Sumer

Sumer ( ) is the earliest known civilization, located in the historical region of southern Mesopotamia (now south-central Iraq), emerging during the Chalcolithic and early Bronze Ages between the 5th and 4th millennium BC. Like nearby Elam, it is one of the cradles of civilization, along with Egypt, the Indus Valley, the Erligang culture of the Yellow River valley, Caral-Supe, and Mesoamerica. Living along the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, Sumerian farmers grew an abundance of grain and other crops, a surplus of which enabled them to form urban settlements. The world's earliest k

AI overview

Sumer was the earliest known civilization, located in southern Mesopotamia (modern-day south-central Iraq), that emerged between the 5th and 4th millennium BC in the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. It matters because it stands as one of humanity's original cradles of civilization, where agricultural surplus from grain farming enabled the development of the world's first urban settlements.

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Key facts

Archaeological culture.name: Sumer( – )
Archaeological culture.map: 300px
Archaeological culture.mapcaption: The general location on a modern map, and main cities of Sumer with ancient coastline. The coastline nearly reached Ur in ancient times.
Archaeological culture.religion: Sumerian religion
Archaeological culture.language: Sumerian
Archaeological culture.region: Mesopotamia, Near East, Middle East
Archaeological culture.period: Chalcolithic, Bronze Age
Archaeological culture.precededby: Ubaid period
Archaeological culture.followedby: Akkadian Empire

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Demonym: Sumerian
Image: Orientmitja2300aC.png

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Commons category: Sumer
Commons gallery: Sumer
Stack Exchange tag: history.stackexchange.com/tags/sumer
dissolved, abolished or demolished date: 1900-00-00
inception: 5500-00-00

Sources (5)

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~58 min read

Article

40 sections

Contents

Name
Origins
Archeological discovery
City-states in Mesopotamia
History
Ubaid period
Uruk period
Early Dynastic Period
1st Dynasty of Lagash
Akkadian Empire
Gutian period
2nd Dynasty of Lagash
Ur III period
Fall and transmission
Population
Culture
Social and family life
Language and writing
Religion
Deities
Cosmology
Temple and temple organisation
Funerary practices
Agriculture and hunting
Art
Architecture
Mathematics
Economy and trade
Trade with the Indus valley
Money and credit
Military
Technology
Sumerian genetics
Legacy
See also
References
Further reading
External links
Geography
Language

==Name== The term "Sumer" () comes from the Akkadian name for the "Sumerians", the ancient non-Semitic-speaking inhabitants of southern Mesopotamia. In their inscriptions, the Sumerians called their land "Kengir", the "Country of the noble lords" (), and their language "Emegir" ( or ).