SUMERIANS LEGACY: The Inventions of Science and Technology in Mesopotamian Civilization

(4100-2900 BCE)

A Concept Paper

Presented To

The Faculty of

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I. INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Topic

About 6000 to 8000 years ago, agriculture was well in several regions such as Ancient

Egypt, Mesopotomia and Ancient China. All because of the regular river floods that is used in

fertile soil around the riverbanks. This river floods were also used to supply fresh water in the

irrigation of crops. Thus, some of the world’s first civilizations were happened to these areas.

Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq and Kuwait is known for being the cradle of civilization

since many of the most influential early city-states and empires are a part of this place. The

name Mesopotamia came from the Greek words mesos which means middle and potamos

means “a country between two rivers” since Mesopotamia is found in the middle of the Tigris

River and Euphrates River. These rivers are known for the development of agriculture and

serves as a crossroads of the Egyptian and Indus Valley Civilizations. The said civilization was

known as the system of the emergence of languages and cultures. These languages and cultures

made a huge success to the point that it were lasted to the modern day and make an impact to

the writing, trade, language, law, religion and technology in the present era.

One of the ancient cultures emerged in Mesopotamia are the Sumerians. Sumerians or

Sumer took its first Sumerian civilization in the southern Mesopotamia at around 4000BCE or

6000 years ago. Sumerian Civilization is one of the First Urban Civilization in the region.

Mesopotamians are known for the development of writing system because of its famous

written scripts that were made for about 3000BCE. These manuscripts were pressed in the clay-

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tablets. Mesopotamians are also known for recording sales and purchases. Sumerians also

developed the use of wheels on 3500BCE in Mesopotamia. They are also the pioneer of the

cuneiform-the earliest writing system that emerged in Mesopotamia in 3500BCE this writing is

representational. Writing was begun as pictures. Cuneiform is a logo-syllabic script that was

used to write several languages of the Ancient Near East. The script was in active use from the

early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era (Wikipedia)

Cuneiform functions as both phonetically which is a representation of sounds and

semantically which is a representation of a meaning such as an object or concept rather than

only representing objects directly as a picture.

They are also the one who first built a ship to be used in civilization. The ship they built

helps them to travel to Persian Gulf to make trades with the other civilizations during that time

such as Harappans in the Northern India. They traded textiles, leather goods, and jewelry for

Harappan semi-precious stones, copper, pearls, and ivory.

Sumerians are also known for the temples they built for their multiple gods since their religion

was polytheistic. Massive Ziggurats were also present in the centers of most cities by which

thousands of people are needed in constructing these structures and consumed many years.

PAPER OBJECTIVES:

 To know why the Sumerians push through the invention of Science and Technology.

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  To know the persons during Sumerian Civilization who invented Science and Technology

and their inventions.

 To analyze if the people of the modern day adapted the inventions from the Ancient

Mesopotamia

B. SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS

This study was exclusive for the Sumerian Civilization in the Mesopotamia on 4100-2900

BCE only. The problems needed to be answered are the reasons why Sumerians come up with

the idea of Science and Technology and the way it had help them in their early civilization. The

paper was conducted to see if the Sumerian’s inventions and technology are adapted until the

present civilization such as the ships that they used in trading with the Harappan in the

Northern India. These ships were built in the 3500BCE as well as the Temples they constructed

for their gods. The oldest writing system, cuneiform was also developing in the 3500BCE in the

Mesopotamia by the Sumerians. On this timeframe, Sumerians also discover the use of wheels.

Wheels had literally helped them in making their transport of goods easier. Another milestone

they develop and improve were the arithmetic, geometry, irrigation, saws and other tools,

sandals, chariots, harpoons, and beer. They develop irrigation for the yearly flooding happening

because of the rivers Tigris and Euphrates. Since the civilization is growing, Sumerians decided

to develop the uses of symbols in representing the numbers—the arithmetic. This happened

within 4000BCE-2900BCE.

C. IMPORTANCE OF THE STUDY

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 As the famous adage says, no history no self, know history, know self. Since the ancient

Mesopotamia especially the Sumerians have a huge contribution in our modern civilization, it is

important to recognize the reasons why they develop such.

Since the Sumerians’ science and technology are still functional up to this day, modern scientist

can adapt the procedures and materials they used in improving these inventions. Just like the

very purpose of the irrigation system that they develop in order to solve the problem in the

yearly flooding since the region were found in the middle of two rivers. The development of

arithmetic aligned with the growing civilization and the utilization of wheels and ship in trading.

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References:

Ancient Mesopotamia: The Rise of Civilization. (2017a, January 4). Brewminate: We’re Never Far

from Where We Were. https://brewminate.com/ancient-mesopotamia-the-rise-of-

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Ancient Mesopotamia: The Rise of Civilization. (2017b, January 4). Brewminate: We’re Never

Far from Where We Were. https://brewminate.com/ancient-mesopotamia-the-rise-of-

civilization/

Ancient Mesopotamian civilizations (article). (n.d.). Khan Academy. Retrieved October 4, 2021,

from https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/world-history/world-history-

beginnings/ancient-mesopotamia/a/mesopotamia-article

C. (2019, May 22). Ancient Sumerians. AllAboutHistory.Org.

https://www.allabouthistory.org/ancient-sumerians.htm

The Cuneiform Writing System in Ancient Mesopotamia: Emergence and Evolution. (n.d.). NEH-

Edsitement. Retrieved October 4, 2021, from https://edsitement.neh.gov/lesson-

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