the sign that indicates him (a star) can also indicate divinities in a general sense (DINGIR). These gods received various offerings in everyday cult, but also in festival ceremonies like those in subsequent periods. The great vase of Uruk also seems to represent a procession bringing offerings to the goddess Inanna, whose symbol appears on the frieze. The religious beliefs of the 4th millennium BC have been the object of debate: Thorkild Jacobsen saw a religion focused on gods linked to the cycle of nature and fertility, but this remains very speculative. Other analyses have revealed the existence of a collective cult in the Sumerian cities of the Jemdet Nasr period, focused on the cult of the goddess Inanna and her sanctuary at Uruk, who thus had a preeminent position. The gods seem to be associated with specific cities - as was characteristic of Mesopotamia from the 3rd millennium BC—rather than being linked to specific forces of nature. The presence of a cult surrounded by institutions and bureaucracy, relying on their capacity to produce or collect wealth and apparently controlled by a royal figure indicates that the religion which is seen in the sources was an official religion, in which the sacrificial act was seen as preserving good relations between men and gods, so that the latter would ensure the prosperity of the former. End of the Uruk period A few commentators have associated the end of the Uruk period with the climate changes linked to the Piora Oscillation, an abrupt cold and wet period in the climate history of the Holocene Epoch. Another explanation given is the arrival of the East Semitic tribes represented by the Kish civilization. See also History of Mesopotamia History of Sumer Jawa in Jordan, proto-urban settlement with a masonry gravity dam initially built between 3500 and 3400 BCE Pella in Jordan, with a walled city dated to 3400 BCE References Bibliography General works on prehistoric and proto-historic Mesopotamia Studies on the Uruk period Archaeological cultures of the Near East 4th millennium BC 1930s neologisms Chalcolithic cultures of Asia Bronze Age cultures of Asia Sumer Archaeology of Iraq Archaeology of Kuwait Uruk Archaeological cultures in Iraq