ABSTRACT
In the mid-third millennium bc, Upper Mesopotamia, whose urban centres had suffered from the decline of Uruk culture, began to experience a more stable and widespread urbanisation process. This revival took place during the Early Dynastic II and peaked in the Early Dynastic III period. It is worth noting, that the three phases of the Early Dynastic period of Lower Mesopotamia roughly correspond to the three archaeological phases of the Early Bronze Age (whose third phase, however, also includes the Akkadian period). Moreover, a new chronological division has recently come into use, known as Jezira I, II and III.
