Jemdet Nasr, Archaeological tell in Babil Governorate, Iraq

Jemdet Nasr is a tell in Babil Governorate, Iraq, made up of three adjacent mounds. Mound A measures 160 by 140 metres and rises 2.9 metres; Mound B, immediately northeast, measures 350 by 300 metres and reaches 3.5 metres; Mound C, about 500 metres east of B, consists largely of baked brick fragments. Langdon excavated a 4,500 square metre mudbrick building on Mound B holding proto-cuneiform tablets.

The site was first excavated in 1926, bringing to light pottery that helped establish a distinct period in Mesopotamian civilization. These discoveries later allowed scholars to date many other settlements across the region.

The name Jemdet Nasr means "Small mound of Nasr", after a sheikh of the early twentieth century. The site gave its name to the Jemdet Nasr period (c. 3100–2900 BC), when writing and cylinder seals first appeared in southern Mesopotamia. Its painted polychrome pottery is the marker used to recognise the period at other sites, and Jemdet Nasr ware has been found as far away as Oman.

No fieldwork has been carried out at Jemdet Nasr since 1990, when the Gulf War halted planned seasons, and the site lies in heavily irrigated farmland of Babil Governorate, about 26 km northeast of Kish. The excavation archives remain in Baghdad. The three mounds, A, B and C, are unguarded earthen tells with no visitor facilities, so access depends on permission from Iraqi antiquities authorities.

The pottery from this location became a measuring stick for dating other ancient sites across the region. Researchers still use these findings today to understand when other cultures flourished in Mesopotamia.