Tell Eridu Archaeological Site and The West Hammar Marshes

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Tell Eridu Archaeological Site

   Eridu is where the Sumerians said civilisation began. According to their own king lists, kingship came down from heaven and landed first at Eridu, and the city's god, Enki, ruler of the sweet waters beneath the earth, was the keeper of the arts of civilised life. Archaeologists found a sequence of temples stacked one above another, beginning in about 5400 BC, which makes it one of the oldest settlements in Mesopotamia. On top of it all rises the ruined ziggurat of Ur-Nammu, a mud-brick stepped tower built around 2100 BC, now a worn brown stump in the desert.

   Read the complete Tell Eridu Archaeological Site write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Tell Eridu Archaeological Site is where the day begins. Next is Ur Archaeological City.

2. 2. Ur Archaeological City

   Ur stands on the flat Mesopotamian plain in southern Iraq, close to Nasiriyah, among the oldest cities in the world. Its great ziggurat, a stepped brick platform built by King Ur-Nammu around 2100 BC, still rises out of the desert, restored and shaped like a huge brick wedding cake with stairs up the front. It was a temple to the moon god Nanna, and the city around it was a major port on what was then the Euphrates, before the river shifted course and the sea retreated. Tradition names Ur as the birthplace of Abraham, which is why Pope Francis held a prayer meeting here in 2021.

   Read the complete Ur Archaeological City write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Ur Archaeological City comes up about 37 km into the recorded legs. Next is The West Hammar Marshes.

3. 3. The West Hammar Marshes

   The marshes of southern Iraq lie where the Tigris and Euphrates come together on their way to the Gulf, a vast network of reed beds, lagoons and channels that was, until recent decades, home to one of the oldest ways of life on earth. The West Hammar Marshes are the westernmost, south of the city of Nasiriyah, and this stop lies about fifteen kilometres from the small town of Al Fuhud. UNESCO inscribed the Ahwar of Southern Iraq in 2016, along with the ancient Sumerian cities of Ur, Uruk and Eridu, which stood on the edge of this same wetland.

   Read the complete The West Hammar Marshes write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 101 km into the recorded legs you reach The West Hammar Marshes. Next is back through Ur Archaeological City.

4. 4. back through Ur Archaeological City

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Ur Archaeological City write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Ur Archaeological City, late in the day. Next is Tell Eridu Archaeological Site.

5. 5. Tell Eridu Archaeological Site

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Tell Eridu Archaeological Site write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at Tell Eridu Archaeological Site. That is the ride.