The Sumerians

Mesopotamia
The Fertile Crescent
The Cradle of Civilization

The Sumerians

5300 – 2350 (1940) BC

Modern day southern Iraq

Architecture begins at the temple of Eridu, Sumeria, in 5,300 BCE (or 4,300 BCE).

The Sumerians develop the first independent city-state of Eridu, 4,300 BCE (or 5,300 BCE). The city states developed into land areas bounded by canals and centered around a temple and governed by a political priest or by a religious king.

Recorded history begins when the Sumerians develop the first phonetic written language, Cuneiform, 3,500 BCE. Developed originally for documenting government transactions, later for literary purposes, to record epic tales. Later, the tale of Gilgamesh (2700 BCE) would be Sumeria’s most famous epic.

The Sumerians begin using copper (2,900 BCE), along with the Egyptians (3,150 BCE) ushering in the Early Bronze Age.

The Sumerians were the first astronomers and created the Zodiac. Some of their constellation still exist in the Zodiac today.

The Sumerians invented and developed arithmetic and even abstract mathematics.

The Sumerians invented the Calendar and timekeeping, with the 60 minute hour.

The Sumerians invented both pottery and the wheel in 5000 BCE, in fact the Sumerians invented the potter’s wheel first and then discovered it’s more advantageous uses, like the mill wheel and later the ox cart and chariot.

Sumerians invented the concept of law, of statehood. and that of a king, a spiritual king, as opposed to a mere ruler.

The Sumerians invented the basic, ancient world military divisions of infantry, archers and calvary.

The ox-drawn plow appeared in Mesopotamia in 3000 BCE; it may have been invented in Egypt first. This one tool allowed for greater and faster expansion of settlements into great city-states. The first plow was wooden and was perfected by the Egyptian bronze plow.

The Sumerians developed agriculture and invented irrigation. They diverted water from the Euphrates river to irrigate most of Sumeria, all the way to the Tigris river. Unfortunately, silt and salinity from irrigation was their eventual decline.

History

Ubaid period: 5300 – 4100 BCE

Uruk period: 4100 – 2900 BCE

Early Dynastic period 2900 - 2334 BCE

Akkadian Empire period 2334 – 2218 BCE

Gutian period 2218 – 2047 BCE

Ur III period 2047 – 1940 BCE (2350 BCE)
(Sumerian Renaissance)


Culture

The Sumerians believed the gods created human beings from clay for the purpose of serving them. If the temples/gods ruled each city, it was for their mutual survival and benefit.
The Sumerian afterlife involved a descent into a gloomy netherworld to spend eternity as a ghost.
Sumerians believed that the universe consisted of a flat disk enclosed by a tin dome.

There were three basic types of priests in Sumerian culture:
an āšipu was an exorcist and physician.
a bārû was a diviner and astrologer.
a qadištu was a priestess and prostitute.





Architecture

The Sumerians believed that the land was owned by the gods. All work on the land was simply borrowed from them. Their entire life and culture was dieticentric. The main focus of every city state was the temple or Ziggurat. The Ziggurat is in the shape of a stepped pyramid made of only mud bricks. It was believed that the gods lived in the sky and the temple was a direct vehicle to the gods. From the Ziggurat, the priests would control irrigation, farming, and the distribution of food, thus providing food for the people. The grain was stored here and the king resided here as well.

Ziggurats consisted of a forecourt, with a central pond for purification. The temple itself had a central nave with aisles along either side. Flanking the aisles would be rooms for the priests. At one end would stand the podium and a mud brick table for animal and vegetable sacrifices. Granaries and storehouses were usually located near the temples. After a time the Sumerians began to place the temples on top of multi-layered square constructions built as a series of rising terraces, giving rise to the later Ziggurat style found at Ur.




Great Ziggurat of Ur
near modern day Nasiriyah, Iraq
2047 – 1940 BCE



Sumerian Renaissance

In the 3rd and final dynasty of the city-state of Ur under the kings Ur-Nammu and Shulgi, whose power extended as far as northern Mesopotamia, was the last great "Sumerian renaissance", but already the region was becoming more Semitic than Sumerian, with the influx of waves of Martu (Amorites) who were later to found the Babylonian Empire. The Sumerian language, however, remained a sacerdotal language taught in schools, in the same way that Latin was used in the Medieval period, for as long as cuneiform was utilized.



