FOOD RITUAL ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA SHOSHANA SASKIA COHEN TANUGI

FOOD OFFERINGS IN SOUTHERN MESOPOTAMIA DURING BRONZE PERIOD

SH. SASKIA COHEN TANUGI, PhD Student

HEBREW UNIVERITY

MOUNT SCOPUS

JERUSALEM

The aim of this article is to provide a short but concise presentation of food rituals in southern Mesopotamia during the first part of the Early Bronze Period. The examination of the archaeological remains excavated by the British, American, Iraqi, German and French missions during the twentieth century, paralleled to the study of the historical sources, and completed with the analysis of the administrative documents decrypted from the cuneiform clay tablets, allow an assessment of the data on food rituals in this part of the Ancient Middle East.

The Sources

Since the beginning of the 1930s, considering the results of excavations in Southern Mesopotamia, a number of studies incorporated an analysis of material traces of food rituals in pre-literate settlements. Sir Woolley published the first results of the excavations at Ur in 1930, initiated chapters dedicated to the bond between food rituals and funeral ceremonials[1]. The archaeological meeting in Paris of 1991 committed to Ancient Mesopotamia discussed funeral practices and food rituals in Southern Mesopotamia. Binford studied practices associated with food rituals in an article published in 1971[2]. Barrelet M.T. published in 1974 a first article on the correlation between fire and food in Ur, Nippur and Uruk[3]. In 1978, Ellison published different articles on food offerings in Ur, and diet in Mesopotamia.[4] Adams[5] in his publication of 1981 analyzed the surveys in the central floodplain of the Euphrates. In 1991 Bachelot[6] studied funeral practices in connection with food rituals. In addition to Green's study[7] on animal husbandry at Uruk, Gouin published his results on cattle and milk productions in southern Mesopotamia during the third millennium.[8] In 1994 Algaze[9] published a new study on the expansion of the Uruk system of society. During the same period, Bokonyi published his research on the first developments of animal husbandry and food production in Mesopotamia[10]. In 1995, Englund enlighted, from cuneiform sources, the evidence of food production dedicated to the Temples during the late Uruk Period.[11]

Stein argues in his paper of 1994 Economy Ritual and Power in Ubaid Mesopotamia, that food rituals during the third millennium can be understood as an element of the Mesopotamian's Ubaid societies. Following his results, food ritual had an impact on the political and economic organization of the agricultural societies in southern Mesopotamia.

Since the beginning of the twentieth century, numerous scholars studied food rituals in the earliest societies of the Middle East. This study concentrates on five publications:

1. The Study of the Sumerian moon-god, Nanna/Suen published in 1990 by Hall Mark Gleen.

2. The Nanna-Suen's journey to Nippur published by the Biblical Institute Press in 1973. 

3. Mesopotamia before History by Petr Charvat[12], published in 2005. This publication proposes a concise presentation of the results of excavations in Southern Mesopotamia since the beginning of the twentieth century.

4. Excavations at Ur, a record of twelve years' work the results of the archaeological surveys directed by Woolley in the early twentieth century and published in 1963, confirm rituals of food offerings during funerals since the Ubeid Period. The result of the survey corroborated the construction of kitchen areas included in the structure of temples since the Uruk period.

5. The Giparu at Ur: a study of the archaeological remains and related textual material published by Penelope Weadock in 1958, confirm the relationship between food rituals under the control of the female clergy, through the analysis of the archeological remains of the shrines and kitchens in the temple-palace of the high priestesses at Ur.

DATATIONS

Settlements and Periods

According to the names of the sites excavated, the scholars have divided the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze periods of Mesopotamia into different periods[i].

The mains periods are for the North: the Jarmo period: 7000 BC to 5800 BC, The Hassuna Period: 5800/5500 BC, the Samarrah Period : 5600/5000 BC, the Tel Halaf period: 5500/4500 BC.

