Sumerian Civilization (ca. 3000 - 2000 B.C.E.)

Sumerian society in Ancient Mesopotamia was the first great ancient civilization the world has seen. Bordering the Euphrates and Tigris River, just north of the Persian Gulf, Ancient Sumer was formed in southern Mesopotamia; what is now modern day Iraq. The resources associated with settlement building, such as timber and stone, were not abundant in the Near East. The Sumerians instead used mud to build their settlements, their ziggurats - which serve the Near East as the pyramids do in Egypt -, and eventually the tablets upon which they wrote the first written language: cuneiform. While the constant sunshine and silt carried from the rivers served as fertilizer were both encouraging for crops, the vast dry climate prevented vegetation from naturally flourishing. Thus Sumer was split into city-states to create an irrigation system of canals and dams, making this desert abundant, even surplus, with agriculture. Twenty centuries before Caesar, and sixteen before Socrates - Sumer was so agriculturally abundant that they could turn to the arts, architecture, and their social structure. The great Ziggurat of Ur was a symbol of the city-state's patron goddess, Nanna, and a meeting place where the people would bring their agricultural surplus and receive food allotments. The first monarchies were established, cuneiform, the plow, the sailboat, and the lunar calender were all . By its end, Sumer was an ancient culture, ridden with a history of civil wars between city-states, conflict with other Mesopotamian cultures, culminating in the gradual absorption of Sumerian culture into the growing Akkadian civilization, later known as the Babylonians. Every facet of Akkadian society was heavily influenced by the Sumerian. Sumerian innovation served as the foundation and inspiration of every great civilization that followed.

 

Staircase of Great Ziggurat. source

North-east side of Great Ziggurat of Ur from Sir Leonard Woolley's photo album. source

Great Ziggurat of Ur in 2008. Largely reconstructed. source

Sumerian Mother-of-Pearl Inlay: a Bald-Headed Priest leading a Bull

Mesopotamia; circa 2500 BCE source

Sumerian Creme Calcite Female Face with Lapis Lazuli Inlaid Eyebrows and Eye Rims

Mari area, Syria; 2600-2350 BCE. source

In the 1920's, Sir Leonard Woolley excavated the site where the city-state Ur lies. There he began the renovation of the great ziggurat, and discovered over 1800 graves. Most of them were pits in a burial ground, but 17 of them were actual tombs branching off into several rooms that held a number of  valuable objects. Woolley called these tombs the Royal Tombs of Ur. In a corner of the Royal Tombs, a number of stone and shell fragments were found lying in a pattern on the floor. Once analyzed, archeologists believed  the fragments had been part of a disintegrated box. Woolley believed the positioning of the fragments - above and to the right of a man who was apparently holding a pole - indicated  that is was a standard,  thus naming it the Standard of Ur.

Standard of Ur: Peace Side. source 

Gold spouted bowl found in Royal Tombs of Ur source

One of two lyres found in Royal Tombs of Ur. source

 Cuneiform tablet still in its clay case: legal case from Niqmepuh, King of Iamhad (Aleppo), 1720 B.C.E source

 Sumerian city of Girsu. this victory stele, known as the "Stele of the Vultures," is the oldest known historiographic document. A long Sumerian inscription narrates the recurrent conflict between the neighboring city-states of Lagash and Umma, and records the victory won by Eannatum, king of Lagash, who ruled around 2450 BC. source

 "Ur-Namma, the king of Ur, he who built the temple of Nanna". Refering to ziggurat of Ur. source

Ur-Namma. King of Ur. King of Sumer and Akkad. source