Tell el-'Oueili

Tell el-'Oueili (also Tell el-‘Uwaili and Awayli); Mesopotamian, romanized: Təll əl-ʿOwēli is an archaeological site in the ancient Near East, located in Dhi Qar Governorate, southern Iraq. It is located 3.5 kilometers southeast of the ancient site of Larsa. The site was excavated between 1976 and 1989 by French archaeologists under the direction of Jean-Louis Huot. The excavations have revealed occupation layers predating those of Eridu, making Tell el-'Oueili the earliest known Ubaid settlement in Lower Mesopotamia. Older sites possibly exist, being buried under alluvium and submerged due to the movement of the Persian Gulf. As such, Tell el-'Oueili remains notable as the culture of this particular settlement came to eclipse other in light of the northward Ubaid expansion. Later, the Ubaid would evolve into the Uruk period, which introduced proto-writing and the state concept.

Monument data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).