Sumerian flood



The Sumerian flood may refer to flooding that occurred at Shuruppak, a grain storage and distribution city that had more silos than any other Sumerian city. The earliest excavated levels at Shuruppak date to the Jemdet Nasr period about 3000 BC. It was abandoned shortly after the Early Dynastic Period.

Excavations in Iraq have revealed evidence of localized flooding at Shuruppak (modern Tell Fara, Iraq) and various other Sumerian cities. At the end of the Uruk period there was an archaeologically attested river flood in Shuruppak. The layer of riverine sediments, radiocarbon dated to about 2900 BC, interrupts the continuity of the settlement, extending as far north as the city of Kish. Additionally, polychrome pottery also dating to the Jemdet Nasr period was discovered from a destruction level that was immediately below the Shuruppak flood stratum.

Geologically, the Shuruppak flood coincides with the 5.9 kiloyear event at the end of the Older Peron. It would seem to have been a localised event caused through the damming of the Kurun through the spread of dunes, flooding into the Tigris, and simultaneous heavy rainfall in the Nineveh region, spilling across into the Euphrates.

Other sites, such as Ur, Kish, Uruk, Lagash, and Ninevah, all present evidence of flooding. However, the evidence of flooding come from different time periods.

Literature
Sumerian flood stories were unearthed from cuneiform tablets in various literary works such as "Eridu Genesis" and the "Epic of Gilgamesh".