What is the Greatest Technology Producing Civilization of All Time? Sumer, Mesopotamia. When we look at technology development, the unevenness of development of technology over time is readily apparent. In the Oral Era, from 250,000 BCE-10,000 BCE, 240,000 years passed with very few great inventions seen in the archaeological record. Likewise, during the Tokens Era, from 10,000 BCE-3500 BCE, aside from the domestication of plants and animals, few inventions occurred for 6500 years.
Why then was there such an explosion of technology and invention in Sumer from 3500-3000 BCE at the beginning of the Written Era?
There were no civilizations for the first 244,000 years of human existence.
Then, within a couple hundred years, 6 civilizations developed. One of those six civilizations, Sumer of Mesopotamia is the greatest civilization of all time in regard to inventions and technology. Sumer (Mesopotamia) has produced more technology by fewer people over a shorter period of time than any civilization in history. How does one prove that Sumer is the greatest technology producing civilization of all time? We know the population of Sumer at its peak in 3100 BCE was 1.2 million. Compared to Western Europe, the second greatest technology producing civilization of all time, which has a current population of 200,000,000 and in 1500 AD about 30,000,0000. With Sumer, 6 of the top 15 greatest inventions of all time occurred over a relatively short period of less than 500 years. The other 5 ancient civilizations combined produced fewer great inventions.
From 3500 BCE-3000 BCE, several of the greatest inventions ever created by humans occurred in very rapid succession:
writing (cuneiform ), the plow (ard), the potter’s wheel, wheel and axle, chariot, mathematics, mass production of textiles, bricks and pottery, bronze smelting, hydraulic engineering (canals, dams, irrigation systems), base 60 time (hours, days, minutes, seconds) and the oared wood hulled sailing ship. This is similar to Western Europe which produced 7 of the top 20 greatest inventions of all time (radio wave technology, printing press, computer, steam engine, automobile, vaccination, penicillin) over the similar duration (600 years) but with more than 75X the population of Sumer. When considering the brevity of time, 500 years, and small number of people, 1.2 million, Sumer is the greatest technology producing civilization of all time.
Above all, Sumer has produced the most significant explosion of inventions in human existence.
What about China? Paper, gunpowder, oars, compass, mechanical clock, paper currency, pottery (with Japan),and saddle/metal stirrups were all invented in China. These inventions however, spanned 15,000 years. Over the 500 years mostly in the Tang Dynasty, 550 AD-1050 AD Chinese inventors created: stirrups (550 AD), paper currency (650 AD), mechanical clock (725 AD), black gunpowder (850 AD), and the nautical compass (1040 AD) but China had a population of 50 million. Sumer, Mesopotamia had a population of 1.2 million from 3500 BCE-3000 BCE or 1/40 the population of China from 550-1050 AD. Writing, smelting, hydraulic engineering, the plow, and sailing ships are all more important inventions than any of the five from China.
Why so many great inventions from 3500-3000 BCE?
I. The primary reason may be technology can lead to other technology, especially in the setting of improved data storage. A common theme is that technology originates with data storage inventions. 3500 BCE is the first important data storage invention. The major improvement in data storage is CUNEIFORM, the first form of writing. Prior to cuneiform, use of clay tokens in jars was a proto writing technology of central Asia and Mesopotamia. The token system of proto writing began around 7500 BCE and continued for 4 thousand years with improvements until the invention of cuneiform. Cuneiform on clay tablets was a vast improvement in data storage over the token system. Cuneiform is not a language, not an alphabet. Rather, cuneiform is about 800 characters which represent entire words, not unlike Chinese or Japanese characters. The symbols mean the same when used in 12 different ancient languages.
Cuneiform served humanity for over 3500 years, almost ⅔ of written history.
2) Cuneiform began as carved clay pictograms but evolved into abstract, symbolic representations for words and numbers which is a vast improvement compared to drawn images. Cuneiform is written as a syllabary (vowels and consonants as entire syllables) beginning around 3500 BCE. 3) Cuneiform was 3 dimensional, carved or etched with a wedge shaped instrument (usually a reed). 4) Most cuneiform tablets were small, and fit into the palm of the hand. Long term data storage with cuneiform on fired clay tablets was now possible. Information and technical knowledge from one generation could now easily be passed to the next generation or across the kingdom. Education, law, history, sciences, government, religion all would benefit tremendously from the access to recorded data.
Why is cuneiform not used today?
Used for 3500 years and with 12 ancient languages, cuneiform is now an extinct writing form, replaced by alphabetic languages.
Cuneiform, called, “ the script of the first half of the history of the known world.”
What flaws are with cuneiform? Ranging from 600-1200 different symbols, the complexity of language with cuneiform was too difficult for the average person to master. Very few in Sumer knew how to write. That is literacy was very low. The first known schools, e-dubba, literally means “tablet house”. An estimated 2 million cuneiform tablets exist but no more than 100,000 have been translated. Originally, cuneiform contained writing from top to bottom. Later, around 1500 BCE, the script changed to read left to right. As time passed, cuneiform evolved from primarily a pictogram script to a much more symbolic script. The symbols initially were largely recognizable as representing specific words. Later still, the wedge shaped symbols appeared for which the script received its name.
II. A second reason for the great many Sumer inventions may be agriculture. The plow or ard originated with the domestication of oxen around 5000 BCE-3500 BCE in Sumer.
