The Ubaid period (c. 6500–3700 BC) is a prehistoric period of
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the ...
. The name derives from Tell al-'Ubaid where the earliest large excavation of Ubaid period material was conducted initially in 1919 by Henry Hall and later by Leonard Woolley.
In South Mesopotamia the period is the earliest known period on the alluvial plain although it is likely earlier periods exist obscured under the
alluvium
Alluvium (from Latin ''alluvius'', from ''alluere'' 'to wash against') is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. ...
. In the south it has a very long duration between about 6500 and 3800 BC when it is replaced by the
Uruk period
The Uruk period (ca. 4000 to 3100 BC; also known as Protoliterate period) existed from the protohistoric Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age period in the history of Mesopotamia, after the Ubaid period and before the Jemdet Nasr period. Named after ...
.Carter, Robert A. and Philip, Graham. 2010. 'Deconstructing the Ubaid' in Carter, Robert A. and Philip, Graham (eds.) ''Beyond the Ubaid: Transformation and Integration in the Late Prehistoric Societies of the Middle East''. Chicago: The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. p. 2.
In
Northern Mesopotamia
Upper Mesopotamia is the name used for the uplands and great outwash plain of northwestern Iraq, northeastern Syria and southeastern Turkey, in the northern Middle East. Since the early Muslim conquests of the mid-7th century, the region has been ...
the period runs only between about 5300 and 4300 BC. It is preceded by the Halaf period and the
Halaf-Ubaid Transitional period
The Halaf-Ubaid Transitional period or HUT (c. 5500/5400 to 5200/5000 BC) is a prehistoric period of Mesopotamia. It lies chronologically between the Halaf period and the Ubaid period. It is still a complex and rather poorly understood period. ...
The term "Ubaid period" was coined at a conference in Baghdad in 1930, where at the same time the Jemdet Nasr and
Uruk
Uruk, also known as Warka or Warkah, was an ancient city of Sumer (and later of Babylonia) situated east of the present bed of the Euphrates River on the dried-up ancient channel of the Euphrates east of modern Samawah, Al-Muthannā, Iraq.Harm ...
periods were defined.
Dating, extent and periodization
The Ubaid period is divided into four principal phases:
*Ubaid 0, sometimes called Oueili, (5500–5400 BC), an early Ubaid phase first excavated at Tell el-'Oueili.
*Ubaid 1, sometimes called Eridu
Kurt, Amélie ''Ancient near East V1 (Routledge History of the Ancient World)'' Routledge (31 Dec 1996) p. 22
corresponding to the city
Eridu
Eridu (Sumerian language, Sumerian: , NUN.KI/eridugki; Akkadian language, Akkadian: ''irîtu''; modern Arabic language, Arabic: Tell Abu Shahrain) is an archaeological site in southern Mesopotamia (modern Dhi Qar Governorate, Iraq). Eridu was l ...
, (5400–4700 BC), a phase limited to the extreme south of Iraq, on what was then the shores of the
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The bod ...
. This phase, showing clear connection to the
Samarra culture
The Samarra culture is a Late Neolithic archaeological culture of northern Mesopotamia, roughly dated to between 5500 and 4800 BCE. It partially overlaps with Hassuna and early Ubaid. Samarran material culture was first recognized during exc ...
to the north, saw the establishment of the first permanent settlement south of the 5 inch rainfall isohyet. These people pioneered the growing of grains in the extreme conditions of aridity, thanks to the high
water table
The water table is the upper surface of the zone of saturation. The zone of saturation is where the pores and fractures of the ground are saturated with water. It can also be simply explained as the depth below which the ground is saturated.
T ...
s of Southern Iraq.
*Ubaid 2 (4800–4500 BC). At that time, Hadji Muhammed style ceramics was produced. This period also saw the development of extensive canal networks near major settlements. Irrigation agriculture, which seems to have developed first at Choga Mami (4700–4600 BC) and rapidly spread elsewhere, form the first required collective effort and centralised coordination of labour in Mesopotamia.
*Ubaid 3: Tell al‐Ubaid style ceramics. Traditionally, this ceramic period was dated c. 5300–4700 BC. The appearance of these ceramics received different dates depending on the particular sites, which have a wide geographical distribution. In recent studies, there's a tendency to narrow this period somewhat.
*Ubaid 4: Late Ubaid style ceramics, c.4700–4200 BC.
