MESOPOTAMIA SCAVENGER HUNTby Christian Erickson, Cody Beeson and Nick

Kaylor

You may ask why river valleys were so important. The answer is the first civilizations actually arose in the river valleys because the good farming conditions made it an easy place to feed a large number of people. Also the rivers provided fish and freshwater that you could drink. That is why river valleys were so important. Some advantages about living in a river valley are that you would have protection from the wind and have access to water for fishing and agriculture.

RIVER VALLEYS

The way farmers were able to control seasonal floods was by irrigation. Irrigation is when an artificial application of water is added to the land or soil and was by far the most important invention of the time. This is very useful because the floods would kill all the crops but this would stop this. The way they brought water to their fields was by dams and aqueducts.

Farmers

Cuneiform was the system of writing used most extensively in the end the stone age and beginning of the bronze age. People started to communicate using written symbols. The Sumerians were the first ones to use written language.

ANCIENT SUMERIANS

Three inventions of the Sumerians were their math system called sexagesimal which was the first math system. They are also credited for inventing strong clay products and also discovered how to make reinforced concrete by poring cement into mold containing iron rods. Three mathematical ideas of the Sumerians were one dividing the hour into 60 minutes and an hour and 60 seconds in a minute which we still use to this day

SUMERIANS INVENTIONS

Ziggurats are large religious temples. The highest point on a ziggurat is where only the priest and priestess could enter. The design has been used in a lot in modern architecture including: the national geographic headquarters in Washington,D.C. the University of Tennessee’s library and many more.

Ziggurats

Hammurabi was the 6th king of Babylon. He was in rule in rule from 1792BC to 1750BC. He was also the first ruler of the Babylonian Empire. Hammurabi was most famous for his long code of law (282 in fact) which contained strict rules but was for a purpose. These codes are very old and is one of the oldest long deciphered writings in the world. I personally don’t think that he needed this many codes but if he didn’t have any there would be no order. This time period was called the golden age of Babylon is because it was an import center of goods and there surplus products were exchanged for gold and silver.

HAMMURABI

The Hittites were the group that discovered the smelting of iron. A group known as the Assyrians improved (stole) this method. Having superior weapons that had iron tips this group was truly a fearsome bunch.

ASSYRIANS

Like the title suggests the hanging gardens of Babylon is one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world that was in Babylon. This was constructed to please queen Amides.

HANGING GARDENS OF

BABYLON

This is the story of a Sumerian Ruler who was 2/3 God. He was extremely strong and could fly to the bottom of the ocean and back. One day Gilgamesh went off in search of adventure. Inside a forest he found he found a monster. They fought an awesome battle, but in the end Gilgamesh won. THE END

THE EPIC OF GILGAMESH