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Mass-produced pottery -

The Sumerians didn’t invent pottery as such, but they did come up with the turning wheel that allowed for pottery to be mass-produced.

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Mass-produced pottery -

The invention allowed them to produce large numbers of pottery items, including containers for workers’ food.

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Writing -

The Sumerians are credited with inventing the first writing system, known as cuneiform. By 2800 BCE, they were using a system of pictographs to keep track of items.

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Writing -

These drawings eventually evolved to express ideas and actions. They later became symbols that correspond to words and sounds. Cuneiform writing is believed to have influenced later Egyptian hieroglyphics.

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Hydraulic engineering -

The Sumerians came up with a way to water and fertilize their land using the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. They did so by building a network of canals and dams.

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Hydraulic engineering -

In Mesopotamia, palm trunks, reeds, and mud were used to make dams to control the water flow.

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The chariot -

The Sumerians didn’t invent the wheel, or wheeled vehicles, but they did come up with the first two-wheeled chariot.

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The chariot -

Back in the 3000s BCE, Mesopotamians were using them mostly in ceremonies and in the military.

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The plow -

The invention of the plow had a huge impact on agriculture. Different types of plows were developed at the time, all of which contributed to the farming prowess of Mesopotamia.

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Textile mills -

Weaving fabric for clothing was nothing new, but the Sumerians were the first to do it on a large scale. All thanks to the invention of textile mills.

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Textile mills -

They were the first to expand textile production from a family affair to a large working organization. The Sumerians were the predecessors of industrial textile manufacturing as we know it.

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Mass-produced bricks -

The Sumerians invented molds for making bricks using clay. They were not the first ones to use clay in construction, but producing bricks on a large scale allowed them to build more and faster.

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Mass-produced bricks -

During the middle of the first millennium BCE, ovens known as kilns allowed for mass-produced bricks to become more uniform and a lot stronger.

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Cities -

These bricks were then used to build on a grander scale. Cities developed more rapidly and the region flourished.

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Use of copper -

The Mesopotamians were the first civilization to use copper to build objects such as vases, spearheads, and razors.

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Use of copper -

Sumerian metallurgists also used copper to make chisels, harpoons, swords, and art.

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A counting system -

Basic mathematics has been around for a very long time, but the Sumerians developed an innovative numbering system.

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A counting system -

The system was based on units of 60 known as a sexagesimal system (in the same way we now use the decimal system).

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Monarchy -

The first monarchy dates back to 2330 BCE in Mesopotamia.

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Monarchy -

King Sargon of Akkad is said to have been the first monarch in history. King Sargon was the first ruler of the Akkadian Empire.

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Astronomy -

The Sumerians were among the first to map out the stars. They were the first ones to document the solar system on clay tablets using cuneiform writing.

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Beer -

The Sumerians are credited with the invention of one of the world's most popular drinks: beer. Pictured is a cuneiform tablet depicting beer allocation.

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Beer -

Mesopotamian beer was made using fermented barley and a number of additives, including emmer wheat, date syrup, and others. Unlike today’s version of the drink, hops were not used.

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Board games -

The first known example of a board game dates back to Mesopotamia in the third millennium BCE.

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Board games -

The Royal Game of Ur is regarded as the world’s first strategic board game. It spread beyond Mesopotamia and evolved into an early form of backgammon.

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Time -

The Sumerians created the 7-day week and figured out that the day was 24 hours and that each hour was 60 minutes long. They did so using a lunisolar calendar (tracking the lunar cycles and solar years).

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Cartography -

A Mesopotamian tablet displaying a map of the world dating back to the 6th century BCE tells us that its people had a concept of the world.

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Cartography -

Although of Neo-Babylonian origin, the clay tablet uses a cuneiform script, originally developed by the Sumerians.

Sources: (History) (History Hit) (The Collector)

See also: What was the Assyrian Empire?

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