Decline

Irrigation was an ingenious way to farm in the arid conditions of Mesopotamia. The main problem is that the landscape was not suited for such irrigation over the long term. The local soil was clay-based and did not allow for natural drainage. There was little to no regional drainage. When flooding would occur, the excess water would sit on the soil. These two main points are important as the water from the Euphrates, or any river, has a large amount of silt in it. On the shot term, this clogged canals and periodic dredging was required. On the long term, salt, within the silt, when left to sit on farming land, over long periods will poison the soil. This is exactly what happened in Sumeria. There was no field drainage, no constant re-fertilization of the soil, and the soil itself drained very little due to the clay content. The salinity from the silt built up and eventually, the fields were unable to yield the same amount of crops that they used to and some were completely unable to support any crops.
The Mesopotamian plane is relatively flat, but the Euphrates river, in the south, is higher than the Tigris...


This period is generally taken to coincide with a major shift in population from southern Iraq toward the north. Ecologically, the agricultural productivity of the Sumerian lands was being compromised as a result of rising salinity. Soil salinity in this region had been long recognized as a major problem. Poorly drained irrigated soils, in an arid climate with high levels of evaporation, led to the buildup of dissolved salts in the soil, eventually reducing agricultural yields severely. During the Akkadian and Ur III phases, there was a shift from the cultivation of wheat to the more salt-tolerant barley, but this was insufficient, and during the period from 2100 BCE to 1700 BCE, it is estimated that the population in this area declined by nearly three fifths. This greatly weakened the balance of power within the region, weakening the areas where Sumerian was spoken, and comparatively strengthening those where Akkadian was the major language. Henceforth Sumerian would remain only a literary and liturgical language, similar to the position occupied by Latin in medieval Europe.
Following an Elamite invasion and the fall of Ur during the rule of Ibbi-Sin (1940 BCE), Sumer came under Amorite rule (taken to introduce the Middle Bronze Age). The independent Amorite states of the 20th to 18th centuries are summarized as the "Dynasty of Isin" in the Sumerian king list, ending with the rise of Babylonia under Hammurabi ca. 1700 BCE.


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The Dawn of Civilization

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As far back as 380,000 BC, early humans lived in temporary shelters, such as the Brushwood Hut, made of sticks, with a rock base or in nearby, natural shelters, such as caves. In 12,000 BC, the earliest wooden frame huts were built in Monte Verde, Chile. They had animal skin roofs and sunken fire pits. At this time, early humans were hunter-gatherers. Early humans were nomads and would travel when the animals migrated with the change in seasons. They also searched for and gathered food from plants and trees, where and when it was available.

In 10,500 BC, an ice age encompassed the Earth, the most recent ice age in Earth’s history. The entire planet became colder and drought struck in many areas. Including the Middle East. In the Middle East, many animals, trees and plants died off, the main source of food for the early humans. This drought lasted until about 9,500 BC.

In 10,000 BC, people began to settle into regions and become less nomadic, as evidenced by the Round House dwellings of the coastal regions of modern day Israel, Syria and Lebanon. These structures had low exterior circular stone walls, atop circular stone foundation walls, a sunken interior and with a conical timber roof. More time and effort was put into these dwellings, as they were more permanent.

In 9,500 BC, in Draa, Jordan, housed one of the earliest primitive villages in the world. The inhabitants here, lived in oval huts, set in the ground. Here in Draa, archeologists have discovered the first granary, indicating the first agrarian microsociety of early humans, the pre-cursor to civilization. They collected, but did not yet cultivate, local wheat and barley. Farming took place a little later in time when villages began to grow and more villages appeared nearby the localities of naturally occurring grains.

Soon afterwards, the early people of modern day China began to harvest rice. The early people of the Great Lakes region, Central America and that of the northern region of South America and that of modern day Peru began to farm squash, beans and corn. In modern day Ethiopia and in a region in north west to central Africa, (from modern day Nigeria to Mali and from the Sudan to Mauritania), the early people began to farm millet, yams and sorghum.

These crops were all readily available and naturally hardy, but some were more advantageous, in nutrition and productivity, to early humans than others. Wheat is easier to cultivate and can be seeded by merely tossing the seeds into a field, the least labor intensive of these crops. Wheat can be stored for years without rotting, especially in the arid climate of the Middle East. Wheat has a higher source of protein than the other early crops and is a high-yield crop. Protein and a guaranteed source of it is important to brain development and the advancement of society.

