Mesopotamia Inventions

Plow

• Animals usually did the plow work.
• Earliest plows were forked sticks, and timbers.
• In middle east plows were called ard.
• Early plows only loosened the soil.

Wheel

• Helped travel farther and easier.
• Easier for animals to pull something.
• The Sumerians first created the wheel.
• They were connected to Chariots.

Calender

• Kept track of time.
• Also told the farmers when to harvest.
• It was primarily lunar.
• Months began with the first sighting of the young.
• Each month was usually 29-30 days long,

Cuneiform

• Kept records safe.
• Also, kept writing and symbols.
• It sometimes told what they bought or sold.
• Cuneiform also means "Wedge Shaped".
• They wrote in the wet clay with reed, also called "stylus".

Sailboat

• For traveling and trading.
• Usually went to Tigris and Euphrates.
• With the sailboat, they could also put nets in the middle of an canal.
• By putting nets in canals, it would catch more fish, which means more food.

Code of Hammurabi

• Hammurabi was a chief/king.
• He got tired of people always changing the laws.
• He wrote all the laws on a clay tablet.
• He did this so everyone knew what the law was.
• No poor, or noble man could change it.

Irrigation

• Irrigation helped with sailboats, sail.
• People could also drink from the water.
• The area did not have a enough rainfall, so irrigation was needed.

Number System

• They used symbols sometimes.
• Its kind of like Roman Numerals.
• Helped us tell time and date.