The Sumerians made many important advances for early civilization. First, they developed irrigation by building canals from rivers and reservoirs, which allowed for agriculture in arid regions. Second, they invented the concept of libraries to store and organize their extensive writings on religion, laws, business, and history. Third, they were the first to use contracts to legally formalize business transactions and protect both parties. Lastly, the Sumerians were the first to effectively use the wheel in applications like carts and plows to increase efficiency in transportation and farming. However, their military defenses were inadequate, contributing to the eventual decline of their civilization.

1. Teacher: Mauricio Torres Name: ……………………………
Course: 10th EGB Section: ………………………..
Subject: Social Studies Date: May ……… 2012
Activity: Homework
Sumeria: First in Many Things
Ancient Sumeria was advanced beyond belief. Their achievements in agriculture,
literature, business, and science are unparalleled in that time period.
Unfortunately for them (and for us), their achievements in military matters left a
little to be desired.
First of all, the Sumerians recognized the need to trap excess water. Rainfall at
times was scarce and other times too abundant. Sumerian cities were close to
waterways of some sort, be they rivers or seas. The Sumerians built canals from
these waterways to the cities. A natural extension of this idea was to build a
reservoir to maintain a water supply. This was the advent of irrigation.
Secondly, the Sumerians invented the library. Other
civilizations at the time were writing a little bit. But it was
the Sumerians who were writing almost prolifically, about
their religion and their laws and their business practices and
their daily lives. They also recognized the need to maintain
records of these theories and events. They stored their writings in what we would
recognize as a book depository or, more simply, a library.
Businessmen in Sumeria were concerned with maintaining their incomes and their
standing. They didn't want to get cheated or taken advantage of. They came up
with the idea of the written contract. Both sides of a transaction would agree to
terms, and they would both write down those terms and then sign the contract. If
either party tried to pull a fast one, the other party could point to the written
contract as evidence of being wronged. (It probably goes without saying that
some of these contracts were stored in libraries.)
These businessmen also invented the idea of credit. The idea that you could pay
only part of what you owed was probably not all that attractive to the seller, but
Sumerian laws protected the sellers and granted the buyers the right to pay a
little at a time. This practice contributed to a sort of leveling of the playing field in
the world of business in that you as a consumer no longer needed huge sums of
money to be able to buy things: You could pay as you went.
Lastly but certainly not least, the Sumerians were the first
civilization to use the wheel effectively. Historians aren't sure
whether the Sumerians invented the wheel; historians do agree,
however, that the Sumerians were the first ancient civilization to
most effectively exploit the wheel's capabilities. Carts had wheels,
and shipments didn't take so long. Plows had wheels, and farming
didn't take so long.
All in all, the Sumerians contributed mightily to the advancement of civilization.
Their inability to build tall, strong walls or muster a sturdy defense contributed to
their downfall, however.
Taken from: http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/articles/worldhistory/sumerianfirsts1.htm
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2. Reading Comprehension
1. After you have read the text on the Sumerians’ achievements,
answer the following questions on a separate sheet of paper.
1) Why did the Sumerians need to create libraries?
2) What caused the advent of irrigation?
3) How does credit work?
4) Why would anyone want to use credit?
5) Why do you think the wheel helped reduce the time it
took to do many things?
6) What was the biggest weakness of the Sumerian
ingenuity?
7) What is the importance of a written contract?
8) Why would you break the oral tradition of law-making
and storytelling by the use of writing? Which tradition
was better?
9) What would the world be today if writing was not
invented?
10) Name 5 inventions that use the wheel.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Km. 14 ½ Vía Perimetral – PBX: 2145614 – Mobile:080869990 – 080869888
http://www.torremar.edu.ec
e-mail: torremar@torremar.edu.ec