The tell (mound) of Ubaid near Ur in southern Iraq has given its name to the prehistoric culture which represents the earliest settlement on the alluvial plain of southern Mesopotamia. The Ubaid culture had a long duration beginning before 5000 BC and lasting until the beginning of the Uruk period. In the mid 5th millennium BC, the Ubaid culture spread into northern Mesopotamia replacing the Halaf culture.
Ubaid culture is characterised by large village settlements and the appearance of the first temples in Mesopotamia. Equipment included a buff or greenish coloured pottery decorated with geometric designs in brown or black paint; tools such as sickles were often made of hard fired clay in the south. but in the north stone and sometimes metal were used.
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