Sumerian Economy
The economy that sustained the people of
Sumer relied on agriculture and trade. To support agriculture, the surrounding
land of each city-state was plotted out into individual tracts which were then
irrigated through a system of canals and dams. The irrigation of the land
allowed for crops such as wheat and barley to flourish in this region. Trade,
another important element of the economy, occurred through the transportation
of textiles and crops by Sumerian merchants to other lands, such as Asia-Minor
and Iran, where these goods were exchanged for stone, metals, and timber. The
traders would then return to Sumer where these items would either be traded to
other Sumerians or used to fabricate jewelry, tools, and weapons to be traded
later.
One of the greatest accomplishments of the Sumerian people was the
invention of the earliest known system of writing. The Sumerians created
written documents by using a triangular-tipped stylus to make wedge-shaped
impressions in soft clay. Because of their appearance, these impressions have
been given the name "cuneiform" (from Latin, meaning
"wedge-shaped"). Thousands of cuneiform documents have been
discovered, the majority of which are record of business, taxation, and
production figures. However, many cuneiform documents have been found to be
inscribed with epics, myths, essays and poetry, as well as educational
texts.
Other skills and innovations that the Sumerians
developed include the art of
engraving, bleaching and dying of
fabrics, the development of measuring and surveying equipments, as well as
canals and dams. The Sumerians are also well-known for cylinder seals which
have been discovered in archaeological digs. These artifacts depict various
scenes of Sumerian life and beliefs. One of the most commonly depicted episodes
on these seals was on in which the seal's owner is presented to a god by
another god, presumably the owner's "guardian angel." Other cylinder
seals were also used to record business transactions.
Sources:
Tom B. Jones, "Sumer," Grolier
Electronic Encyclopedia, 1993; Samuel Noah Kramer, Cradle of
Civilization, New York: Time Incorporated, 1969; World History, Volume
One, St. Paul, MN: West Publishing Company, 1991;
http://www.ee.ucl.ac.uk/~lheagney/mesopotamia/SUMER.html