1) What were the major achievements of the Mesopotamians or the Egyptians? How did these achievements of one of these societies influence late societies?

The Mesopotamians were overall a complex and smart civilization. There were qualities and specific traits that the Mesopotamian developed that helped make this civilization as important as is. Different mathematical, scientific, and agricultural methods were developed that people still use to this day. Without this civilization, society today could possibly be a different place

When you look back in history to the development and the contributions of both the Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations, you see that there was a lot accomplished, as well as a lot created. The earliest forms of writing developed in Mesopotamia, while Egypt was referred to the “Gift of the Nile” by traveler Herodotus (McKay,42). Development of cities was another major marker, especially in the “old world”, of how people eventually determined civilizations and what they represented. According to McKay, civilizations were determined by people who considered themselves more “civilized”, urban people mostly. Made up of cities, written rules of law, and social justice codes, Mesopotamia and Egypt would develop into two of the largest civilizations in history.

Mesopotamian Civilizations contributed massively to the development for future civilizations. To begin, the Sumerians created the first written language. Cuneiform was the writing system to keep track of business dealings when it comes to trading with the people who lived in lands that were thousands of miles away. Cuneiform also kept records and allowed new ideas to be passed from generation to generation (Doc 1). Cuneiform is developed from pictographs that were sideways and used

Mesopotamia’s first invention was a form of writing called cuneiform which was written on clay tablets with a sharp reed called a stylus. This permitted for recording events and

Mesopotamia developed a form of writing known as cuneiform. Their writing evolved from pictures into signs. Mesopotamians used writing mainly for record keeping. They would put business transactions into writing and had a written code of law. They also had literature like The Epic of Gilgamesh. The Epic of Gilgamesh is about one of the earliest passions of man, the search for eternal life. The Mesopotamians had a school for writing because they wanted trained scribes for

The first civilizations and the rise of empires began with small groups or villages existing with the use of hunting, fishing, and foraging. (William J. Duiker and Jackson J. Spielvogel, World History, vol. 1, 1) Within a few thousand years, people learned how to cultivate food crops and this led to an increase in population. Increased food production resulted in larger communities. The cities began to expand their cultural and religious developments leading to the beginnings of civilization. (Duiker, World History, 1) The first civilizations emerged in Mesopotamia and Egypt during the fourth and third millennia B.C.E and had various components in common. Each of these civilizations was established in a river valley so they were able to provide and produce the agricultural resources needed to survive and uphold the population. (Duiker, World History, 1) Mesopotamia developed in the valley between the Tigris and Euphrates River known as “the land between the rivers.” These rivers provided irregular and catastrophic flooding for the city-state. They created an intensive irrigation system to improve their agriculture. The first people to create Mesopotamian civilization were known as the Sumerians. These people were the first city builders and created the major city’s named Eridu, Ur, Uruk, Umma, and Lagash. These cities were built with surrounding walls and defense towers. A six-mile-long wall enclosed the city of Uruk. Mesopotamia lacked

Ancient Mesopotamia was an old, primitive place that invented many useful things that we use today in the U.S. Many of these inventions started out on accident or used for something little but then they led to be some of the most useful items for us and our family. Mesopotamia first was struggling with food and only ate what they could find. In that time, nobody could be a fussy eater, there just was not enough food for that. Mesopotamia was a fertile place, and lived between two rivers, the Euphrates and the Tigris making it absolutely marshy. This would end up leading to the invention of farming.

Did you know Mesopotamians are responsible for many innovations that have left an imprint for all following decades to come? Mesopotamia is known as the earliest time birthplace of human civilization. It is the birth to the sprawling and advancing tradition of jewel making. The jewelry might even give us a hint about there Mesopotamian enormous wealth, jewel use of Mesopotamia was not confined only to nobility, royalty and religious leaders as was the case in similar civilizations of that time (most notably Egypt). There were over 459 items of gold and silver jewelry weighing around 22.5 kilograms! These included a single gold crown and diadem, 14 amulets, 79 earrings, 90 necklaces, 30 rings, and 15 gold or rock-crystal vessels. Mesopotamian

Through the archeological discoveries, we can infer some details into the lives of the people who originated in the cities of Mesopotamia. The root word of Mesopotamia refers to ‘between rivers’, this infers to the region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, figure 1. Because the environment influenced people to settle, we can see a change in their political, social, and economic structure as they begin to form a complex society. This is the period where we see a complex engineering system as people started to develop canals and other technologies for a more efficient agricultural development. An early culture to settle in the lowlands of Mesopotamia were the Hassuna culture, their civilization were characterized by “small settlements with a few hundred inhabitants, who lived in rectangular houses with several rooms” (Feuerbach, 2015). Another culture to settle in this area were the Samarran culture; even

Sumerians came up with a solution that had made a massive difference for their lifestyle. They came up with a method to get water where they needed it. These were called irrigation systems and they looked like mini rivers. "The development of these irrigation works was a remarkable achievement of mind and muscle” (Farming). Irrigation systems made it possible for people to get water from rivers to the crops. Therefore, letting the crops grow instead of washing them away. “Mesopotamians became masters at controlling water. They had to drain marshy land to expose the rich soil, and they had to get water from the only source - the river(s) - to the crops”

Many events and actions took place during this time. Mesopotamia was an outstanding civilization and contained many treasures, including pottery, inventions, architecture, and Ziggurats.

The Ancient Near-East period is a time in history that marks a very large fundamental change in human culture. Moreover, in Ancient Mesopotamia, it refers to a place where humans first formed civilizations. In here, they learned to gather in large cities, to write, and create governments. The earliest cities of Mesopotamia were found by the Ubaid peoples. The peoples of Mesopotamia in 4000 B.C.E, were already using clay tokens to keep inventories. This was the development of writing. Given that, Ancient Mesopotamia had characteristics of civilization, the first society historical study was possible for many reasons, and there was significance of the Assyrian

Ancient Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt are two of the earliest and greatest civilizations to ever exist. They both show the transition from a Paleolithic society into a settled civilization. Nevertheless, Mesopotamia has been a worldwide centre of awe and amazement . The first written language created by the Sumerians of ancient Mesopotamia became the first means of of written communication for humankind.The spread of agriculture created a new way of life and evolved man from nomadic hunters into civilized people . Most important of all, the creation of the wheel opened up a new way for transportation to be carried out. Between both civilizations, it ancient Mesopotamia left the greatest impact on posterity.

Discovery of clay tablets inscribed with cuneiform proved that the Mesopotamian civilization were able to communicate through written pictures and stylized signs, this was used for purpose of record keeping and schools to teach cuneiform.

Progression, Enlightenment, and a sophisticated culture refinement are all factors that can portray the ideal civilized society. With all these factors in collaboration, we have a civilization, the highest form of human organization. In an organization, the living biotic creatures are given the ability to sustain and eventually assemble what they consider to be modern life. In ancient culture, prehistoric Mesopotamian and Egyptian cultures created what they believed to be a civilization. Through extensive use of resource and desire to evolve in humanity, both civilizations succeeded in leaving impact. However, Within Mesopotamian society, the long lasting impact of their inventions continues to provide a benefit to western civilization. Considering their advanced writing system, lunar calendar recordation, and revolutionary use of the wheel, Mesopotamia truly stood as a promising foundation for a lasting civilization.