Description
Ubaid culture is characterized by large unwalled village settlements, multi-roomed rectangular mud-brick houses and the appearance of the first temples of public architecture in Mesopotamia, with a growth of a two tier settlement hierarchy of centralized large sites of more than 10 hectares surrounded by smaller village sites of less than 1 hectare. Domestic equipment included a distinctive fine quality buff or greenish colored pottery decorated with geometric designs in brown or black paint. Tools such as
sickle
A sickle, bagging hook, reaping-hook or grasshook is a single-handed agricultural tool designed with variously curved blades and typically used for harvesting, or reaping, grain crops or cutting Succulent plant, succulent forage chiefly for feed ...
s were often made of hard fired
clay
Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4).
Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...
in the south, while in the north stone and sometimes metal were used. Villages thus contained specialised craftspeople, potters, weavers and metalworkers, although the bulk of the population were agricultural labourers, farmers and seasonal pastoralists.
During the Ubaid Period (5000–4000 BC), the movement towards urbanization began. "Agriculture and animal husbandry omesticationwere widely practiced in sedentary communities". There were also tribes that practiced domesticating animals as far north as Turkey, and as far south as the
Zagros Mountains
The Zagros Mountains ( ar, جبال زاغروس, translit=Jibal Zaghrus; fa, کوههای زاگرس, Kuh hā-ye Zāgros; ku, چیاکانی زاگرۆس, translit=Çiyakani Zagros; Turkish: ''Zagros Dağları''; Luri: ''Kuh hā-ye Zāgr ...
. The Ubaid period in the south was associated with intensive irrigated
hydraulic agriculture
Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has been develop ...
, and the use of the plough, both introduced from the north, possibly through the earlier Choga Mami, Hadji Muhammed and
Samarra culture
The Samarra culture is a Late Neolithic archaeological culture of northern Mesopotamia, roughly dated to between 5500 and 4800 BCE. It partially overlaps with Hassuna and early Ubaid. Samarran material culture was first recognized during exc ...
s.
Society and social organization
The Ubaid period as a whole, based upon the analysis of
grave goods
Grave goods, in archaeology and anthropology, are the items buried along with the body.
They are usually personal possessions, supplies to smooth the deceased's journey into the afterlife or offerings to the gods. Grave goods may be classed as a ...
egalitarianism
Egalitarianism (), or equalitarianism, is a school of thought within political philosophy that builds from the concept of social equality, prioritizing it for all people. Egalitarian doctrines are generally characterized by the idea that all hu ...
. Bogucki describes this as a phase of "Trans-egalitarian" competitive households, in which some fall behind as a result of downward social mobility.
Morton Fried
Morton Herbert Fried (March 21, 1923 in Bronx, New York – December 18, 1986 in Leonia, New Jersey),Elman Service have hypothesised that Ubaid culture saw the rise of an elite class of hereditary
chieftain
A tribal chief or chieftain is the leader of a tribal society or chiefdom.
Tribe
The concept of tribe is a broadly applied concept, based on tribal concepts of societies of western Afroeurasia.
Tribal societies are sometimes categorized a ...
s, perhaps heads of kin groups linked in some way to the administration of the temple shrines and their granaries, responsible for mediating intra-group conflict and maintaining social order. It would seem that various collective methods, perhaps instances of what
Thorkild Jacobsen
Thorkild Peter Rudolph Jacobsen (; 7 June 1904 – 2 May 1993) was a renowned Danish historian specializing in Assyriology and Sumerian literature. He was one of the foremost scholars on the ancient Near East.
Biography
Thorkild Peter Rudolph Ja ...
called primitive democracy, in which disputes were previously resolved through a council of one's peers, were no longer sufficient for the needs of the local community.
Ubaid culture originated in the south, but still has clear connections to earlier cultures in the region of middle Iraq. The appearance of the Ubaid folk has sometimes been linked to the so-called Sumerian problem, related to the origins of Sumerian civilisation. Whatever the ethnic origins of this group, this culture saw for the first time a clear tripartite social division between intensive subsistence peasant farmers, with crops and animals coming from the north, tent-dwelling nomadic pastoralists dependent upon their herds, and hunter-fisher folk of the Arabian littoral, living in reed huts.
