Dating back to 5th Millennia BC, the Sumerian civilisation emerged out of nowhere, with no predecessor on the land that is now Southern Iraq. This land has previously been known as Mesopotamia, Babylon and Akkadia, and was first inhabited by the Sumerians. It is the Sumerians who we need to give credit to for many of the first advancements of civilisation. From the wheel, to the written language (known as ‘Cuneiform’), the Sumerians also divided the heavens into 12 parts, assigning each section of the sky to a unique symbol. They were the first civilisation to practice organised agriculture, the use of specialised labour force and much more.
It is clear that the Sumerian people obtained a vast body of knowledge, but how did they learn these things? In the early 1900s, British archaeologists began excavations in the ancient Sumerian city of UR. They discovered thousands of clay tablets, each of which detailed the time when the Sumerian people lived amongst their gods “Anunnakiâ€. They left many wall carvings, which showed their interaction with these being. These gods were portrayed as winged figures coming down from heaven.
