ADVANCED CITIES: Caption: This artifact is huge and can only be viewed if a picture of it is placed on a piece of paper like the one to the left. It is a picture of the first major city in Mesopotamia: Ur. Ur was one of the first village settlements founded around 4000 BC. Before 2800 BC, Ur became one of the most prosperous Sumerian city-states. According to ancient records, Ur had three dynasties of rulers who, at various times, extended their control over all of Sumeria, in the Mesopotamia region. The people who established the world's first civilization around 4000 B.C. in southern Mesopotamia were known as the Sumerians. The Sumerians learned to control the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers by constructing levees and irrigation canals. As a result, a stable food supply existed, and the Sumerian villages evolved into self-governing city-states. At the center of each city-state was a temple surrounded by courts and public buildings. Radiating from the allimportant city center were the two-story houses of the priests and merchants, or the upper class; the one-story homes of government officials, shopkeepers, and craftspeople; and the lower class homes of farmers, unskilled workers, and fishermen. The city-state also included the fertile farming land outside the city wall. Since there wasn't any building stone and very little timber in Sumer, the people constructed their homes, public buildings, and city walls out of sun-dried mud brick. The Sumerians took great pride in their city-states. Many times city-states would war with each other because boundary disputes existed. Sometimes a city-state would attack a neighboring city-state just to prove its strength.
Written Records: Caption: The artifact to the left is totally awesome! It is an example of the oldest known written language: Cuneiform. Writing was invented in Mesopotamia (the fertile farming area between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers) around 3100 B.C.E. These earliest writings used a combination of pictographs (pictures) and other symbols to show meaning. Cuneiform writing was done on damp clay which were then fired or dried. Modern scholars have named the writing system after the wedge-shaped indentations made by the stylus -- cuneiform comes from a Latin word meaning "wedge-shaped." Cuneiform records made up an important part of Mesopotamian life. Scribes, people specially trained in writing and reading cuneiform characters, were hired by temples, government officials, and businessmen to carry out the process of writing and to maintain the records which we still preserve today. Cuneiform writing was used for a wide range of important documents including songs, temple records, letters, business transactions, and legal law proceedings. Students also worked very hard at Sumerian schools, and the school day lasted from early morning until evening. Students were taught reading, writing, and arithmetic. The teachers severely disciplined the students. For example, a mistake on a clay tablet could merit a beating.
Evidence of: Complex Institutions Caption: The Ziggurats, or holy temples, as shown to the left were the headquarters of an important Sumerian institution: religion. Religion in Sumeria was an institution because it was an organized, long-lasting system and this is shown by the time it took to build and maintain the ziggurats. Ziggurats were a form of temple tower common to the Sumerians, Babylonians and Assyrians of ancient Mesopotamia. The earliest examples of the ziggurat were simple raised platforms. The top of the ziggurat was flat, like a pyramid without the point. The Mesopotamian ziggurats were not places for public worship or ceremonies. They were believed to be dwelling places for the gods. Through the ziggurat the gods could be close to mankind and each city had its own god. Only priests were permitted on the ziggurat or in the rooms at its base and it was their responsibility to care for the gods and attend to their needs. As a result the priests were very powerful members of Sumerian society. Originally the temples at the center of each city-state were built on a platform. As time passed, these platform temples evolved into temple-towers called ziggurats. The ziggurat was the first major building structure of the Sumerians. Constructed of sun-baked mud bricks, the ziggurats were usually colorfully decorated with glazed fired bricks.
Skilled Workers Caption: The artifact to the left is a famous carving from Sumeria in Mesopotamia (the fertile area between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers). It shows skilled artisans (artists who made goods) presenting the king with a piece of pottery. The artisans were only the most skilled and trained professionals. They made important items for the people, including jars to preserve food, art to display in the city center, and tools for farming. The priest-king was a very famous and important person in Sumeria. Read below to find out more Each Sumerian city-state had a distinct social hierarchy, or system of ranks. The highest class included the ruling family, leading officials, and high priests. A small middle class was made up of merchants, artisans, and lesser priests and scribes. At the base of society were the majority of people, farmers. Some had their own land, but most worked land belonging to the king or temples. Sumerians also owned slaves. Most slaves had been captured in war. Some, though, had sold themselves into slavery to pay their debts. At the top of the class system seemed to have been a type of priest-king. Among their jobs were leading the military, administering trade, judging disputes, and engaging in the most important religious ceremonies. The priest-king ruled through a series of smaller priests, which carefully watched the land, assigned farms, and distributed crops after harvest. The priest-king himself was thought to be divine (a god) and worthy of worship.
Advanced Technology Caption: The artifact to the left is a 5,000 year old wheel, one of the first known to have existed on this earth. Sumerians invented the wheel to help them with many tasks. It allowed them to rolls heavy items, which helped in construction. It also helped them make more tools and items for farming, including a plow in years to come. The wheel is something that allowed Sumerians to survive in Mesopotamia (the farm land in between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers). The Sumerians also had a system of numbers. The Sumerians developed a number system based on the unit 60. They divided the hour into 60 minutes and the circle into 360 degrees, as we still do today. They also developed basic algebra and geometry. They also studied astronomy. Priests studied the skies, recording the movement of stars and planets. This knowledge enabled them to make accurate calendars, which are so essential to a farming society. Lastly, aside from their developed writing system, clay tokens were invented in different shapes and sizes. These represented different objects. For example, a cone shape could have represented a bag of wheat. These tokens were placed inside clay balls that were sealed. If you were sending five goats to someone, then you would put five tokens in the clay ball. When the goat arrived, the person would open the clay ball and count the tokens to make sure the correct number of goats had arrived.