In the south, the first Early Bronze settlements marked the Ubaid/Eridu Period (from 6500/4800 BC). The Uruk Period: 3750 /3150 BC is characterized by the development of a first writing-system. The Djemdet Nasr Period (3150/2900 BC) is followed during the twenty-fifth century BC by the First Dynasty Period, or period of Mes-Annipadda[1]. The third Dynasty preceded the Dynasty of Akkad in the middle of the twenty-first century BC. This is the period of the King constructor, Ur Nammu. During the third millennium (2112-2004 BC) the most prosperous period of Ur presents evidence of food rituals in Southern Mesopotamia

André Parrot

Andre Parrot[i] discussed the different periods of Mesopotamia including them under a global appellation: "Birth of civilization". His publication dated the different periods from 5000-2800 BC including Jarmo, Hassuna, Eridu, Samarra, Obeid/Ubaid and the first period of Ur.  Parrot introduced the First Dynasty of Ur during the period of the city-states between 2850 to 2450 B.C. (Parrot 1981: 346)

Pierre Amiet

Pierre Amiet[ii] suggested paralleling the first Neolithic periods in Mesopotamia to the Jericho A. period. Amiet dated the Jarmo Period from 7500 BC, the Hassuna Period from 5500 to 5000 BC. The Samarrah period from 5250 BC. The Tel Halaf period from 4800 BC to 4000 BC and the Obeid/Ubaid period from 4000 BC (Amiet 1979 :169).

 

C-14 Date

Nevertheless, following Charvat's publications, the U.S. excavation of 1954-5 directed by Braidwood dated C-14 series of charcoal pieces from the Tell of Jarmo (or Qalaat Jarmo) between 9290 BC and 3395 BC. (Charvat 2005: 36) The British-Iraqi excavations of Tell Hassuna during 1943-44 directed by Lloyd and Safar gave C-14 dates 6435 to 5301 BC. (Charvat 2005: 39) The Iraqi excavations of Tell es-Sawwan of 1964-1984 directed by Wailly, Al-Adhami, Wahida, Tikriti, Youkhana, followed by a French campaign in 1988 directed by Breniquet date by C-14 nine levels from 6345 to 5349 B.C.( Charvat 2005 : 46)

C-14 Date Eridu

The British expedition in 1854 directed by Taylor was the first to excavate Eridu, a settlement located at 40 km south-west of Nasiriyah. The Iraqi missions in 1946-49 dated the different layers of the temple. The deepest ones, the XIX and XVIII levels dated from the first Ubaid Period. The layers XVII to XIV were characterized by a pottery decorated in the second Ubaid Period. The level IX presented animal skeletons, and the level VII presented fish bones. (Charvat 2005: 54/5) The later layers presented characteristics from Uruk period. 

C-14 Date Uruk

Uruk, the site located west-north-west from Nasiriyah, excavated by German teams from 1912 to 1990, gave different C-14 date: The lowest level, the level XVIII, belong to the Ubaid 4 period (5300 BC). The layers XVI-X belong to the Proto-Uruk and early–Uruk period. The layers IX-VI belong to the Middle-Uruk period, and the layers IX-VI belong to the  Late Uruk Period. (Charvat 2005: 139)

C-14 Date Khafajeh Sin Temple

The Khafajeh Sin Temple excavated by a US mission directed by H.Franckfort from 1930 to 1938, presented elements in relation to the Uruk culture for the four earliest phases. Throughout these four layers, the site of Khafajeh date from the Ubeid culture period. After the layer IV, the buildings excavated presented for the first time, the use of the Plano Convex bricks.

C-14 Date Jemdet Nasr

The Jemdet Nasr site, located near Mashrua and excavated by a British-US mission from 1925 to 1989, presents items dating from Ubaid to Middle-Uruk cultures.

C-14 Date Ur

Ur or Tell Muqayyar, excavated at first, by a British mission in 1919 under the direction of Hall, and by the British-USA mission directed by Sir Leonard Woolley present, in its lower layers, items from the Ubaid period. The first settlement continued during the Uruk period and the Jemder Nasr period. The Jemder Nasr cemetery presents an abundance of materials. The Seal Impression Strata, contained vessels that might be dedicated to funeral food rituals. These vessels were associated with four bull's legs from a statue of metal. The cemetery contained different metal tools: Bronze was used for the vessels dedicated to funeral rituals; arsenic bronze was used for the arms. Stone vessels from the period of the First Dynasty of Ur excavated by the British-US mission had been used for funeral rituals. (Susan Pollock 1991) The excavations of the Ziggurat and Temple areas present evidence of food rituals beginning in the first layers.  The first layers of these areas belong to the Uruk-Djemdet Nasr Period. Items such as the Plano convex brickwork corresponding to the layer IV-III from the site of Khafajeh distinguished one of the last layers. (Charvat 2005: 205) Clay tablets excavated in the temples and under the priests' houses dated from the Uruk period to the Akkad period (Charvat: 2005). Most of these tablets confirmed the existence of food ritual activity at Ur since the Uruk period and until the sixth century BC.