Stein and Özbal describe the Near East
oecumene
The ecumene ( US spelling) or oecumene ( UK spelling; grc-gre, οἰκουμένη, oikouménē, inhabited) is an ancient Greek term for the known, the inhabited, or the habitable world. In Greek antiquity, it referred to the portions of the worl ...
that resulted from Ubaid expansion, contrasting it to the colonial expansionism of the later
Uruk period
The Uruk period (ca. 4000 to 3100 BC; also known as Protoliterate period) existed from the protohistoric Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age period in the history of Mesopotamia, after the Ubaid period and before the Jemdet Nasr period. Named after ...
. "A contextual analysis comparing different regions shows that the Ubaid expansion took place largely through the peaceful spread of an ideology, leading to the formation of numerous new indigenous identities that appropriated and transformed superficial elements of Ubaid material culture into locally distinct expressions."
The earliest evidence for
sailing
Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, windsurfer, or kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (land yacht) over a chosen cou ...
has been found in
Kuwait
Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...
indicating that sailing was known by the Ubaid 3 period.
There is some evidence of warfare during the Ubaid period although it is extremely rare. The "Burnt Village" at Tell Sabi Abyad could be suggestive of destruction during war but it could also have been due to other causes, such as wildfire or accident. Ritual burning is also possible since the bodies inside were already dead by the time they were burned. A mass grave at
Tepe Gawra
Tepe Gawra (Kurdish for "Great Mound") is an ancient Mesopotamian settlement 15 miles NNE of Mosul in northwest Iraq that was occupied between 5000 and 1500 BC. It is roughly a mile from the site of Nineveh and 2 miles E of the site of Khors ...
contained 24 bodies apparently buried without any funeral rituals, possibly indicating it was a mass grave from violence. Copper weapons were also present in the form of arrow heads and sling bullets, although these could have been used for other purpose; two clay pots recovered from the era have decorations showing arrows used for the purpose of hunting. A copper axe head was made in the late Ubaid period, which could have been a tool or a weapon.
Trade, economy, geographical links, and historical context
Influence to the north
Around 5000 BC, the Ubaid culture spread into northern Mesopotamia and was adopted by the
Halaf culture
The Halaf culture is a prehistoric period which lasted between about 6100 BC and 5100 BC. The period is a continuous development out of the earlier Pottery Neolithic and is located primarily in the fertile valley of the Khabur River (Nahr al-K ...
. This is known as the
Halaf-Ubaid Transitional period
The Halaf-Ubaid Transitional period or HUT (c. 5500/5400 to 5200/5000 BC) is a prehistoric period of Mesopotamia. It lies chronologically between the Halaf period and the Ubaid period. It is still a complex and rather poorly understood period. ...
of northern Mesopotamia.
During the late Ubaid period around 4500–4000 BC, there was some increase in social polarization, with central houses in the settlements becoming bigger. But there were no real cities until the later
Uruk period
The Uruk period (ca. 4000 to 3100 BC; also known as Protoliterate period) existed from the protohistoric Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age period in the history of Mesopotamia, after the Ubaid period and before the Jemdet Nasr period. Named after ...
.
Ubaid influence in the Persian Gulf area
During the Ubaid 2 and 3 periods (5500–5000 BC), southern Mesopotamian Ubaid influence is felt further to the south along the coast of the
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The bod ...
.
Kuwait
Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...
was the central site of interaction between the peoples of Mesopotamia and Neolithic
Eastern Arabia
Eastern Arabia, historically known as al-Baḥrayn ( ar, البحرين) until the 18th century, is a region stretched from Basra to Khasab along the Persian Gulf coast and included parts of modern-day Bahrain, Kuwait, Eastern Saudi Arabia, Unite ...
, including Bahra 1 and site H3 in Subiya. Ubaid artifacts spread also all along the Arabian
littoral
The littoral zone or nearshore is the part of a sea, lake, or river that is close to the shore. In coastal ecology, the littoral zone includes the intertidal zone extending from the high water mark (which is rarely inundated), to coastal a ...
, showing the growth of a trading system that stretched from the Mediterranean coast through to Oman.
Spreading from
Eridu
Eridu (Sumerian language, Sumerian: , NUN.KI/eridugki; Akkadian language, Akkadian: ''irîtu''; modern Arabic language, Arabic: Tell Abu Shahrain) is an archaeological site in southern Mesopotamia (modern Dhi Qar Governorate, Iraq). Eridu was l ...
, the Ubaid culture extended from the Middle of the Tigris and Euphrates to the shores of the
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The bod ...
, and then spread down past
Bahrain
Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...
to the copper deposits at
Oman
Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of ...
.
