"The Enigma of Eridu: A Time Traveler's Quest" - A modern-day scientist accidentally activates an ancient portal that transports her back to Eridu, one of the world's first cities, where she must navigate political intrigue and unravel the mysteries of lost Mesopotamian cultures to return home. Near the present-day city of Basra in Iraq, and about 12 kilometers southwest of the site of ancient Ur, is the site of Eridu (Eridug in Sumerian), the southernmost of all the great Mesopotamian cities and, according to the Sumerian King List, the oldest city in history. The mound that housed ancient Eridu was identified in 1855 by British archaeologist John George Taylor, who conducted the initial excavations at the site now known as Tell Abu Shahrain. British archaeologists conducted excavations between 1918 and 1919, but these were interrupted until after World War II.