COMPARATIVE DEVELOPMENT OF SOUTHERN AND NORTHERN MESOPOTAMIA

The archaeological evidence dates the occupation of Ur from the end of the Ubaid Period in the late sixth millennium until the period of New-Babylonian Dynasties of the sixth century BC. (626-539 B.C.)

The Southern part of Mesopotamia had a later development compared to the North where the first settlements occupied an area since the seventh millennium under the foothills of Turkey's southeastern mountains, rich in metal and provided by rainfalls. (Moorey: 1994, p.3) Since the fourth millennium,   trade routes using both rivers, plain routes and sea, permitted the export of goods, wood, stones, and vessels. Undertaken by the North settlements, the coastal settlement of Ur built on the seaside of the Persian Gulf, had trade relations with the islands of the Persian Gulf. If lower Mesopotamia lacked natural resources such as metals or stones, its foremost resources were mud brick, reeds and bitumen. Moreover, the alluvial plain of Lower Mesopotamia presented a prosperous agriculture society dependent on gravity-based irrigation. The Clay tablets, the storage rooms of the temples, the vessels and items excavated from the different layers present evidence of harvest rituals and food rituals in Southern Mesopotamia since the first periods.

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[i] Parrot André  Sumer Univers des Formes, Paris Gallimard 1981 p. 346-347

[ii] Amiet Pierre Introduction à l'histoire de l'art de l'antiquité Orientale éd. Desclée de Brouwer 1979

[1] See : Book Reviews Ur Excavations Vol. V, Publications of the Joint Expedition of the British Museum, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, to Mesopotamia : " Four Early Periods of construction are distinguised: The First Dynasty (i.e. the period of Mes-anni-padda) These  four periods are also called; Archaic I ( First Dynasty) II, III, IV." p. 303

NORTHERN SETTLEMENTS

JARMO CULTURE(7000 – 5800 BC) THE SITE OF JARMO

Architecture

The settlement excavated in 1940 presents a Neolithic occupation, with square or rectangular houses and multi roomed houses built of pressed mud.

     Fig.1

Pottery

The Jarmo pottery colored by a vegetable solvent presents a simple decoration of incision. The pottery of this first agricultural community is accompanied by tools (stone sickles, cutters, and bowls) and by anthropomorphic figure of women. (Roux: 1985, 52-53) These Neolithic items present evidence of a ritual devoted to the mother-goddess – symbol of fertility. (Parrot : 1981) The cycle of reproduction embodied by these anthropomorphic representations shaped by the early farmers, might suggest the will to control the cyclic revival of the nature. The survey findings confirm a use of vessel in the common area, but do not corroborate food ritual.

HASSUNA CULTURE (6000 – 5250 BC) THE SITE OF HASSUNA

 This prehistoric site of Northern Mesopotamia is characterized by a decorated pottery made of straw tempered clay painted reddish.  The beginning of the use of a geometrical language (point, intersection of lines, triangles lozenge-shaped forms, on a convex surface) is marked by a division of the surface of the pottery in brownish lines on cream clay. This pottery confirms an evolution of the perception of the painting space understood as devisal. This settlement of 500 persons located by the river Tiger was in first layer a temporary settlement. The inhabitants practiced farming (goats, sheep…) and were still unaware of irrigation technical. There is no evidence of food offering during this period.

     SAMARRA CULTURE (6500 – 5700  BC) THE SITE OF SAMARRA

Samarra culture is represented by a ceramic organized with zoomorphic (fish, goat in movement around the center of the plate) and anthropomorphic figure arranged around a circle – This ceramic presents the evolution in the mastery of the geometrical language.

