Eridu: The Sumerian Garden of Eden and the Oldest City in the World?.The Ascension of Gilgamesh: Did the Epic Hero Actually Exist?.In brief, there were three distinct periods preceding the Sumerian civilization – the Ubaid period, the Uruk period, and the Jemdet Nasr period, each one taking its name from the site where the culture was first identified. In particular, these cultures have been identified based on the stylistic differences of archaeological pottery. Archaeologists are able to differentiate these cultures according to the artifacts that have been excavated. ( homocosmicos /Adobe )Īccording to the archaeological record, there were several cultures that occupied the area of southern Mesopotamia prior to the rise of the Sumerian civilization. Sumerian civilization ruins, temple in Iraq. As a result, humans began to settle in the region. As part of the Fertile Crescent, the soil of southern Mesopotamia was fertile and suitable for agriculture, which appeared during the Neolithic Revolution. This area covers the areas of modern Iraq, the Levant, and the Nile Valley, and is considered to be the cradle of civilization.

Today, scholars use the term ‘ Fertile Crescent ’ to describe the arc of land that stretches from the Gulf in the east to Egypt in the west. The Sumerians in fact referred to themselves as sag-gi-ga, which translates to mean ‘black-headed people’, and the land they inhabited ki-en-gir, meaning ‘land of the civilized lords’. The name ‘Sumerian’ was first used by the Akkadians. Although Sumerian dominance in Mesopotamia ended definitively this time, its numerous innovations benefitted subsequent Mesopotamian civilizations, and its legacy can still be felt even today. The Third Dynasty of Ur that they established, however, did not last for long and fell after about a century.

The Sumerians re-emerged during the 22nd century BC and ruled southern Mesopotamia once more. The Sumerian civilization began around the 4th millennium BC and ended around the 24th century BC, when the whole of Mesopotamia came under the control of the Akkadian Empire. This ancient civilization emerged in the region of southern Mesopotamia (modern day southern Iraq), between the Tigris and Euphrates River. The Sumerian civilization (known also as Sumer) was one of the earliest civilizations in the world.