1. Early Civilizations
MESOPOTAMIA

2. location Modern day Iraq
Mesopotamia literally translates as “between rivers”
The land between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers
First civilizations always develop around bodies of water
These locations are move favourable for the development of agriculture as well as transportation

4. Importance of the rivers
Climate was difficult and challenging:
Very hot and dry desert climate
Seasonal flooding
Farmers of the area learned to control the flooding rivers and used the resulting fertility to produce crops such as barley, wheat, flax, and sesame.
The fertile ground also supported many different kinds of fruit and vegetable crops.

5. History - Sumerians
The people who established the world's first civilization around 3500 B.C. in southern Mesopotamia were known as the Sumerians

6. Development of a society
Irrigation and other means of exploiting food sources were being used to amass large surpluses
Huge building projects were being undertaken by rulers, and political organization was becoming evermore sophisticated

7. Early City-States At the center of each city-state was a temple
surrounded by courts and public buildings.
Radiating from the all-important city center were the two-story houses of the priests and merchants, or the upper class
Then the one-story homes of government officials, shopkeepers, and craftspeople
Followed by the lower class homes of farmers, unskilled workers, and fishermen. The city-state also included the fertile farming land outside the city wall.

8. Homes
Since there wasn't any building stone and very little timber, the people constructed their homes, public buildings, and city walls out of sun-dried mud brick.

9. Ziggurats Ziggurats were constructed as temples to the Gods
They were step pyramids
Only the Priest was allowed to enter (they were not intended for public worship)

10. Important inventions - writing
Cuneiform script is the earliest known writing system in the world
Developed by the Sumerians in the 34th century BCE
A pictographic system of writing

15. Important inventions - Calendar
The Sumerians were the first people to record dates
They used a calendar based on the lunar cycle
They also created this first zodiac

16. Other Important inventions
The Sumerians are credited with being the first civilization to:
Have pottery and decorative furniture
Use complex music for enjoyment
Have a code of law
Have developed religion, mythology and astrology
Have grown multiple crops and irrigate the land
Mathematics: multiplication tables, geometry, division, abacus
Have a developed army