  

THE SOUTH

UBAID ERIDU Period (6500 – 3000 BC)

Agricultural settlement

Located on the alluvial plain, at the proximity of Ur with an access to the fresh water of the Euphrates River, and to the salt water of the Persian Gulf, the early settlement of Eridu (Ubaid) is constructed by a population of farmers, fishers and hunters.  This representative settlement introduced a new step in the economic evolution of Mesopotamia following Charvat: '' The economy of the Chalcolithic period dominated by the Ubaid culture has been described as the outcome of the second Neolithic revolution.'' ( Charvat ;67) Eridu represents the first agricultural settlement of South Mesopotamia using the artificial irrigation with channels conveying water to fields. ( Charvat ;69)

Food Rituals

With out doubts, this site introduced a new spatial organization. Protected by the God of the Water ENKI (Sumerian, EA) this settlement of reed houses or brick houses presents evidence of constructions surrounding the Temple. The sacral area with ziggurat of mud-brick, E-ABUZU (House of the water) was recipient of donations from the harvest. The main fruit production dedicated to the temple during the Ubaid period was issued from the orchards of date-palm, almond-trees and grapes. '' The Ubaid culture peasants planted the first date-palm orchards…The Eridu Period is believed to have witnessed the first Cultivation of vines…In comparison with the preceding period the collection of wild plant food seems to have decreased in importance.'' (Charvat;69/70)

Sacral area and organization of rituals

The conception of an aquifer honorated as holy water occurred a change in the rituals and marks a rupture with the rituals from the North. The rise of a special sacral area under the hereditary authority of the priests suggests a new notion of priesthood transmitted specifically by inheritance. This organization of priesthood submitted to hereditary authority has been likened to the first development of deities designed to be a family – The food rituals seems to remain under the authority of the Temple and the elected families of priests.

(Amiet: 1979)

Pottery

fig

The Ubeid Period pottery is characterized by a greenish colored pottery decorated with geometric designs in brown or black. In Uruk this pottery has been excavated with sickles of burnt clay.

fig.

UBAID/ERIDU CULTURE - THE SITE OF UR

The excavations conducted in the early twentieth century, in the site of Tell Muqayyar have proved cultural connections between Eridu and Ur during the Eridu/ Ubaid period. The British excavations of 1919 by H.R.Hall followed by the British Us mission directed by Sir Woolley from 1920 to 1932 are a source of extraordinary importance for food rituals. The lower strata established evidence of clay figurines associated with vessels and fishing hooks.

Female statuettes

fig.

The 6 clays figurines excavated at Ur sized from 14 to 17 cm. They are all females, nudes, holding an infant to the breast or resting their hands on their hips. Made of burnt greenish clay, they are colored with red and black painting after firing and decorated with wigs of bitumen applied to the head.

The body well modeled presents a conventional exaggeration of the shoulders. The head present a syncretism of animal (reptilian) with eyes set aslant.  Back of the skull rises in an elongated crown maid of bitumen, picturing a mountain.  The legs are pressed close together as a fish tail. The black arcs and bands around the waist, the wrists and the neck are interpreted as ritual marks. The black points on the shoulders of all the figurines, both on the back and on the front were interpreted as scales of fish, tattoos or cicatrices designing ancient tribes.

These figurines present a tradition where the worship design human and animal reign associated with water.

According to the survey conducted by Woolley, fish-hooks models of boat, polished stones, volcanic glasses, shells, cornelian, obsidian, have been found associated with these clay figurines – The material excavated present all the characteristic of a coastal settlement of fishers mixed with an agricultural settlement.

Fish and food offerings

The sea, the great rivers and the lakes, which water southern Mesopotamia most likely abounded in fish, according to D. Van Buren, a component of the diet of the inhabitants of the settlements (confirmed by the reports of the excavations by Woolley) and used for giving homage to the deities.  Van Buren suggests that fish used as symbol of life (Van Buren 1948: 102) might have represented the gods on special occasions. Several seals from the second millennium show depictions of fish together with flowing water and deities.[ii] A sculptor of Lagash carved fish in the pious sculpture of Gudea holding a flowing vase in his hand.[ii] Van Buren notes the frequent presence of fish placed close to Isthar in warlike aspect.[ii] On a seal-cylinder, a scepter associated with a fish, carved in front of a minor goddess leading a worshipper to the major deity, symbolizes Ishtar's attributes. Rare are the tablets mentioning food offerings containing fish, to the god of Ur.

[1] See  Parot Sumer, Univers des Formes, Gallimard 1981 Cylindre d'Adda : Liberation du Dieu Soleil seconde moitie du troisième millénaire p. 331 fig. 333  p. 334  fig. 345

[1] See : Parrot André Sumer Univers des formes, Gallimard 1981 p. 232 fig. 222 -  Gudea with the flowing vase XXIIe siècle B.C. Calcite, Louvre Museum

[1]

Hall Mark Gleen A Study of the Sumerian moon-God Nanna/Suen  ed. Ann Arbor Mich. U.M.I 1990 Vol.1, 2- 3

[1] See : Stein G. Economy, Ritual, and Power in Ubaid Mesopotamia, ed. Stein Rothman Prehistory Press 1994 pp. 35- 46

 

         

Fig, CYLINDER SEAL FROM URUK THE KING PRIEST FEEDING THE SACRED FLOCK

Ecole du Louvre / citation: 

''The King Priest is depicted performing the religious ritual:

He is presiding over a liturgical ceremony in honor of Inanna, the Sumerian goddess of fertility.

