Uruk period

Uruk period

Geographical range	Mesopotamia
Period	Copper Age
Dates	c. 4000–3100 BC
Type site	Uruk
Preceded by	Ubaid period
Followed by	Jemdet Nasr period

The Uruk period (c. 4000 to 3100 BC; also known as Protoliterate period) existed from the protohistoric Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age period in the history of Mesopotamia, after the Ubaid period and before the Jemdet Nasr period.^[1] Named after the Sumerian city of Uruk, this period saw the emergence of urban life in Mesopotamia and the Sumerian civilization.^[2] The late Uruk period (34th to 32nd centuries) saw the gradual emergence of the cuneiform script and corresponds to the Early Bronze Age; it has also been described as the "Protoliterate period".^[3][4]

It was during this period that pottery painting declined as copper started to become popular, along with cylinder seals.^[5]

Part of a series on the
History of Iraq
Prehistory Ubaid period Hassuna culture Halaf culture Halaf-Ubaid Transitional period Samarra culture (Eridu) Uruk period Jemdet Nasr Period
Bronze Age Sumer Hamazi Assyria Akkadian Empire Gutian Dynasty Neo-Sumerian Empire Isin-Larsa period Simurrum Babylonia First Babylonian Empire Kassites Middle Assyrian Empire Neo-Assyrian Empire Neo-Babylonian Empire
Iron Age Achaemenid Assyria Seleucid Babylonia Parthian Babylonia Roman Mesopotamia Sasanian Asorestan
Middle Ages Islamic conquest Rashidun Caliphate Umayyad Caliphate Abbasid Caliphate Hamdanids Buyid amirate of Iraq Marwanids Uqaylids Al-Mazeedi Ayyubids Seljuk Empire Atabegs of Azerbaijan Zengids Ilkhanate Jalairid Sultanate Timurid Empire Kara Koyunlu Aq Qoyunlu
Early modern period Safavids Ottoman Iraq Mamluk dynasty
Modern Iraq Mandatory Iraq Kingdom of Iraq Republic of Iraq (1958–68) Ba'athist rule (1968–2003) Occupation (2003–11) Recent history
Iraq portal
v t e