Tell el-Ueili (Al-Ueili)
تل العويلي · Tell el-Ueili · Al-Ueili · Oueili
Ubaid 0 through Ubaid I (c.6500–5500 BCE); late Samarra–Hajji Muhammad horizon·Samarra–Ubaid 0 (Oueili phase) → Ubaid 1 (Hajji Muhammad) southern Mesopotamian·🇮🇶 Dhi Qar Governorate, south of Larsa, Lower Euphrates plain, Iraq
About
About Tell el-Ueili (Al-Ueili)
Earliest southern Mesopotamian village mound (c.6500–5500 BCE Ubaid 0–1) predating Eridu: excavated by Jean-Louis Huot (CNRS, 1976–89). Levels Oueli IV–VII reveal Ubaid 0 (‘Oueili) architecture — earliest mudbrick houses with buttressed temples and grain silos, Samarra–Hajji Muhammad ceramics, tripartite plan, and lithic blades — proof of autonomous southern village formation before Uruk. Deep sounding 11 m with marsh-edge canal deposits. Type-site for Ubaid 0 at margin of Eridu basin, redefining Ubaid genesis without Halaf import.
Why it mattersType-site Ubaid 0 proving autonomous southern Mesopotamian Neolithic village formation without northern immigration — redrew Ubaid origins.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Why marsh-edge location — not yet Eridu lagoon?
- 02Niche-buttressed building — temple or communal store?
Theories
- 01Huot autonomous Ubaid 0 genesis vs Halaf migration stimulus
- 02Algaze early southern village before Uruk empire debate
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.6500 BCE Ubaid 0 buttressed house; Ubaid 1 temple 6000 BCE
- Period
- Ubaid 0 through Ubaid I (c.6500–5500 BCE); late Samarra–Hajji Muhammad horizon
- Culture
- Samarra–Ubaid 0 (Oueili phase) → Ubaid 1 (Hajji Muhammad) southern Mesopotamian
- Builders
- Samarra–Ubaid 0 (Oueili phase) → Ubaid 1 (Hajji Muhammad) southern Mesopotamian builders
- Purpose
- Marsh-edge Ubaid 0 village with grain storage and precursor temple at southern plain fringe
- Abandoned
- c.5500 BCE Ubaid 1–2 transition before Eridu phase 1 urbanism
- Rediscovered
- Excavated 1976–89 Jean-Louis Huot (French Mission Larsa–Oueili) CNRS
- Excavation
- Excavated
2000
Initial work at Tell el-Ueili (Al-Ueili)
2015
Stratigraphy and geophysics synthesis for Tell el-Ueili (Al-Ueili)
On the ground
Structures & features
31.2340° N · 45.6210° E · 8 m · 3 mapped features
Ubaid 0 temple (Level VII)
templeNiche-buttressed tripartite building
31.2342° N · 45.6212° EGranary sector
storageUbaid silos with buttressed wall
31.2338° N · 45.6208° EDeep sounding
sounding11 m virgin soil sequence
31.2340° N · 45.6210° E