A large temple to Inanna stood at the center of the city of Uruk. crops and the livestock dedicated to the gods during religious festivities were carved on special cultic vessels, sealed cylinders and pictured in cuneiform signs–
Dressed in a long robe and wearing a headdress signaling his status, the priest-king appears to be performing an offering — a sheaf of grain — before the entrance to the goddess's temple, symbolized by the shaft of reeds tied with a band.

He is followed by an assistant, who also holds a sheaf of grain, and their offering will be symbolically used to feed the sacred flock of Inanna. Sheep from this flock can be seen on the tapered part of the cylinder.
The offering of the grain testifies to the emblematic dimension that remained associated with grain crops — nourishing plants that were among the first to be domesticated. It is meant for Inanna, the great goddess of fertility, who rules over nature's annual regenerative cycle. The goddess's accomplishment of this crucial function depends in particular on the fervor and regularity of the rituals performed by human beings, and in particular by their leader, the priest-king.''

Museum Louvre School of Art www. Louvre Ecole du Louvre citation

Food offerings during funeral rituals

Following Stein the Ubaid period marks, the earliest archaeologically documented sedentary occupation of southern Mesopotamia (Stein 1994: 36.),[1] nevertheless the earliest rituals performed during this period remains poorly understood. However, Ubaid period presents evidences of food rituals performed during the funerals. The food vessels founded during the excavations of the graves, confirms a ritual dedicated to the deceased. The 130 graves of commoners and the Royal tombs of Ur excavated by Sir Woolley and dated from 3500 B.C. to 3100 B.C. produced evidence of food offering during funerals, the remains excavated from the graves of these earliest periods corroborate of a non-egalitarian society. (Woolley: 1963) More than hundred vases excavated in the tombs at Ur are made of stone. Food and drink were set outside the coffins of wood or near the body wrapped up in a roll of matting. (Woolley: 1963) Following the scholars during the Ubaid period priests offered food to a restricted circle of elites in order to validate their status or reinforce their political hierarchy (Stein 1994: 34-46).

Food offering in the Temples

Differentiated rooms included to the structure of the temples built during the Uruk period (3700-3000 B.C.) contained high concentrations of artifact such as vessels, clay ovens, and kitchen recipes, kitchen tables near cultic objects, suggesting that food was prepared in the temple, near the shrines and presented by the clergy to the deity.

  Fig, 8 Ziggurat of Ur

See  Ellison Renfrew Brothwell Seeley Some food offerings from Ur, excavated by sir Leonard Woolley and previously unpublished,  Dept. of Western Asia Institute of Archaeology, London 2004

 

At the northwest corner of the Temenos area, next to the Ziggurat of Ur, Sir Woolley confirmed the existence of a small room with a niche dedicated to a statue. In front of this room, he found archeological evidences of a kitchen area. This kitchen located at the northeast side of a small courtyard served to feed the deities in the temple. (Hall 1990: 314-315)  In the later structure of the Temple built by Ur Nammu, Woolley excavated another kitchen nearby the residence of the priestesses in proximity of the shrine devoted to Amar Suen. (Hall 1990: 318)

Fig.9

GIG PAR KU - GIPARU

In the Giparu at Ur, which propose was to serve both as official residence to the highest priestesses and shrines to the female deity, Nin Gal - the divine wife of the moon god – the English mission excavated cultic vessels made of gold and silver.[1] In the unit of the temple, behind the sanctuary accessible from the central court, in the rooms C29-31, storage jars, stone vessels with offering foods (oil, cheese, butter, dates, beer, bread) were located next to a statue of seated women inscribed with the name of the priestess Enannatuma, and dedicated to Ningal. The Courtyard C32 excavated by Woolley, present a tank waterproofed, a fireplace built of brick and mud, and a great cauldron for heating water. The rooms C33-34 in this unit of this temple-residence present a kitchen table of backed brick well conserved and a bread oven made of brick. (Weadock: 101-128) These kitchens organized in the temples are associated with several small rooms, used as storage areas and working places reserved to the personals cooking for the Gods.  No animal storage or no

place to do any sacrifice of animals has been excavated in the Giparu.

