The Sumerians were an ancient people who settled in Southern Mesopotamia, now present-day Iraq, around 4500 BC. The Sumerians were one of the first urban civilisations in world history and are responsible for a number of important inventions and techniques:
- They invented cuneiform, the first system of writing that was made up of wedge-shaped strokes. Sumerian children then went to school to learn how to read and write this complex script - another first in history.
- They invented and used the wheel.
- They developed a system of counting that is based on 60. They used this primarily for telling the time, as we do today.
- They were the first people to cast and use glass.
- They invented a system of irrigation as a means of overcoming the dry and hot summers of this region and ensuring successful harvests.
- They wrote the first history, law and religious books.
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