9,000 BC, in Mesopotamia, the Fertile Crescent, (the area between the Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers, in modern day Iraq), larger villages with more productive farmers, using domesticated strains of wheat and barely begin to develop. In 8,000 BC, they first began the domestication of animals, with goats and later, with sheep. They no longer had an undependable meat food source by hunting wild animals that varied with seasonal, migratory variations. They had a steady protein source of food, year round, of meat and milk. They could control the location, feeding and breeding of the animals. There was now a steady supply of animal hair and skin to make clothes for warmth, and water-proof roof materials for shelter. The domesticated animals would eat the remains of the wheat and barely crops and fertilize the fields in the process. Later, pigs, cows and horses would become domesticated.

Most animals are impractical to domesticate; some cannot live on a farm, others, such as, carnivores would require raising additional animals to feed them. The ideal domesticated animals are large herbivores with flexible diets, weighing over 100 lbs, that can be used as beasts of burden and produce hides, meat and milk. They would need to be able to breed in captivity, to start giving birth at 1 or 2 years of age, have at least 1 or 2 offspring every year, and have a fast growth rate. The behavior of the animals and interactions with humans is important too. The animals would need to be able to be penned and to not easily panic. Social animals are ideal, with families that stay together, and have an internal social hierarchy. If one were to gain control of the animal leader, then they would gain control of the whole flock or herd.

Out of all the animals possible for domestication, only a small portion were suitable for human domestication and only 14 species have ever been successfully domesticated in the 10,000 years of animal domestication. These 14 are goats, sheep, horses, cows, pigs, donkeys, Bractrian camels, Arabian camels, water buffalo, llamas, reindeer, yaks, guars or mithans, and Bali cattle or Banteng.

The top four domesticatable animals, meeting most of the ideal conditions, goats, sheep, cows and pigs were native to the Fertile Crescent. This is also the most ideal location for the best crops in the world. All these ingredients, together in one location, are the reason civilization begins here, and not anywhere else.

In the ancient village of Guare, in southern Jordan, with rows of houses of mud brick, wood and stone, Civilization begins in 7000 BC with interior plaster. At this time, the population had increased and could be supported by highly efficient food production. There were granaries, domesticated animals and technologically advanced houses, with natural "air conditioning," (or ventilated cooling systems) and interior plaster. It is determined that the beginning of human civilization began when people moved away individualized farming, preparing food and performing the same daily tasks for survival, and began to diverse into different skill sets. The first of these occurred when one could afford to pay another, with excess in agricultural and animal goods, for a service. This first service was interior plastering. The plaster was made from limestone and was heated skillfully by fire, at temperatures of roughly 1000 degrees, for several days, until it broke down into a soft stone, that could easily be crushed into a powder. The powder was then mixed with water and was hand applied to interior walls. Thus the first, community supported, skilled specialist was created.

Drought and unyielding crops due to over developed farming, required by an overflowing population, caused a migration throughout the Middle East. Eventually, the early villagers moved throughout Eurasia and Africa, beginning with north Africa and Europe to the west and to the Indus Valley, modern day Pakistan, to the east, all at roughly the same latitude. Keeping to the same latitude, allowed them to continue using their acquired community technology of farming, domestication and building structures, all within the same climate range and approximate same daylight schedule.

The invention of the plow plays an integral role in the development of and expansion of cities. Before this time, humans had discovered that by sowing the wheat seeds into the soil yielded more wheat plants. Digging by hand, and later with primitive tools was highly labor intensive, but still produced more wheat than by simply tossing the seeds into the fields, as their predecessors had done. The plow was an efficient invention, reducing labor demands and allowing a great deal more wheat to be planted and harvested every season. Small societies are now able to feed a larger burgeoning city population.

When the village communities migrated to Egypt, they found an ideal location for civilization. This region was much more lush than it is now. The northern Sahara was once rich with rivers and jungles, and the Nile valley extended it’s fertile land further into the interior. The Nile rises and falls every year due to natural spring flooding, so no irrigation was required.

The settlements that endure in the Mesopotamia region develop into the later mud brick civilizations of Sumer, Akkad, Assyria and Babylon. The Sumerians, the first dominant civilization, grow an excess of food to feed many varying specialists, including artists, architects, priests, etc, and not just a village head, but a king. Architecture begins at the Temple of Eridu in the first city, 5,300 BC. The Sumerians invent Cuneiform, the first written language, in 3,500 BC. The irrigation techniques developed here played an integral role in the development of civilization and, unfortunately, its ultimate demise.

Geography also played a vital role in the advancement of civilization and society, as we shall see in future discussions.