Early Sumer

The first glimmers of what we call civilization began in the Near East, which we now call the Middle East. The Near East of Mesopotamia, or the land between the rivers, is the cradle of the earliest civilization and a fountain for much of our biblical culture. The Tigris and Euphrates Rivers flow out of the Causasus Mountains and toward the Indian Ocean. They form a delta at the Persian Gulf and lay down a tremendous amount of silt (nutrient-rich sediment) along the way. Using the Flood-based Ice Age hypothesis laid down in chapter one, we can surmise that the deep trench of the Persian Gulf was not covered with water at this early period. In fact, some historians have suggested that the land extended as far as modern Qatar in the Arabian Peninsula. As the ice receded, water levels began to rise. It rarely rained on the plain, but rainwater and melting ice would come from the mountains once a year flooding the plain and leaving behind the muddy silt that dried into baked earth.
Sometime between 3500 and 3000 BC people began to settle here and developed techniques of animal husbandry and agriculture. The grasses that grew in the region provided excellent grazing grounds for sheep and goats gathered off the nearby mountains. The animals provided meat, milk, and cheese, as well as clothing from the skins. Soon people began cultivating the grains that grew in the area and harvested barleys and other cereals for their own nutrition. As more and more people flowed into the region, communities began to form along the rivers of the valleys. The people used the mud to bake bricks and build little huts and homes with. These communities eventually coalesced into primitive cities or city-states. Evidence suggests that major decisions were made by a council of elders and a council of adult citizens. Organized labor for canal building or other projects would have leader elected to rule at that time. Government, such as this, developed to keep order and provide protection and trade among the citizens began to allow for stratification of class and vocation. This earliest example is called Sumer.
The earliest records of Sumer are king lists written down about 2,100 BC. They record kings from before the Flood, but are not reliable at this point. For instance, King Alulim of Erech was said to have ruled for 28,000 years. This exceptional reign dwarfs even that of the biblical genealogies, and is clearly accurate.
What we know of Sumer must be drawn from both written and physical sources. We have writings from much later, but give us indications of events and social structures. We also have excavated cities and sites of interest. These give us a great amount of understanding about the buildings they built, the pottery they used, and other social structures. Pottery is fascinating because of the way it is constructed. Once the clay is fired, it really cannot break down or decay any further. The process of baking it unites the molecules in such a way that they can be shattered to dust, but cannot be destroyed or turned into anything else. Thus pottery can be a great vehicle for archaeological knowledge. Pottery was often buried with people, and in excavations, is usually found in dwellings. The styles of pottery are informative, as is the decoration on pottery. In Greek pottery, for example, we can view the way different kinds of people dressed and acted. This is not usually the case with Sumerian pottery, but as a source for ancient history, its value is still high.
From the more reliable portions of the king lists however; we can construct a partial chronology for Mesopotamia and Sumer. Why is this important? Some very important figures and events come to light in this period and it behooves us to take notice of the culture that brought these things into existence. For instance, writing begins in Sumer.

The form of writing that we call cuneiform was invented here. It is done by pressing wedge-shaped sticks into wet wax or clay, making markings that were used as words. It is pictographic, as opposed to phonetic. Words were marked out by specific symbols, not phonetic combinations. Cuneiform writing was apparently invented because of the tremendous amount of trade done in Sumer. Merchants had to have ways to account for inventory and accounting. It is significant that economics brought forth the invention of writing, not literature or religion. Both of these were oral traditions long before writing was used to record them.
The city, or city-state, is first expressed here as well. As people began to gather together in central locations, they began to relate to each other differently than they had before. There is a remarkable difference in the way members of a single household relate as opposed to members of multiple households. As more and more people were drawn to the agricultural way of life, they built houses of mud brick and lived close to other people. This was done for protection. A single raiding party could devastate one household, but with others nearby, they were deterred from their actions. A city-state is a collection of people who voluntarily live near each other, protect each other, and provide for each other with goods and materials. Evidence suggests that “an assembly of free adult male citizens … convened on an ad hoc basis to make decisions for the good of the community.” Some historians suggest that the choosing of ruler was initially only done to assist with large defense efforts or public work projects. This origin of political organization in Sumer is part of its claim as well.