Uruk Anu Ziggurat — Warka
Anu Ziggurat — Uruk · White Temple Ziggurat · Eanna Anu Terrace
Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age, Uruk period (4000–3000 BCE)·Sumerian (Ubaid–Uruk–Jemdet Nasr)·🇮🇶 Muthanna Governorate, Al-Warka (ancient Uruk/Erech), Iraq
About
About Uruk Anu Ziggurat — Warka
The Anu Ziggurat at Uruk-Warka is the oldest known true ziggurat (≈4000 BCE), a massive mudbrick terrace 21 m high in the Anu district. The famed White Temple (c.3500–3000 BCE) sat on summit. German DAI excavations since 1912 exposed superimposed temples spanning Ubaid to Kassite. Mapcarta notes Ziggurat 220 m northeast of Eanna where earliest cuneiform tablets (Uruk IV) were found.
Why it mattersOldest monumental ziggurat and earliest monumental architecture in Mesopotamia; associated with invention of writing (Uruk IV tablets).
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Original deity — Anu vs early Inanna before syncretism
- 02Construction phasing of earliest Ubaid terrace
Theories
- 01Temple-terrace evolution — prototype for all later ziggurats (Heinrich)
- 02Sacred mound emulation — replicates primeval benben
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.4000–3500 BCE (Anu Ziggurat) with White Temple c.3500–3000 BCE
- Period
- Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age, Uruk period (4000–3000 BCE)
- Culture
- Sumerian (Ubaid–Uruk–Jemdet Nasr)
- Purpose
- Temple platform — terraced ziggurat dedicated to sky god Anu, crowned by White Temple; world's oldest known ziggurat
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
c.4000–3800 BCE
Earliest Anu terrace built (Ubaid–Early Uruk)
c.3500–3000 BCE
White Temple constructed
1912–13
DAI begins Uruk-Warka excavations
2016
UNESCO inscribes Ahwar of Southern Iraq
On the ground
Structures & features
31.3231° N · 45.6381° E · 18 m · 3 mapped features
Anu ziggurat terrace core
pyramid21 m high mudbrick terrace with buttressed slopes
31.3231° N · 45.6381° EWhite Temple summit
temple22×17.5 m tripartite temple on terrace summit
31.3232° N · 45.6382° EEanna precinct Tablet findspot
complexEanna precinct 220 m SW where earliest tablets (Uruk IV, c.3300 BCE) were found
31.3215° N · 45.6368° E