Issue No. 398 - 399 - August 2018 Sumerian Civilization: Innovations Still in the Service of Man Prepared by: Dr. Shadia Alaa El-Din The Sumerian civilization is considered the oldest civilization that appeared in Mesopotamia and in all the countries of Western Asia (4000-2350 BC). The Sumerians' innovations and cultural achievements had a prominent impact on the development of global civilization. Some of what they found is still used to this day. The Sumerians were the ones who brought humanity - in Mesopotamia - from the stage of barbarism to the era of civilization and civilization. The cupboard The Sumerians invented the wheel, which caused a great revolution in transportation and industry, and the world is still enjoying its usefulness to this day. The Sumerians developed the wheel, used it in a practical and useful way, and spread it throughout the ancient world. Plow The Sumerians invented the plow, which plows the land and sows at the same time. They added to the ordinary plow a device consisting of a funnel-shaped bowl centered in the upper middle section of the plow, from which a tube extends downward. When the plow splits the ground with its fine head, the grains are placed in the funnel, and they descend one by one through the tube to the ground and are buried in the furrow that the plow has determined. This principle is still applied today in modern mechanized plows. Medicine and chemistry Among their scientific achievements was also the practice of some chemical industries. The Sumerians learned to distill perfumes and synthesize medicines. Since the third millennium BC, a Sumerian doctor placed a tablet on which he recorded more than a dozen prescriptions for treating various diseases. The doctor explained how to use the medications, and specified which ones were taken orally and which were for external use. He also mentioned the materials from which these medicines are composed, including cinnamon, myrtle, thyme, willow, pears, figs, dates, milk, snake skin, tortoise shell, salt, and potash nitrate. This Sumerian achievement, recorded on that tablet in the late third millennium BC, took the science of chemistry a long way in progress and development. Industry At first, Sumerian houses consisted of a small number of rooms built of mud. Then the construction industry developed greatly and the Sumerians learned to transform mud into bricks by baking them with fire. Thus, making bricks became popular, like the manufacture of cement molds for building in our present time. Thanks to the hardness of the bricks, the Sumerians were able to build houses with two or more floors, and they were famous for building structures consisting of several floors. Engineering The Sumerians excelled in the field of engineering, and turned the desert into green gardens. They planned canals and canals with great skill and dug them with great mastery to transport the surplus water of the Euphrates and Tigris to the thirsty regions. This work was one of the most amazing examples of human success in the Stone Ages in controlling the elements of nature and changing the conditions of the physical environment through science. ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BnslVi7bgI