Dwelling and Temple Structures

The plano-convex brick, which was flat on one side and curved on the other, was introduced as a building material in the Early Dynastic Period. The brick was used to build vaults over underground tomb chambers and to construct arches over doorways in houses.

While in earlier periods, temples were built using either an oblong or square plan, oval-shaped temples began to appear in the Early Dynastic Period. Later periods saw a return to the oblong/square plan, thus making the oval temple a unique characteristic of the Early Dynastic Period. A well-preserved example of an oval temple plan is the Temple Oval discovered at Khafajah, east of Baghdad. In addition to worship, these oval complexes were also used for commerce, as rooms around the temple oval served as workshops for stonework and copper work, bakeries, and agricultural stores. The close connection between religion and trade in these complexes reflected the belief that the gods owned the cities, and the citizens of those cities worked in service to the gods. This connection between religion and commerce continued until the end of the third millennium.