Antiquités du Soudan. He carried out the first topographic and cartographic surveys of the site of Rejibah.

Maëlle Merret is a master’s student (M2) in Archaeology at Université Lumière Lyon 2, with a research focus on Bronze Age urbanism in Mesopotamia.


OpenEdition vous propose de citer ce billet de la manière suivante :
Melania Zingarello, Johnny Samuele Baldi, Claire Padovani, Camille Abric, Sébastien Poudroux, Maëlle Merret (27 mars 2026). Rejibah (Southern Iraq): A city at the dawn of Mesopotamian urbanisation. ArchéOrient - Le Blog. Consulté le 18 avril 2026 à l’adresse https://doi.org/10.58079/15yfk


Vous aimerez aussi...

Laisser un commentaire

Votre adresse e-mail ne sera pas publiée. Les champs obligatoires sont indiqués avec *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.