Rejibah

Rejibah
Location of Rejibah in Iraq
32°7′48″N 46°4′12″E / 32.13000°N 46.07000°E / 32.13000; 46.07000
Typesettlement
PeriodsBronze Age
LocationDhi Qar Governorate, Iraq
History
Built4th millennium BC
Site notes
Excavation dates1967, 2025-present
ArchaeologistsHenry T. Wright
ConditionRuined
OwnerPublic
Public accessYes

Rejibah (also Rajibeh or Radhiba or Reijibeh or Reijebeh or Radhibah) is an ancient Near Eastern archaeological site in Dhi Qar Governorate governate in southwest Iraq. It lies 13 kilometers southwest of the ancient city of Ur. The site has been heavily looted, especially the western portions which is damaged to the extent that a geomagnetic archaeological survey is not possible. It has been suggested that the ancient name of the site was Kuwara.[1] Kuwara is unlocated but known to be near ancient Eridu which lies 24 kilometers south-southwest of Ur.[2]

Archaeology

During his 1922-1934 excavations at the ancient city of Ur Leonard Woolley considered working at some peripheral sites, including Rejibah, seeing them as suburbs (or satellites) of Ur. He described Rejibah as being "predominantly at least, of the date of the Third Dynasty of Ur". He also noted another site, location 12 miles northwest of Ur, calling it "Reijibeh X". It was about 100 meters in diameter and less than 2 meters in height.[3] Ubaid period figurines were surface finds at Rejibah X as well as Ubaid pottery, flint hoes, flakes, celts, pounders and grind-stones, and clay sickles.[4][5][6]

A number of Rejibah finds from Woolley's effort are held at the Penn Museum. Finds included a door pivot stone with an inscription of Ur III ruler Ur-Namma "Ur-Namma king of Ur, the person who the temple of Ninsun built.", a set of 9 stone inscribed weights, and 23 objects found in a clay coffin. Early 3rd millennium finds included two zoomorphic pendants and a stone stamp seal. Later finds included 4 Neo-Babylonian cuneiform tablets, one complete (legal text recording a loan), 10 cylinder seals, and a number of copper-alloy objects. Standard 9 line inscription bricks of Ur ruler Amar-Sin were noted but not collected.[7]

In 1967 the site was examined as part of an Oriental Institute regional survey led by Henry T. Wright. A Late Uruk /Jemdet Nasr period canal was identified as originating from the Euphrates river then watering the site before proceeding on to the city of Eridu. Buildings with clay cones and kilns were noted. It was described as a large site, 23 hectares overall, consisting of three areas:[8]

  • Rejibah Jinub (Survey #4) - 450 meters northwest by 280 meters with a height of 6 meters. Occupation areas from surface survey described as 8.2 hectares in the Jemdet Nasr / Early Dynastic period and 3 hectares in the Late Larsa period.
  • Rejibah Shamal (Survey #5) - 550 meters by 225 meters with a height of 2 meters. Occupation described as possible Late Ubaid and Uruk, 12.5 hectares of Jemdet Nasr period and a trace of Late Larsa period.
  • Unnamed (Survey #93) - 220 meters northwest by 125 meters with a height of 0.5 meters. Occupation described as possible Ubaid, 2.5 hectares Jemdet Nasr / Early Dynastic and 2.5 hectares Post-Kassite.

It was suggested that the canal is that mentioned in the Sumerian literary composition "Inanna's Journey to Eridu" and that this site would be one of the places named in that text.[9][10] The sites of Tell Khaiber and Sakheri Kabir also lie on this canal.[11]

In October 2025 a first season of excavations at the site were begun by a EURUK Project (Early Urbanisation: Roots, Unfolding and Kick-off) team. They divided the site into two sectors, in the west Rejibah al-Gharbi (subdivided into Rejibah al-Janoub to the south and Rejibah al-Shamal to the north) and in the east by the canal an area they called Rejibah al-Sharqi. Work consisted of four stratigraphic operations, RJ-1 (10 × 12 meters, large Early Dynastic I period building), RJ-2 (existing robbers pit, Ubaid 6 through Early Dynastic I), RJ-3 (6 × 4 meters, Jemdet Nasr), and RJ-4 (existing robbers pit, Early Dynastic I), all in the western section, and three test trenches, TO-1, TO-2, and TO-3 - location unknown. Future plans include a geophysical investigation of the more lightly looted parts of the site.[12]

