Sumerian architecture
The
Tigris-
Euphrates plain lacked
minerals and
trees. Sumerian structures comprised plano-convex
mudbrick, not fixed with
mortar nor
cement. As plano-convex bricks (being rounded) are somewhat unstable in behaviour, Sumerian bricklayers would lay a row of bricks perpendicular to the rest every few rows. They would fill the gaps with
bitumen,
straw,
marsh reeds, and
weeds.
Mud-brick buildings eventually deteriorate, so they were periodically destroyed, levelled, and rebuilt on the same spot. This constant rebuilding gradually raised the level of cities, so that they came to be elevated above the surrounding plain. The resulting hills are known as
tells, and are found throughout the ancient Near East. Sumerian
cylinder seals also depict houses built from reeds, not unlike those built by the
Marsh Arabs of Southern
Iraq until recent years.
Sumerian temples and palaces made use of more advanced materials and techniques, such as
buttresses,
recesses,
half columns, and
clay nails.
Scribes were also important to Sumerian architecture, to make records of construction carried out for government, nobility, or royalty.
The most impressive and famous Sumerian buildings are the
ziggurats -- large terraced platforms with temples on top. Such ziggurats may have been the inspiration for the Biblical
Tower of Babel (see
Etemenanki).
Ziggurats typical of the
Ubaid period were built very high on a platform of mud brick. On these large platforms were built gradually smaller and smaller concentric platforms, although sometimes there were ground level temples more typical of the protoliterate period. These were similar to some modern buildings in the shape of ziggurats. Many temples had inscriptions engraved into them, such as the one at Uqair.
See also: Art and architecture of Babylonia and Assyria
