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The Ancient Sumerians' Contributions to Modern Science
A survey of Sumerian technology, from writing, the wheel and the plow to bronze, medical texts and calendars, separating documented firsts from popular exaggeration.
Cradle of Civilization
Sumerian Innovations
Farming, mathematics, technology and legal practice in Sumer.
The Ancient Sumerians' Contributions to Modern Law
How Sumerian contracts, court records and reform edicts such as Urukagina's built habits of written, witnessed law that later Mesopotamian systems inherited.
The Ancient Sumerians' Knowledge of Agriculture
How Sumerian farmers grew barley with canals and dikes, used the seeder plow, struggled with salty soils, and followed a yearly calendar of flood, sowing and harvest.
The Ancient Sumerians' Knowledge of Mathematics
How Sumerian scribes used a base-60 system, place value, multiplication tables and practical geometry to measure fields and account for grain on clay tablets.
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Mesopotamia Overview The land between the rivers and how its civilization began. Sumerian Cities Uruk, Eridu, Ur and Nippur, the first great cities. Writing and Law Cuneiform and the earliest law codes. Myth and Art Gods, creation stories, the Gilgamesh epic and Mesopotamian art. Sumerian History The story of Sumer from early villages to the Ur III state and its rediscovery. Ancient Crafts and Technology Metals, glass, cloth, concrete and the tools that built early civilizations. Women and Children in the Ancient World Family life, education and the women who shaped ancient history. Archaeology Methods and Dating The scientific tools used to date and reconstruct the ancient past.