Reader sumerians

Possibly about 3500 ВС the people who are known as the Sumerians relocated in the Tigris-Euphratus Valley. Many archaeologists think that they came from the north, possibly from the Caspian Sea region. Others believe that the Sumerians may well have been in the Fertile Crescent long before 3500 ВС. Archaeologists are certain that there was a major growth in population, either the result of migration or an unforeseen jump in the number of indigenous people at that time.

The Sumerians took advantage of the large number of plants and animals that their predecessors cultivated. They grew both barley and wheat and number of vegetables. Much of the grain they fermented into ale, the common drink of the Sumerians. The date palm gave them fruit and shade, as well as tall reeds for roofing their homes. Among the animals they kept were cattle, goats, sheep, and onagers, a kind of donkey.

It was Sumerian farmers who first learned that the use of a plow made planting crops much easier. Before the plow was invented, seeds were scattered by broadcasting them by hand. Once the plow appeared, the young plants could grow in rows and develop deeper root system. Farmers could cultivate the plants during the growing season and harvest them much more easily after they matured.

The first plow was little more than a tree branch that, as one person pulled and another pushed, made a furrow in the ground. Later farmers put an arrow-shaped metal piece on the plow, making it go deeper and straighten Oxen and donkeys pulled the plow because the work was so hard.

The need for greater physical strength using plow agriculture was probably responsible for changing roles in the Sumerian family. Even though both women and men shared in agricultural work in the past, now the need for men to manage animals pulling plows gave women a lesser role in a family's food production. Their lesser position increasingly relegated them to the home, with the result that patriarchal attitudes grew more prominent. Men made the decisions on economic matters, and they soon monopolized political decisions as well because they also filled the ranks of the armies. Patriarchal society became the norm in southwestern Asia.

In order to be certain of the bounderies of their fields, the Sumerians developed mathematics and surveying techniques. Instead of using 10 as a basis for calculation, the Sumerians preferred 60. Their calculation based on 60 explains why we use 60 minutes in an hour and 360 degrees in a circle.

The wheel was another invention of the Sumerians. As early as 3400 ВС the potters of Mesopotamia discovered how much easier it was to shape their vases and jugs by spinning them on a wheel. The insight allowed them to find other uses for wheel. This first wheel was made of solid wood. They put wheels on sleds, using an axe to hold the wheels together, so that they could transport goods. The early carts were so light that when their drivers reached water they could be dismantled. Pulling a cart, rather than putting baggage on the back of a pack animals, increased the weight carried threefold. For travel on their rivers, the Sumerians first employed the sailboat.

City people also had their share of discoveries. Jewelry of gold, silver, and precious stones was favored by the wealthy as a way to demonstrate their importance. Goldsmiths proved especially adept at hammering this metal, valued for its color and permanence. Cloth makers used cotton and wool to make garments that were dyed many colors. Often it seems that the weavers were slave women forced to work at this tedious job long hours each day. Workers tanned hides and used the leather for shoes and bags.

Sumerian businessmen used stone cylinder seals with a unique carving on them that could be rolled in soft clay to make an impression. This device served as the autograph of a Sumerian merchant. Sumerian cities also had pharmacists who dispensed drugs that the doctors, after examination, had prescribed for variety of illnesses.

A lively exchange between the artisans who lived in the towns and the farmers who produced the food kept Sumerian cities filled with shoppers and traders. Since wood, stone, and metal ores were all absent from their valley homes, Sumerian merchants took their wares to other nearby regions where they sought these products. Metal, especially copper and tin, had to be found, for these were used to make bronze cooking utensils for the kitchen and arms and armor for the army.

Houses in Sumerian cities were built of mud brick with reed roofs. They were built next to one another, sometimes sharing a common wall, because space was at a premium. Their houses lined the narrow streets that led away from the public square where the temple and its ziggurat were located. Homes of the wealthy were quite comfortable with wooden furniture and carpets. The bedrooms opened onto a courtyard, which offered a shaded place for conversation and a room to entertain guests.

Society in ancient Sumer was, as in all ancient cultures, divided between the wealthy and the poor. Land ownership was the major source of wealth, but merchants who prospered were also numbered among the rich. These families, along with the priests of the temples, composed the social elite. The acquisition and exchange of costly items in the upper class was a major source of class differentiation.

Artisans formed associations with those who practiced the same craft. Often they appear to have pooled their resources for common projects. What we know of these associations, or guilds, comes from tablets that tell of business transactions that involved them in places as far away as India, Iran, and Egypt.