Obsidian trade
Starting around 5500 BC, Ubaid pottery of periods 2 and 3 has been documented at site H3 in Kuwait and in Dosariyah in eastern Saudi Arabia.
In Dosariyah, nine samples of Ubaid-associated obsidian were analyzed. They came from eastern and northeastern
Anatolia
Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The ...
, such as from
Pasinler, Erzurum
Pasinler or Basean ( tr, Pasinler; hy, Բասէն, translit=Pasēn; ka, ბასიანი, tr; la, Phasiani; el, Φασιανοί, translit=Phasianoí; formerly Hasankale and Hesenqele, meaning "the fortress of Hasan"), is a town in Erzur ...
, as well as from
Armenia
Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ' ...
. The obsidian was in the form of finished blade fragments.
Decline of influence
The archaeological record shows that Arabian Bifacial/Ubaid period came to an abrupt end in eastern Arabia and the Oman peninsula at 3800 BC, just after the phase of lake lowering and onset of dune reactivation. At this time, increased aridity led to an end in semi-desert nomadism, and there is no evidence of human presence in the area for approximately 1,000 years, the so-called "Dark Millennium". The increased aridity might have been due to the 5.9 kiloyear event at the end of the
Older Peron
The Older Peron was the name for a period identified in 1961 as an episode of a global sea-level (i.e. eustatic) high-stand during the Holocene Epoch
The Holocene ( ) is the current geological epoch. It began approximately 11,650 cal years B ...
.
Numerous examples of Ubaid pottery have been found along the Persian Gulf, as far as
Dilmun
Dilmun, or Telmun, ( Sumerian: , later 𒉌𒌇(𒆠), ni.tukki = DILMUNki; ar, دلمون) was an ancient East Semitic-speaking civilization in Eastern Arabia mentioned from the 3rd millennium BC onwards.
Based on contextual evidence, it was ...
File:Stamp seal and modern impression. Horned animal and bird,6th–5th millennium B.C. Northern Syria or Southeastern Anatolia. Ubaid Period. Metropolitan Museum of Art.jpg, Stamp seal and modern impression: horned animal and bird. 6th–5th millennium BC. Northern Syria or southeastern Anatolia. Ubaid period.
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
.
File:Ubaid 0-1 pottery - Oriental Institute Museum, University of Chicago - DSC06926.JPG
File:Ubaid 0-1 pottery footed bowl - Oriental Institute Museum, University of Chicago - DSC06927.JPG
Ubaid 1 artifacts (c. 5400 – c. 4700 BC)
File:Bowl MET DP104228 (cropped).jpg, Bowl; mid 6th–5th millennium BC; ceramic; 5.08 cm; from the Ubaid period
File:Bowl MET DP104229.jpg
File:Bowl MET DP104227.jpg
File:Early Ubaid pottery 5100-4500 BC Tepe Gawra Louvre Museum DAO 3.jpg, Early Ubaid pottery, 5100–4500 BC,
Tepe Gawra
Tepe Gawra (Kurdish for "Great Mound") is an ancient Mesopotamian settlement 15 miles NNE of Mosul in northwest Iraq that was occupied between 5000 and 1500 BC. It is roughly a mile from the site of Nineveh and 2 miles E of the site of Khors ...
. Louvre Museum DAO 3
File:Cup MET ME49 133 5.jpg
File:Cup MET ME49 133 6.jpg
File:Jar MET ME49 133 13.jpg
File:Pottery bowl from Telul eth-Thalathat, Iraq. Ubaid period, c. 5000 BCE. Iraq Museum.jpg
File:Funde.jpg
File:Shallow dish - Ubaid.jpg
File:Spouted jar - Ur Ubaid period.jpg
Ubaid 2 artifacts (c. 4800 – c. 4500 BC)
File:Northern Ubaid pottery from Tepe Gawra and other sites - Oriental Institute Museum, University of Chicago - DSC06940.JPG
File:Ubaid 2 pottery - Oriental Institute Museum, University of Chicago - DSC06928.JPG
Ubaid 3 artifacts (c. 5300 – c. 4700 BC)
File:Ubaid III pottery jar 5300-4700 BC Louvre Museum.jpg, Ubaid III pottery jar, 5300–4700 BC Louvre Museum AO 29611.
File:Ubaid III pottery 5300-4700 BC Louvre Museum.jpg, Ubaid III pottery, 5300–4700 BC Louvre Museum AO 29598.
