PRESENTATION OUTLINE
The Plow
Over 5000 years ago some prehistoric farmer, perhaps in Mesopotamia, got the bright idea of hitching his ox to his digging stick -- and so the plow was invented. Such primitive stick plows still are used in some parts of the world. The construction of this earliest plow was probably that of a crooked tree branch, making it an easily found mechanism in the Mesopotamian environment. Though it was better than having to dig separate holes, this plowing process still took the farmer much time and patience.
The Wheel
The first wheel was made from clay, rock and mud which slowly developed to the making of wheels by joining together of wooden planks. They connected it to vehicles called chariots. It got them to places they wanted to go quickly. It was one of the biggest achievements in history.
The earliest known use of this essential invention was a potter's wheel that was used at Ur in Mesopotamia as early as 3500 BC. The first use of the wheel for transportation was on Mesopotamian chariots in 3200 BC. And the process began with the early men placing rollers beneath heavy objects so that they could be moved easily.
The Calendar
The Sumerians were the first people to make a calendar. They used the phases of the moon, counting 12 lunar months as a year. To make up for the difference between this year and the year of the seasons, they inserted an extra month in the calendar about every four years.
The early Egyptians, Greeks, and Semitic peoples copied this calendar. Later the Egyptians worked out a calendar that corresponded almost exactly to the seasons.
Cuneiform
Cuneiform is a system of writing first developed by the ancient Sumerians of Mesopotamia that was made up of about 1,200 different characters.
The sailboat
boats need people to navigate and guide them across rough waters, so the solution of having a vessel carry their goods and people had to be refined. Thus sailboats were invented. They were primitive in design, but the sailboats helped the Mesopotamians in trade and commerce. The sailboats of Mesopotamia were simple in design; the sails were square in shape and made of cloth. The angle and direction of the sails coul not be changed. If the wind blew in the direction that the sailboats desired to go, things went well. If that wasn't the case, they had to wait for the wind to blow in their favor.
Code of Hammurabi
The code of Hammurabi1780 is one of the earliest sets of laws found and one of the best preserved examples of this type of document from ancient Mesopotamia. The code is a collection of the legal decisions made by Hammurabi during his reign as king of Babylon, inscribed on a stele.
The text contains a list of crimes and their various punishments, as well as settlements for common disputes and guidelines for citizens' conduct. It focuses on theft, property damage, women's rights, marriage rights, children's rights, slave rights, murder, death, and injury. The Code does not specify a procedure for defense against charges, though it does imply one's right to present evidence. The stele was openly displayed for all to see.
Irrigation
The development of irrigation system in Mesopotamia was one of the major trails towards civilization and modernization. The irrigation systems in Mesopotamia unlike the modern irrigation systems had some major components like the canals, gated ditches, levees and gates.
Number Systems
The Sumerians created a place-value system of numbers based on 60.
Cuneiform numbers were written using a combination of just two signs: a vertical wedge for '1' and a corner wedge for '10'.