History

The site as a whole was first settled in the Late Ubaid period, through the Uruk period, Early Dynastic period, Ur III period, and Isin-Larsa period. Then, possibly after an occupational hiatus, it was settled in the Neo-Babylonan period and the Parthinian period before being abandoned.[12][7][5]

See also

References

  1. ^ [1] Steinkeller, P., “The Location of Kuwara”, NABU 91, pp.82–3, 1995
  2. ^ Steinkeller, Piotr, "Writing, Kingship and Political Discourse in Early Babylonia: Reflections on the Nature and Function of Third Millennium Historical Sources", History, Texts and Art in Early Babylonia: Three Essays, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, pp. 7-81, 2017
  3. ^ [2] Hammer, Emily, and Angelo Di Michele, "The Suburbs of the Early Mesopotamian City of Ur (Tell al-Muqayyar, Iraq)", American Journal of Archaeology 127.4, pp. 449-479, 2023
  4. ^ [3] Daems, Aurelie, "A snake in the grass: reassessing the ever-intriguing ophidian figurines", Beyond the ubaid: transformation and integration in the late prehistoric societies of the Middle East, Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization 63, Chicago: The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, pp. 149-161, 2010 ISBN 978-1-885923-66-0
  5. ^ a b [4] Woolley, Leonard, "The early periods: a report on the sites and objects prior in date to the third dynasty of Ur discovered in the course of the excavations", Ur excavations IV, London : Published for the Trustees of the Two Museums, Oxford University Press, 1955
  6. ^ Douglas Frayne, "Ur-Nammu E3/2.1.1", Ur III Period (2112-2004 BC), Toronto: University of Toronto Press, pp. 5-90, 1997
  7. ^ a b [5] Richard L. Zettler, "Brought in: Woolley’s collections from sites in Ur’s hinterlands", in Thomas, David C. (ed) Ur 1922–2022 Papers marking the centenary of Sir Leonard Woolley’s first season of excavations at Ur. Ur 1922–2022 Papers marking the centenary of Sir Leonard Woolley’s first season of excavations at Ur , pp. 137-147, 2024 ISBN 978-0-903472-43-2
  8. ^ [6] Robert McCormick Adams, "Heartland of cities. Surveys of ancient settlements and land use on the central floodplain of the Euphrates", Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1981 ISBN 0-226-00544-5
  9. ^ Jacobsen, Thorkild, "The Waters of Ur", Iraq, vol. 22, pp. 174–85, 1960
  10. ^ [7] R. McC. Adams and H. Nissen, "The Uruk Countryside: The Natural Setting of Urban Societies", Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1972 ISBN 0-226-00500-3
  11. ^ [8] Benati, Giacomo, "Re-modeling political economy in early 3rd millennium BC Mesopotamia: patterns of socio-economic organization in Archaic Ur (Tell al-Muqayyar, Iraq)", Cuneiform Digital Library Journal 2 (2015), pp. 1-37, 2015
  12. ^ a b [9] Zingarello, Melania, et al., "Rejibah (Southern Iraq): A city at the dawn of Mesopotamian urbanisation", 2026

Further reading

  • Al-Soof, Behnam Abu, "Distribution of Uruk, Jamdat Nasr and Ninevite V pottery as revealed by field survey work in Iraq", Iraq 30.1, pp. 74–86, 1968
  • Carter, Robert, "The Mesopotamian frontier of the Arabian Neolithic: A cultural borderland of the sixth–fifth millennia BC", Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy 31.1, pp. 69–85, 2020
  • [10] Woolley, Leonard, "The early periods: a report on the sites and objects prior in date to the third dynasty of Ur discovered in the course of the excavations", Ur excavations IV, London : Published for the Trustees of the Two Museums, Oxford University Press, 1955
  • [11] Woolley, Leonard and with M.E.L. Mallowan, "The Old Babylonian Period", Ur Excavations VII, Oxford University Press, 1976
  • [12] Woolley, Leonard and M.E.L. Mallowan, "The Neo-Babylonian and Persian Periods", Ur Excavations IX, London : Published for the Trustees of the Two Museums, 1962
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