Editing Sumer (section)

===Ubaid period===
{{Main|Ubaid period}}
[[Image:Frieze-group-3-example1.jpg|thumb|right|A pottery jar from the [[Late Ubaid Period]]]]
The Ubaid period is marked by a distinctive style of fine quality painted pottery which spread throughout Mesopotamia and the [[Persian Gulf]]. The oldest evidence for occupation comes from [[Tell el-'Oueili]], but, given that environmental conditions in southern Mesopotamia were favourable to human occupation well before the Ubaid period, it is likely that older sites exist but have not yet been found. It appears that this culture was derived from the [[Samarra]]n culture from northern Mesopotamia. It is not known whether or not these were the actual Sumerians who are identified with the later Uruk culture. The story of the passing of the gifts of civilization ([[me (mythology)|''me'']]) to [[Inanna]], goddess of Uruk and of love and war, by [[Enki]], god of wisdom and chief god of Eridu, may reflect the transition from Eridu to Uruk.<ref name="WolksteinKramer1983">{{cite book|last1=Wolkstein|first1=Diane|url=https://archive.org/details/inanna00dian/page/174/mode/2up|title=Inanna: Queen of Heaven and Earth: Her Stories and Hymns from Sumer|last2=Kramer|first2=Samuel Noah|publisher=Harper & Row|others=Elizabeth Williams-Forte|year=1983|isbn=978-0-06-014713-6|location=New York|pages=174}}</ref>