TFA 1121 ASSIGNMENT 1
HISTORY AND THEORY
Civilization defines an advance state of intellectual, cultural, and material development in human society. Sumer which was a country in Southern Mesopotamia was the source of first civilization. The Sumerian civilization began upon the flood plain of the lower parts of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers because the rivers were close to the land it was fertile and enabled the people to grow food. With the excess of food people could settle down to village life and with these new settlements towns and cities were created. The creation of towns and cities and with the surplus of food the population was allowed to grow. Agriculture was an important factor for civilization in Sumer. The Sumerian people grew different types of foods. They farmed everything from wheat to onions, they could create dykes and canals, they had cattle to loosen the soil and ease the workload off them, and with the creation of there calendar system it helped them knowing when to start harvesting. The development of cities and the growth of population created interaction between people. The Small villages that evolved into cities and where distant from Tigris and Euphrates had problems getting supply of food so the Sumerians created a stable food supply this allowed to increase the amount of people who wanted to settle into the cities away from the two rivers which helped expand the land of Sumer. Trade was an important reason for civilization. The Sumerians traded within the Middle East and the Persian Gulf. Local products were traded such as food for ivory and gold. There was a shortage of stone; metal could only be obtained in the mountains so trade was important between its neighbours. The raw material the help create Mesopotamia civilization was clay. Permanent mud brick residential structures were being created and later on the Sumerians built large temples in each city that housed priestly class. The priests controlled the religious life, the economy, land ownership and the management of long distance trade. “The Sumerian language became the main speech of the land, and the people developed the cuneiform script, a system of writing on clay. This script was to become the basic means of written communication throughout Mesopotamia. In the centuries that followed the immigration of the Sumerians, the country grew rich and powerful. Art and architecture, crafts, and religious and ethical thought flourished.” There were many achievements of civilization in southern Mesopotamia. Agriculture became the main method of subsistence; farming was made easier from the introduction of the plough. The invention of the wheel made pottery. The construction and careful planning of the epic buildings such as the temples and ziggurats. But the main achievement is of the civilisation was the invention of there system of writing which was known as cuneiform.
