Des Archéologues ont Découvert une Mégapole Perdue Antérieure à Toute Civilisation

Eridu, a megapolis prior to the first known civilization and older than the pyramids of Giza, has been buried in the sands of the Mesopotamian desert for more than 2,000 years. A recent scientific discovery is now shaking our knowledge of this ancient city. Researchers have discovered more than 4,000 canals around Eridu, which fed more than 700 farms operated between the 6th and the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. Eridu was founded around 5400 BC and was the city of the first kings, as well as the first historical city according to the Sumerian royal list, this ancient text engraved on a clay tablet. The ancient Sumerians believed that this city had been created by the gods when they decided to settle on earth. Eridu occupies such an important place in Sumerian myths and legends that we end up considering it, at some point, as a purely mythical place. The most famous myth says that the heavens were crushed by the tumult of humans and that they sent a great flood to annihilate them. A recent study revealed that the Euphrates was the water source of the entire city. Researchers have mapped the remains of the ancient landscape and identified a sophisticated network of artificial irrigation channels. They discovered 200 main channels capturing the water of the Euphrates, which fed, in turn, 4,000 secondary channels. The team mobilized satellite images seen by drones, soil analysis, old records and teledetection technology to draw up the complete map. The 700 beneficiary farms had varied surfaces, ranging from 460 to more than 18,000 square meters. The main channels were about 1,000 meters long, some extending over more than 8 kilometers, while the smaller ones could only reach 10 meters. In Mesopotamia, rivers constituted the main water source for agriculture, forcing farmers to master the art of carrying water from the river to their fields. It all began with rudimentary techniques, such as the digging of small ridges, but over the generations, they learned to build huge canals, sometimes reaching 100 kilometers long. The Euphrates itself facilitated their task. The water naturally descended along these overgrown banks and the natural breaches left it lying on the neighboring lands. Researchers do not know when each canal was used, and it seems improbable that the 4,200 canals did not function simultaneously during this vast period. Eridu was once a religious and commercial center of great importance thanks to its strategic position on the Persian Gulf. Its economy was mainly based on fishing, made possible by the waters of the Euphrates. Researchers discovered nets and fishing weights there, as well as whole bales of dried fish. We also found boat models in rosewater, the first known material evidence of ships built by man. The city flourished until its abandonment, around 600 BC, for a reason that scientists still fail to explain. The inhabitants, as well as the pilgrims and merchants passing by, had exhausted the local resources and had to let the land regenerate several times before leaving permanently. This coincided with the moment when the Euphrates changed course, depriving the city of its vital source of water. Many centuries later, in 1854, a British official named John George Taylor was sent on a mission to the region to examine an isolated site, Tell Abu Shahrain, made up of a set of hills called Tells, remains of ancient human settlements. At first, Taylor remained unimpressed. He hoped to find major finds, such as statues, inscriptions, or the ruins of temples and palaces. In vain, he discovered only walls, drains, stone platforms, and fragments of limestone columns, decorated with tiny mosaic cones. He then ignored the fact that these apparently uninteresting hills were home to one of the oldest terrestrial cities, Eridu. The interest of the British Museum was immediate. But the first large-scale excavations began only in 1946. The Iraqi authorities were actively involved, hoping to shed light on the oldest origins of Mesopotamian history. Archaeologists then focused on hill 1, a vast Tell reaching the height of an eight-story building. They quickly discovered a portion of an unfinished pyramid, a ziggurat dating from the end of the 3rd millennium BC. By deepening the excavations, they revealed strata of human life ascending further and further into the past. Some layers belonged to the Uruk period, others to a time before the Sumerians, called Proto-History. In these lower levels, they discovered several successive reconstructions of the Anki Temple, the city's guardian deity. This sanctuary was rebuilt 20 times over more than two millennia. Each collapse gave rise to a new construction, larger and more majestic than the previous one. From the middle of the 4th millennium BC, the Eridu Temples grew enormously, surpassing in sophistication all previous human constructions. At the same time, society became more complex, marked by the emergence of distinct social classes. Eventually, the inhabitants stopped rebuilding the temple and erected, around 2100 BC, a pyramid with a degree on the ruins. Although Eridu declined, it probably played a major role as a sacred site. Excavations revealed pottery dating from the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, with no traces of habitation around. The Sumerians were, without a doubt, a people of remarkable ingenuity. Around 1500 BC, they invented the charusemoir, an instrument that allowed to forge and cast simultaneously, drawn by beasts of sum, such as oxen. This tool was even accompanied by precise instructions. The Sumerian farmer's almanac provided advice on the art of growing crops thanks to a well-mastered ploughing and irrigation. These ingenious agricultural methods allowed to feed more people, favoring the growth of cities, the emergence of an organized power and a deepening of religious life. As their cities prospered, the Sumerians also developed their knowledge in writing, mathematics and spirituality. 5000 years ago, they had already developed the cuneiform, one of the very first writing systems of humanity. Another recent discovery, from the same region of the world, proves that bureaucracy already existed 4,000 years ago. Archaeologists have found old administrative tablets in another Sumerian city, Jirsu. These clay tablets constitute the oldest tangible evidence known of the very first empire in the world, the Akkad Empire. They were found in a state archive building made of raw bricks, divided into several rooms that were presumably used as offices. Before this discovery, the internal functioning of this empire, the first in history, let's remember, remained obscure. But, thanks to the excavations carried out in Jirsu, researchers now have clear and irrefutable evidence of the existence of an elaborate administrative system. These documents assigned everything, delivery, spending and inventory, from fish and sheep to grain, fabric and precious stones. They also contain population records mentioning the names, ages and professions of men, women and children, a primitive form of census. These data revealed that women played an essential role in the Akkadian society. Some women held influential positions, such as those of great priests. Tablets also reveal a wide variety of professions. Craftsmen, qualified as stone carvers, or more modest workers, such as temple sweepers. Some even contain plans of buildings, field diagrams and maps of canals, proof that the empire had an organization and a very structured planning. However, the city ended up rebelling and conquering its independence, putting an end to 150 years of Akkadian domination. Today, researchers clean and translate these tablets to understand their meaning. These new discoveries replace old theories and offer a more accurate vision of the power and administrative system of the Akkadian empire.