Introduction

In most of us lies a tinge of an adventurous spirit. We crave to investigate the mysterious, the aloof, the unknown. Few of us will ever have the chance to physically follow through on those thoughts. Luckily for us, the busy, technology-driven, and commercialized lives that we are caught up in also provide us with the means to satisfy that conscious or subconscious craving.

Through books and film, we can satisfy our curiosity and enrich our minds. History, as a whole, and ancient history, in particular, is often more mysterious and awe-inspiring than fiction. The higher goal of learning about history, though, is that it should ultimately teach us not to repeat humanity’s past mistakes.

Modern ways of cooperation between many different fields of science have clarified much ancient historical data, most of which is relevant today. For example, climate change is a pressing issue today. Palaeobotanists, archaeologists, and other researchers have discovered that our ancient forbearers, without industrialization and large-scale pollution, dealt with climate change on several occasions and thrived again afterward.

With this book, we would like to draw you into the surprisingly sophisticated world of the ancient Sumerians. Reckoned for centuries to be the first people to develop civilization, they flourished at the dawn of history between the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers. They lived, made merry, were sad, and were afraid. They learned, worked, worshiped, fought, and made peace. They invented practical solutions and tools, developed ideas and explanations, and manufactured products from raw materials without external aid or prior knowledge.

The Sumerians invented a list of around thirty-nine “firsts” literally from nothing over a relatively brief period. They solved the challenges of their society through innovation when the need arose. We should not only be in awe of their abilities but also of the fact that we still use some of their innovations, albeit modernized, to this day.

Ancient civilizations sprouted in fertile river valleys on every continent. The most well-known of these is probably the ancient Egyptian civilization of the Nile Valley. Some of these civilizations declined, disappeared, and were forgotten as time passed until their ruins and artifacts were rediscovered by chance—like the Sumerians. In other instances, the deciphering of ancient texts set scholars on the trail of discovery—again, like the Sumerians!

The exact timelines for Sumerian settlements and the development of innovative solutions to ease their lives are not known for sure. The styles and sophistication in the manufacture of pottery are often used to determine timelines and changes in culture during prehistory throughout the ancient Near East. The Sumerian civilization’s timeline is based on information gathered from one a few sites.

Carbon-14 dating and other modern scientific dating methods have confirmed some periods. There is little consensus amongst scholars about the exact timeline of events, inventions, and lengths of reigns. Thus, exact chronologies have not been set up and remain a cause of disagreement. We have endeavored to stick to a consistent timeline, but it is important to note that this timeline might not exactly agree with other sources you have read before this. The lack of an exact timeline is part of the Sumerians’ intrigue and provides food for speculation, theories, serious history fans, and even ufologists.

In the 19th century, attentive Assyriologists were on the trail of a well-known ancient civilization, the Assyrians. As they investigated the Assyrian culture, they noticed a different culture and legacy. And thus, the magnificent world of the ancient Sumerian civilization was revealed. Biblical scholars and archaeologists jumped at the chance to excavate the land of the biblical and Koranic patriarch Abraham’s birth. By this time, they already knew that the Chaldeans of the Bible were later inhabitants of that land.

We still do not know enough about the Sumerians, especially if we consider that their civilization waxed and waned for roughly four thousand years. The bulk of our knowledge stems from archaeological excavations and deciphered clay tablets from the ancient library of King Ashurbanipal of Assyria in Nineveh. More than thirty thousand cuneiform clay tablets were discovered here and elsewhere, and many are still undeciphered. The Assyrian cuneiform tablets were in several languages and styles, and amongst them were lexicons, which set scholars on the path to identify the languages and start deciphering them.

When the Sumerian people, who called themselves the “black-headed people,” arrived in the land that would later become Sumer in southern Mesopotamia, there were other groups of nomadic and semi-nomadic people living between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers and throughout the ancient Near East. Where they came from still baffles scholars. Their genealogy has still not been unraveled despite more than 140 years of excavations and linguistic analysis by many scholars and Sumerologists.

Because the Sumerians invented writing and later recorded the history, myths, and beliefs of earlier generations from oral transmissions, we have their own interpretations and explanations. What did they believe? How did they explain human existence and the purpose of life? How did they explain natural phenomena?

Hypotheses about the origins of the Sumerians vary greatly, and theories and conclusions cover many geographical possibilities. They might have come from the Levant, Anatolia, the Zagros Mountains, ancient East Asia, the Indus Valley, or somewhere in the Indian Ocean. Genetic analysis of ancient Mesopotamian skeletons that compare DNA with modern Marsh Arabs from southern Iraq confirmed that they are closely related. Skeletons from the excavations at Ur by the late Leonard Wooley were recently discovered in still-unpacked crates after nearly a century. One can only hope that DNA from this may finally identify the Sumerians’ origins to a reasonably certain degree.