The Invention Of The Sumerians

In the land of modern day Iraq, lies the location of one of the earliest records of civilization, land that was and is still known as Mesopotamia. The people of this land were known as Sumerians, who originated from the east around 5000 BCE (Adler, et al). The Sumerians were one of the first to develop many things that would play a part in influencing other cultures as well as modern civilization. They were the first to create city-states, develop a sophisticated system of writing, a basic sense of mathematics, and also a more in depth religion (Adler, et al). The invention of these were able to be passed down to the successors of the Sumerians and were able to be advanced even further. Let us take a more in depth look into these fields. Sumerians were the first to create the first large cities, the largest of which could have contained up to one hundred thousand people. The people in the cities ranged from high government officials to peasants that did the farming and handled livestock. They also developed a highly sophisticated irrigation system for that time period using the force of gravity. This allowed them to expand on the agriculture. They also kept extensive records which led to the development of writing, this was one of the most influential achievements. Although the Sumerians did not get as far as
The Sumerians were able to observe and keep record of the change of seasons, they were able to develop a calendar that was lunar based. This calendar corresponded with the full moons, with every new full moon there was a new month. The Sumerians also based their units on the number sixty. This is an example of something that people still use to this day, hence sixty second in a minute and sixty minutes in an hour. The basic calculations of 360 degrees making a full circle is another concept that has been attributed to the Sumerians. (Adler, et