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 ...

New research shows that the rise of Sumer was deeply tied to the tidal and sedimentary dynamics of ancient Mesopotamia. Early communities harnessed predictable tides for irrigation, but when deltas ...

Berossus, a Babylonian priest writing in the Hellenistic period, preserved one of the most intriguing accounts of Mesopotamia ...

To reopen Wednesday after a yearlong closure during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Getty Villa has at last unveiled “Mesopotamia: Civilization Begins.” The show, originally scheduled to open in March 2020 ...

Sumer was an ancient civilization located in southern Mesopotamia, in what is now modern-day Iraq. It is often considered the cradle of civilization due to its numerous innovations, including the ...

When historians look back into time to name the first civilized people, they usually pick the Sumerians, who built imposing cities, including Abraham’s Ur of the Chaldees, in southern Mesopotamia ...

Archeology and decipherment -- History : heroes, kings, and ensi's -- Society : the Sumerian city -- Religion : theology, rite, and myth -- Literature : the Sumerian ...

The Sumerian takeoff -- Factors hindering our understanding of the Sumerian takeoff -- Modeling the dynamics of urban growth -- Early Mesopotamian urbanism : why? -- Early Mesopotamian urbanism : how?

The story of how the first cities rose from southern Mesopotamia has long fascinated scientists and historians. Many explanations point to fertile soil, farming, and trade networks as the engines of ...

The Great Ziggurat of Ur dedicated to the Moon god. Ziggurats were massive structure typical for Mesopotamia. Sumerians believed that the gods lived in the temple at the top of the ziggurats. Woods ...