Ur

Inhabited in the earliest stage of village settlement in southern Mesopotamia by those called Ubaidians, from 5300 to 4100 BCE. Later in various locations in Mesopotamia were many villages called Ur. This Ur is the earliest of Mesopotamian villages. It developed into a city, with the ziggurat temple of the moon deity Nanna. Human sacrifices occurred there. Ur's population has been estimated at approximately 65,000 around 2000 BCE. Ur was abandoned by 500 BCE. Today the site is more than 200 kilometers from the Persian Gulf, which has moved back across the millennia.