File:Ubaid III campaniform pottery 5300-4700 BC Louvre Museum.jpg, Ubaid III campaniform pottery 5300–4700 BC Louvre Museum
File:Ubaid III pottery 5300 - 4700 BC. Louvre Museum AO 29616.jpg, Ubaid III pottery 5300–4700 BC. Louvre Museum AO 29616.
File:Painted vessel figurine of a nude woman from Yarim Tepe II settlement, Iraq. Halaf culture, 5th millennium BCE. Iraq Museum.jpg
File:Ubaid 3-4 pottery - Oriental Institute Museum, University of Chicago - DSC06929.JPG
Ubaid 4 artifacts (c. 4700 – c. 4200 BC)
File:Bowl - Ur Ubaid period.jpg
File:Ubaid IV pottery gobelet 4700-4200 BC Tello, ancient Girsu. Louvre Museum.jpg, Ubaid IV pottery gobelet, 4700–4200 BC Tello, ancient
Girsu
Girsu ( Sumerian ; cuneiform ) was a city of ancient Sumer, situated some northwest of Lagash, at the site of modern Tell Telloh, Dhi Qar Governorate, Iraq.
History
Girsu was possibly inhabited in the Ubaid period (5300-4800 BC), but sig ...
. Louvre Museum.
File:Ubaid IV pottery jars 4700-4200 BC Tello, ancient Girsu, Louvre Museum.jpg, Ubaid IV pottery jars 4700–4200 BC Tello, ancient Girsu, Louvre Museum.
File:Ubaid IV pottery 4700-4200 BC Tello, ancient Girsu, Louvre Museum.jpg, Ubaid IV pottery 4700–4200 BC Tello, ancient Girsu, Louvre Museum AO 15338.
File:Female figurines Ubaid IV Tello ancient Girsu 4700-4200 BC Louvre Museum.jpg, Female figurines Ubaid IV, Tello, ancient
Girsu
Girsu ( Sumerian ; cuneiform ) was a city of ancient Sumer, situated some northwest of Lagash, at the site of modern Tell Telloh, Dhi Qar Governorate, Iraq.
History
Girsu was possibly inhabited in the Ubaid period (5300-4800 BC), but sig ...
, 4700–4200 BC. Louvre Museum AO15327.
File:Two female figurines with bitumen headdresses ceramic Ur Iraq Ubaid 4 period 4500-4000 BCE.jpg, Two female figurines with bitumen headdresses, ceramic. Ur, Ubaid 4 period, 4500–4000 BC
File:Lizard-headed nude woman nursing a child, from Ur, Iraq, c. 4000 BCE. Iraq Museum (retouched).jpg
File:Frieze-group-3-example1.jpg, Pottery jar from Late Ubaid Period
File:Drop-shaped (tanged) pendant seal and modern impression. Quadrupeds, ca. 4500–3500 B.C. Late Ubaid - Middle Gawra. Northern Mesopotamia.jpg, Drop-shaped (tanged) pendant seal and modern impression. Quadrupeds, not entirely reduced to geometric shapes, ca. 4500–3500 BC. Late Ubaid - Middle Gawra periods. Northern Mesopotamia
File:Female clay figurine - Ubaid period - Ur - ME 122873.jpg
File:Female clay figurine - Ubaid period - Ur - ME 122872.jpg
File:Cup - Mefesh Ubaid period.jpg
Ubaid 5 artifacts (c. 4200 – c. 3800 BC)
File:Iran époque d'Obeid Sèvres.jpg, Ubaid period pottery, Susa I, 4th millennium BC.
File:Stamp seal with Master of Animals motif, Tello, ancient Girsu, End of Ubaid period, Louvre Museum AO14165 (detail).jpg, Terracotta stamp seal with Master of Animals motif, Tello, ancient
Girsu
Girsu ( Sumerian ; cuneiform ) was a city of ancient Sumer, situated some northwest of Lagash, at the site of modern Tell Telloh, Dhi Qar Governorate, Iraq.
History
Girsu was possibly inhabited in the Ubaid period (5300-4800 BC), but sig ...
, End of Ubaid period, Louvre Museum AO14165. Circa 4000 BC.
See also
*
Art of Mesopotamia
The art of Mesopotamia has survived in the record from early hunter-gatherer societies (8th millennium BC) on to the Bronze Age cultures of the Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian and Assyrian empires. These empires were later replaced in the Iron Ag ...