What was the Ancient Sumerian civilisation?

Narrator: Hello, future people of the UK.

Would you like to visit me at the dawn of civilisation in ancient Sumer?

Well, to do that, you’ve got to travel back in time.

Back before the Vikings, before the Romans, and keep going back, back, back, before Stonehenge was even built.

Right… Now aim between those two rivers that run through modern-day Iraq.

YAWNS

Good morning. I am Uri and…I’m afraid I’ve only just got up. And yes, I sleep on the roof. It’s cooler. Hmm… I wonder what time it is? Oh no! Look at the sundial.

I’ve slept in again. I’m going to be late for school. We invented 60-minute clocks, though I wish they came with alarms like your ones. Actually, invention is our big thing.

Come on, I’ll show you what else we’ve come up with. First up is city living because this Uruk, the first city ever. We’ve got streets, shops and houses. We even use the grid system for our roads and buildings, just like you still do.

We invented all this well before the ancient Egyptians. It all started when we stopped hunter-gathering food and began growing it instead. With the abundance of water and good soil, we found we could grow almost anything here. That’s why they call it ‘the fertile crescent.’

Soon, we had more crops than we could possibly eat. This meant we had time to do other stuff instead. That’s when the inventing began! We thought of lots of stuff to make our lives easier.

Better ways of farming…sailboats, games, and even skyscrapers ten storeys high which have lasted into your time.

We also invented the first schools, and our teachers are very strict. Yikes! That reminds me, I’m late!

Luckily, we’ve invented wheels, too. They’re great for carrying goods for long distances and faster than walking. Giddy-up!

With so much going on, this fast-paced city life can get really confusing, so we started keeping records and became one of the first people to start writing.

Paper doesn’t exist yet, but we use clay tablets, like this, which we mark with…um…Oh bother. I’ve left it at home. Quick, down to the river.

We don’t have pens, we use sharpened reeds instead. Just one more perk of living near the water.

Phew, I made it just in time! This is my school. Well, it’s just a bench. But I’m lucky to be here because most people in our city don’t ever get to learn the secret of writing.

I can show you though. We push the reed into the clay and the different combinations of marks make words. Our written records will last into your time. They’ll tell you what life was like here and how, eventually our crops will dry out and the population will shrink, spelling the end of the Sumerian Empire. And all this? Well, it’ll be history.

Around 6,000 years ago, in Ancient Sumer, new ways of living appeared. People farmed differently, built cities, and invented writing. Sumer became one of the world's first civilisations.

In Sumer, people found new ways to grow crops. One of these was irrigation – using ditches to bring river water to their fields. With more food, more people lived together, and towns and cities grew.

These cities had houses, palaces and markets. They also had large buildings called ziggurats where priests worship their gods. To stay organised, the people of Sumer invented a type of writing called cuneiform, as well as their own number system. These were used to share messages and to record trade.

Cuneiform also meant they could record laws – rules written down for people to follow. One, called the Code of Ur-Nammu, shows how people in ancient Sumer tried to keep their cities fair.

Ancient Sumer was where people first began to write stories, make laws, and build great cities. Sumer is often known today as the cradle of civilisation – a place where new ideas shaped how people lived together, not just then, but for thousands of years.

In Ancient Sumer, people began farming, trading far and wide, and building busy cities. Today, the objects they left behind help us understand what life was like.

Farmers grew food, while potters, weavers, and traders made and exchanged goods. There were also scribes – people who wrote on clay tablets by making wedge-shaped marks called cuneiform.

Each city had its own ziggurat – a large temple where priests could worship. Cities also had houses, palaces for their leaders, and busy markets for trade.

That trade linked Sumer to distant lands like Egypt and the Indus Valley. Traders carried goods such as wool, cloth, and grain to Egypt, and they came back with items like copper to make tools.

But people didn't just make tools. Archaeologists have discovered toys in Sumer, suggesting there were children who had time to play. They've also found evidence that some boys from wealthy families were taught to read and write, and have even found children's handwriting on clay tablets.

Thanks to these objects, and the writings people left behind, we know about everyday life in Ancient Sumer. Farming, trade, and religion helped turn small communities into some of the world's first towns and cities.