An old southern Mesopotamian metropolis that was rehydrated with the aid of a ground-penetrating eye in the sky has been labelled as something akin to a Venice of the Fertile Crescent. Understanding this early metropolis' aquatic setting has significant ramifications for how urban life developed between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, where modern-day Iraq is located, about 5,000 years ago.

According to anthropological archaeologist Emily Hammer of the University of Pennsylvania, remote sensing data, primarily collected by a specially designed drone, show that the massive urban city known as Lagash was primarily made up of four marsh islands connected by canals.

Hammer reports in the December Journal of Anthropological Archaeology that these discoveries add significant details to an emerging theory that southern Mesopotamian cities did not, as previously believed, expand outward from temple and administrative districts into irrigated farmlands that were surrounded by a single city wall.

Lagash could have developed in a number of different ways as human habitation and environmental change transformed the region, according to Hammer.

She speculates that, similar to the later Italian city of Venice, each city sector in Lagash evolved unique economic patterns on a separate marsh island because there was neither a geographic nor a ritual core. One marsh island, for example, had waterways or canals crisscrossing it. Here, it's possible that fishing and gathering reeds for building predominated.

Two other Lagash marsh islands show signs of having enormous kilns and finely planned city streets encompassed by gated walls that suggest these sectors were constructed in phases and may have been the first to be occupied.

Two other Lagash marsh islands show signs of having enormous kilns and finely planned city streets encompassed by gated walls that suggest these sectors were constructed in phases and may have been the first to be occupied. There may have been crop cultivation and pottery-making operations.

Drone images of what were likely harbours on each marsh island imply that boat traffic connected different parts of the city. Further excavations can investigate the possibility that remains found in and close to rivers between marsh islands were formerly footbridges.

Hammer claims that compared to what was achievable with satellite imagery, drone photos allowed for a more in-depth examination of Lagash's submerged structures. A drone spent six weeks in 2019 photographing much of the site's surface in high detail, guided by preliminary remote-sensing data collected from ground level. The drone's technology was able to find the remains of houses, walls, streets, waterways, and other city elements buried close to the ground thanks to soil moisture and salt absorption from recent severe rains.

Hammer was able to identify three islands as the most heavily populated areas of the old metropolis using data from drones, she claims. It's possible that those islands were connected to delta waterways that led to the Persian Gulf. A huge temple stood on the fourth, smaller island.