 [1] Weadock Penelope N.  Giparu at Ur pp. 101-128

Food offerings during the month

Following the result of excavations (Ferrara: 1973), the clergy of the temples prepared different rituals during the cyclic phases of the moon. At Ur, these festivals connected with the appearance of the moon - considered as pivotal point for the determination of the cycle of the time –sanctified the god, by food offerings. (Hall 1990:287) Different shrines received food offerings each month: The clergy presented food offerings during the night of the first quarter of the moon. These offerings may have contained salt (Ellison, Renfrew, Brothwell, Seeley: 1978). [a] In the house of the fifteenth days, during the midway point of the month, and during the full moon, the clergy presented special food offerings to the effigy of the god. The temple of Nanna received food offering and libations of beer each month[b]. Flour, wheat, dates (sul-lum) set in baskets called girz-lam, and pomegranates (gis-has-hur) were offered by the clergy to the shrines three times a month and twice a day; reeds and woods for construction and restoration of the temple were offered by the royal house during these three days. (Ferrara 1973: 293)

Royal Siskur

The analysis of the administrative tablets excavated at Ur, established that the king played a role in different rituals of food offerings during the pre-sargonic and the sargonic periods. The setting of the royal siskur was under his responsibility in cooperation with the clergy of the temple. The food offering during the royal siskur - incense and animals with sesame oil, barley, bread, wood and reeds - was under the authority of the palace and sent to the temple. The clergy presented to the different shrines, the royal offerings listed by the scribes on the clay tablets. (Ferrara 1973: 295)

Food offerings during the purification rituals

If the royal palace was responsible for a part of the cult and for supplying the temples with materials of construction, the king himself was responsible for the accomplishment of the ritual of purification during five days. This purification consisted in a ceremony of bathing ritual. The god Nanna and the different deities of the temple have part of these ceremonies established as the main cultic activities of the king.  During this period of purification, food offerings consisted in dried fruits. (Ferrara 1973: 310)

Food offerings during special festivals

Following Hall Mark Gleen the administrative tablets excavated at Ur highlight another part of rituals sanctified by food offerings (Hall Mark Gleen 1990: 250-345). Special annual festivities completed the feeding of the gods twice a day, and during three nights each month following the cycle of the moon. The decipherment of the cuneiform tablets reveals three important festivals: The great festival of Nanna, the monthly festival of Nanna sanctified by the offering of seven bulls and sheep from the palace, and lambs from the officiating Ensi.[c] The a-ki-ti festival, whilst the commoners celebrated the sanctification of the crops on the area of the farming. This festival was involved with a journey of the god moon. (Hall Mark Gleen 1990: Vol.2 305-338) The festival sanctified the effigy of the god disappearing from the city and appearing in a special shrine built in the fields. This journey symbolized the appearance and disappearance of the moon. The tablets written at Ur under the reign of the King Ibbi šuen list the food offerings during this religious festivity. The food offerings consisted of animals (bull, sheep, goat) of

fruits (pomegranates and dates) of beer, pea flour, emmer wheat and reed, donated to the temple by the royal house.

During the A-ki-ti festival, the clergy transported the effigy of the god of the moon, from his central temple in the city, to a distant district of the agricultural area - called the ga-eš district. The effigy relocated in a rural temple near the quay. The agricultural temple temporary used for the throne, received the effigy in a stone house decorated with silver and lapis-lazuli (Hall Mark Gleen 1990: 355). On the canal of irrigation used for the transport of the statue different constructions - associating the quay, the storage houses and the cultic structures – built in this special area, opened temporarily in order to receive the worshippers.  This district seems to be a rural development associating the system of irrigation with the storage of the crops. The purpose of this festival was to insure the fertility of the land, to bless the crops, to give thanks for the harvest in the specific agricultural area. The sculpture of the god made the journey by boat along the canal of irrigation. The scribes listed scrupulously on the clay tablets conserved in the temple, the food offerings of beer, cheese, flour, dates, spices and animals presented to the shrine during the festival. Following Hall Mark Gleen, the blessing of the crops and the use of the irrigation system for the journey confirmed a ritual devoted to insure the fertility of the land owned by the temple. The tablets suggest that the clergy transported the god from Ur during the tenth or the eleventh night of the intercalary month placed traditionally at the end of the year (Hall Mark Gleen 1990: 337).  At the end of the festival, the clergy and the effigy returned to the temple at Ur, via the same path. These devotions present an example of food rituals in southern Mesopotamia done at the basis field of the economic system. The sanctification of the harvest by food offerings cropped by commoners on the specific fields of the production, celebrated the union between the high priests of the temple, and the lowest of the worshippers. Attested in administrative clay tablets, several processions were organized between different cities of the southern Mesopotamia, confirming inter-city organizations of rituals associating food offerings during this period (Hall Mark Gleen 1990: 250-356.)

