ABSTRACT
Cultural elements of particular intellectual significance would have developed in this profound revolution of the means of production and the organization of society: the invention of writing on a symbolic level, monumental architecture and artistic expression at the level of urban planning, and the general shape of the city. Indeed, during Middle Uruk, then more extensively during Late Uruk, up to around 3000 bc, all the representative elements of the Uruk culture were already established in a number of new settlements: certainly those on the middle course of the Euphrates, from Habubah Kebirah/Kannas to Jebel Aruda and Tell Sheykh Hassan; and according to some scholars, also on the Middle Tigris, with characteristics possibly comparable to Nineveh.
