Many millennia ago, the tides turned for ancient Sumerians who built the first civilization — literally. Rising in southern Mesopotamia around 6,000 years ago, Sumer bridged a network of city-states to become the cradle of civilization. Agriculture was the underpinning that started it all, but like all civilizations, Sumer needed one thing most to survive: water.
A new study published in PLOS One suggests that Sumer’s success relied on the movement of rivers and tides. The Tigris and Euphrates rivers were natural blessings for the Sumerians, who took advantage of fertile floodplains and created a system of canals to nourish their crops.
Their usage of water would go on to lay the foundation for cultural innovations, and ultimately, change the course of history.
The Rise of Civilization in Mesopotamia
The first people to settle permanently in southern Mesopotamia (in what is now Iraq) were part of the Ubaid culture, starting around 6500 B.C.E. At first Ubaid culture was characterized by small agricultural settlements, but over the years they began to dabble in specialized crafts. Later on, they ushered in the earliest practices of urbanization, establishing religious temples as they spread north.
The Uruk period that followed, arising around 4000 B.C.E., is when civilization blossomed. It brought larger cities, technological innovation, and the advent of writing in the form of proto-cuneiform. Sumer had grown into a well-oiled machine, and the fuel helping it run was water.
Read More: The Euphrates River Is Drying Up – Here’s What’s at Stake for Humans and Wildlife
Making Use of Tides
Using satellite maps and archaeological samples from the ancient site of Lagash, the new study has recreated what the coast of Sumer would have looked like in ancient times.
The study shows that Sumerians benefitted from tides early on. The Persian Gulf extended farther inland around 7,000 years to 5,000 years ago, and according to the researchers, “tides pushed freshwater twice daily far into the lower reaches of the Tigris and the Euphrates.”
“Our results show that Sumer was literally and culturally built on the rhythms of water,” said author Liviu Giosan, a geoscientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, in a statement. “The cyclical patterns of tides together with delta morphodynamics — how the form or shape of a landscape changes over time due to dynamic processes — were deeply woven into the myths, innovations, and daily lives of the Sumerians.”
The flow of the rivers eventually created deltas — landforms, usually triangular in shape, where sediments are deposited — at the head of the Gulf. As a result, tidal access to the interior was cut off, and the loss of tides likely instigated an ecological and economic crisis for Sumerian cities.
The Sharp Thinking of Sumerians
Due to the changing landscape, Sumerians had to respond by developing works for irrigation and flood protection. The researchers say that the implementation of these strategies launched the golden age of Sumer.
“We often picture ancient landscapes as static,” said author Reed Goodman, a professor of environmental social science at Clemson University. “But the Mesopotamian delta was anything but. Its restless, shifting land demanded ingenuity and cooperation, sparking some of history’s first intensive farming and pioneering bold social experiments.”
The researchers say that the Sumerians’ reliance on tides, along with the environmental changes they had to deal with, may have shaped components of their culture. One of the ways this can be seen is through mythology in tales of Enki, the Sumerian god of water, and the Sumerian Creation Myth (also called Eridu Genesis).
In the face of drastic change, Sumerian society persevered and emerged even stronger. Their smart thinking during this watershed moment in history is what saved their civilization — and set the stage for all future civilizations to come.
Read More: A 3,600-Year-Old Reed Boat Provides Clues to Early Urbanization in Mesopotamia
Article Sources
Our writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:
- PLOS One. Morphodynamic Foundations of Sumer
- EBSCO. Ubaid Culture in Mesopotamia
- Ocean Learning Hub. Rivers, Estuaries, & Deltas