Domestication of oxen was a likely necessary precondition to the invention of the scratch plow (ard).
The plow was too heavy and difficult to pull without beasts of burden. Metallurgy with smelted bronze allowed bronze tipped plows to be more effective. Combined with a well developed canals, dams, and irrigation system. Hydraulic engineering thrived in Sumer. Food production with the 8 domesticated founder’s crops led to food surpluses, population growth, and the development of an educated leisure class.The plow is the most significant implement in the history of agriculture. Hunter gatherer cultures require more land (250X) than pastoral cultures. Pastoral cultures, in turn, require more land than agricultural cultures (3-4X).
III. A third reason for many inventions in Sumer, Mesopotamia may be commerce and merchantilism.
Sumerians were the first industrialists.
Mass produced bricks, mass produced pottery, and mass produced woven textiles created commerce. International trade began around 3000 BCE between the Sumerians of Mesopotamia and the Harappan civilization of the Indus River. Trade with Egypt likewise appears from jewelry to have begun by 3000 BCE.
IV. A fourth reason may be transportation networks. Because of the invention of wood hulled, oar propelled sailboats on the Tigris and Ephrates rivers, transport improved through the region. Domestication of the donkey and ass in 6000 BCE and later the horse in 3500 BCE with the invention of the wheel and axle allowed pulled chariots for the wealthy.
At first, the donkey and ass were superior for beasts of burden in comparison to the horse in Sumer.
Land transportation networks with roads develop improved communication. The development of commerce and mechantilism in Sumer led to trade with neighboring kingdoms in Indus River civiliizaton and Egyptian Nile Valley civilization. Trade in ceramic pottery and woven material was commonplace in ancient Sumer.
V. A fifth reason may be geography. The Fertile Crescent is the area of the eastern Mediterranean which is more aptly called the CONVERGENCE. Three continents, Euroe, Asia, and Africa converge at the Fertile Crescent of the western Asia. The Convergence lies entirely in a single temperate climate zone. Travel and trade from far western Europe all the way to Indus River civilization is possible in this single climate zone. Whereas with China, Japan, Australia, and pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, great geographic boundaries exist which tremendously slow the spread of technology. These areas are technology islands.
VI. A sixth reason may be weather.
Significant climate change occurred around 3500 BCE with the end of the Africa Humid period.
The temperate zone became drier from the Eastern Mediterranean to India. Towns and villages of the Domestic era (10,000 BCE to 3500 BCE) in the Fertile Crescent were primarily inland and away from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Drier climates led to fewer mosquitoes and less malaria in the marshes of the rivers. With climate change, contraction of populations to oasis and river locations resulted from the decrease in available water. Rising populations increased competition for available resources.
VII. A seventh reason: there was a 14 times increase in world population between 3500 BCE (14 million) and 350 AD (200 million). Since population and technology are directly proportional to each other, dramatic gains in technology create dramatic gains in population.
VIII. A eighth reason: creation of cities and property rights. Nomadic hunter gatherers and nomadic pastoralists had no need for property ownership.
With crops, fixed homes and collections of people created villages and cities.
Also with the development of cities came commerce and mercantilism. In addition, with the development of property came intellectual property. Finally, with commerce, financial incentives appeared to invention and entrepreneurship. Individualism was strong in Sumer. As evidence, many clay tablets contained marks with an individualized seal made of stone, metal, or wood which created an impression on the clay tablet creating an effective signature.
Cultural inventions of Sumer include: 7 day week, 24 hour day, 360 degree circle. Coded legal system, hierarchical government and king.
If Sumer is the greatest technology producing civilization of all time, then why is more not written about it? Sumer as a civilization was little known until the 1850s. A library of Sumerian clay tablets was discovered in Iraq known as the Library of Ashurbanipal. This is the oldest surviving royal library in the world and contains 30,000 tablets and fragments. Since this discovery, over 500,000 total clay tablets have been unearthed from Mesopotamia. Prior to this discovery, the Bible was the oldest document in human existence.
What causes a civilization to develop? or rather
What are the requirements for civilization?
- Central government, laws, usually a King creates political stability and with the absence of war or other conflict, the population grows as does technology.
- Organized religion adds stability and morality to social order.
- Job specialization (classes), including slavery – virtually all civilizations had slavery including China and Mesoamerica. Successful crops lead to food surplus which can create a leisure educated class.
- Writing (except with the Inca Civilization) is nearly universal in civilizations. Writing is information storage. and also we know that technology is accumulative in the setting of information storage. Information storage is necessary for effective education. Without information storage, technology is lost or forgotton.
- Arts, monumental architecture are parts of all civilizations.
- Cities (Uruk 14,000 by 3700 BCE first true city) allowed greater densities of people. Greater densities meant more interaction.
- Stable food supply, dominant crop (wheat-Sumer, rice-China, maize-Mesoamerica)
- Stable substantial water supply
In summary, the greatest technology producing civilization of all time to develop was Sumer, Mesopotamia on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in about 3500 BCE. Also, within three hundred years, independent civilizations developed in Egypt on the Nile river 3200 BCE, Newgrange Ireland 3200 BCE, Greece 3200 BCE, Peru 3200 BCE, Iran 3200 BCE. Six civilizations, four in the Convergence of the Fertile Crescent, but 2 in cultural, geographical islands of Ireland and Latin America. Later by 2600 BCE, civilizations in China, Maya, and the Indus river would appear.