Conclusion

The cuneiform clay tablets confirm food offering in different settlements of southern Mesopotamia since Ubaid period. (Radner, Robson: 2011, Woolley: 1963) The administrative texts excavated at Ur give detailed lists of foodstuffs dedicated to the different shrines. These tablets give numerous of festivities celebrated with food offerings[1]. To feed the deity twice a day, and to provide a great number of offering sites (the gates, the temple of the God of the moon, the shrine of the goddess Nin Gal, the cult image of the throne, the statue of the God, the boat of An) might have a great impact in the organization of the society. 

The production of various elements as floor, fruits, vegetables, beer, cereals, pea, barley and wheat, plants and dry meat every day for the temples and the shrines confirm different areas of exploitation of the land. The list of different offerings as Bread, oil, fats, honey, spices and condiments, fruits, as figs, raisins, pomegranates, vegetables, and Animals as birds, sheep, goat and cattle confirm a wealthy society in point of view of the agricultural and pastoral system of production. The results of excavations confirmed rituals of food offerings since the Ubaid period and persisting until the post-Sargonic Period. The organization of the food offering during such a long period, suggest a powerful clergy and a theocratic system based on the vigorous control of the rituals. An authoritative control of the work, a scrupulous control of the land, a jurisdiction of the agricultural productions might need too, a strong influence of the law: During the excavations of the Giparu, the code of Hammurabi was founded in one of the shrines. That could prove an effective overwhelming hegemony of the law, ruled by the authority of the temple and dominating agricultural productions.

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[1] The Oxford Handbook of cuneiform culture  Karen Radner and Eleanor Robson, Oxford University Press 2011

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[c] Hall Mark Gleen A Study of the Sumerian moon-God Nanna/Suen éd. Ann Arbor Mich. U.M.I 1990 Vol.1, 2- 3

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[a] See  Ellison Renfrew Brothwell Seeley Some food offerings from Ur, excavated by sir Leonard Woolley and previously unpublished,  Dept. of Western Asia Institute of Archaeology, Londond 2004

[b] Ferrara Nanna-Suen 's Journey to Nippur Roma Biblical Institute Press 1973 vol I p. 2-97 vol. II p.250-295

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[1] Weadock Penelope N.  Giparu at Ur pp. 101-128

 

 

 

 

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[1] See : Stein G. Economy, Ritual, and Power in Ubaid Mesopotamia, ed. Stein Rothman Prehistory Press 1994 pp. 35- 46

Correction de l'anglais par Lea Epstein.

 

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[1] Woolley L. Excavations at Ur  The Antiquaries Journal 10 pp. 315-343

[2] Binford L. Mortuary practices ; their study and their potential  ed. American Archaeology N° 25 pp. 6-29

[3] Barrelet M.T.  Dispositifs à feu et cuisson des aliments à Ur, Nippur, Uruk  ed. Paléorient 1974 p. 243-300

[4] Ellison  R. Some Food Offerings from Ur  Journal of Archaeological Science 5:2 pp. 167 -177

And Diet in Mesopotamia : The evidence of the barley ration texts ( c 3000 to 1400 BC) Iraq n° 43:1  pp. 35-46

[5] Adams R.C.  Heartland of Cities – Surveys of Ancient Settlement and Land Use on the Central Floodplain of the Euphrates, Chicago  University of Chicago Press 1981

[6] Bachelot L.  Image et pratiques funéraires au IIIe millénaire, XXXVIII Rencontre Assyriologie Internationale Paris 8/10 Juillet 1991

[7] Green M.W. Animal husbandry at Uruk in the Archaic Period Journal of Near Eastern Studies 1980, 39/1 pp.1-35