Millennia ago, in the Fertile Crescent, the land nestled between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in what is now present-day Iran, the ancient Mesopotamian civilization of Sumer arose. Sumerians ...

Mesopotamian clay maps, dating back 5,000 years, provide a fascinating glimpse into the ancient world’s perception of geography, particularly its rivers. These clay tablets not only depict the ...

New research shows that the rise of Sumer was deeply tied to the tidal and sedimentary dynamics of ancient Mesopotamia. Early communities harnessed predictable tides for irrigation, but when deltas ...

The story of how the first cities rose from southern Mesopotamia has long fascinated scientists and historians. Many explanations point to fertile soil, farming, and trade networks as the engines of ...

It took decades for archaeologists to realize this 3,500-year-old tablet depicts an ancient city at scale. But how did its creators pull that off? Archaeologists from the University of Pennsylvania ...

The Great Ziggurat of Ur dedicated to the Moon god. Ziggurats were massive structure typical for Mesopotamia. Sumerians believed that the gods lived in the temple at the top of the ziggurats. Woods ...

A 200-year-long drought 4,200 years ago may have killed off the ancient Sumerian language, one geologist says. Because no written accounts explicitly mention drought as the reason for the Sumerian ...

The civilisation weakened when city rulers began fighting with each other. Flooding meant that crops weren't growing as well. Cities began to struggle. In the end, Sumer was invaded by the Elamites ...