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The Mesopotamian Cultures
Sumer was an ancient Chalcolithic civilization that saw its artistic
styles change throughout di±erent periods in its history.
Learning Objectives
Discuss the historical importance of the various civilizations that
existed in Mesopotamia
Key Takeaways
Key Points
The Eridu economy produced abundant food, which allowed its
inhabitants to settle in one location and form a labor force
specializing in diverse arts and crafts.
Writing produced during the early Sumerian period suggest the
abundance of pottery and other artistic traditions.
Elements of the early Sumerian culture spread through a large area
of the Near and Middle East.
The Sumerian city states rose to power during the prehistorical
Ubaid and Uruk periods.
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Key Terms
theocratic :A form of government in which a deity is o±cially
recognized as the civil ruler. O±cial policy is governed by o±cials
regarded as divinely guided, or is pursuant to the doctrine of a
particular religion or religious group.
casting :A sculptural process in which molten material (usually
metal) is poured into a mold, allowed to cool and harden, and
become a solid object.
Cuneiform :One of the earliest known forms of written expression
that began as a system of pictographs. It emerged in Sumer around
the 30th century BC, with predecessors reaching into the late 4th
millennium (the Uruk IV period).
Chalcolithic :Also known as the Copper Age, a phase of the Bronze
Age in which the addition of tin to copper to form bronze during
smelting remained yet unknown. The Copper Age was originally
de²ned as a transition between the Neolithic and the Bronze Age.
Sumer was an ancient civilization in southern Mesopotamia (modern
Iraq) during the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Ages. Although the
historical records in the region do not go back much further than ca.
2900 BCE, modern historians believe that Sumer was ²rst settled
between ca. 4500 and 4000 BCE by people who may or may not have
spoken the Sumerian language. These people, now called the
“Ubaidians,” were the ²rst to drain the marshes for agriculture;
develop trade; and establish industries including weaving, leatherwork,
metalwork , masonry, and pottery.
The Sumerian city of Eridu, which at that time bordered the Persian
Gulf, is believed to be the world’s ²rst city. Here, three separate
cultures fused—the peasant Ubaidian farmers, the nomadic Semitic-
speaking pastoralists (farmers who raise livestock), and ²sher folk. The
surplus of storable food created by this economy allowed the region’s
population to settle in one place, instead of migrating as hunter-
gatherers. It also allowed for a much greater population density, which
required an extensive labor force and a division of labor with many