ANCIENT

sumeria
“The people of Sumer had an unusual flair for technological
invention.”

3500 BCE
Sumeria is a great city
known as SUMER, found in
the most southern tip of
mesopotamia

360 DAY
CALENDAR

EVENT 2

SEXAGESMAL
NUMBER SYSTEM
The sexagesimal number system also
known as base 60 is a number system in
which every unit is broken down (divided)
into 60 smaller units. It is known as base
60 because we use 60 as a base. We use THIS HAS BECOME THE BASIS FOR GRADUATING
this system to measure time and angles. THE CIRCUMFERENCE OF A CIRCLE TO 360
In one hour, there are 60 minutes. In one DEGREES AND THE SIXTY-MINUTE EQUAL
minute, there are 60 seconds. GRADUATIONS TO AN HOUR DURATION IN
TIME.

STYLUS CUNEIFORM
Ancient Sumerians used Lutilizes word
sharpened reed stylus for pictures and
inscribing on wet clay tablets in triangular symbols
3500 BCE. Nissaba was a
that are carved on
patron goddess of grass plants,
writing and accounting. A reed
clay using wedge
stylus was the main writing tool instruments and
used by Mesopotamian scribes. then left to dry. This
Scribes created the wedge was used to keep
shapes which made cuneiform records of things
signs by pressing the stylus into
with great historical
a clay or wax surface.
value or their

WHEELS, SAIL AND

everyday life.

PLOW

The first sailboats were created in Sumer.

They were used to import stones, metals,
and timber from Asia Minor and Syria, by

ZIGURRAT
traveling the Euphrates and the Tigris rivers

The Great Ziggurat of Ur was a temple of

Nanna, the moon deity in Sumerian
mythology, and has two stages constructed
from brick: in the lower stage the bricks are
joined together with bitumen, in the upper
stage they are joined with mortar. The
temple was built in 2,100 B.C. during the
reign of Ur-Nammu and stands 70 feet (21 m)
high).