The Sumerians: A History from Beginning to End

The Sumerians settled in the area known as Mesopotamia, between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, around five thousand years ago. They produced many fundamental changes to the way in which human societies developed—these were the first city-builders, the first people to use wheeled vehicles, the first methodical astronomers, and the first people to develop a sophisticated written language. The Sumerians also produced art, music, and literature as well as created some of the first professional soldiers the world had ever seen.

But for all that we know about the Sumerians, one central mystery remains: We have no idea where the Sumerians came from when they suddenly arrived in Mesopotamia five thousand years ago. Many people have put forward answers ranging from the plausible to the esoteric to the (literally) out of this world, but none of the solutions suggested to date appears to provide a complete or final answer.

When looking at how Homo sapiens have developed from primitive tribes of hunter-gatherers to today’s urban dwellers, the Sumerians represent one of the biggest and most dramatic single periods of change ever achieved by the human race. This is the story of the advanced, ingenious, and mysterious Sumerians.