Mesopotamian Arts & Sciences

Arts

Sculpture

Sculptures are one of the most famous things Mesopotamia had, besides from jewelry. In 1842, frenchmen went to Mesopotamia to dig. They dug in a mound in northern Mesopotamia. When they found something it was a strange sculpture that they have never seen before. The mound was bits and pieces from a great palace which had been built early in the eighth century B.C.E for an Assyrian king named Sargon II. The discovery of these first carvings was only the beginning. Soon other men were working on other mounds. Gradually, palaces, temples and cities were uncovered, and big walls of clay tablets covered with the Mesopotamia writing called cuneiform were found. Mesopotamia has sculptures because they are art and it is for religious reasons. They are also to honor gods. (EP)

Pottery

the most common materials for Ancient Mesopotamian artists was clay. Clay was used for lots of things like pottery, sculptures, monuments, buildings, and tablets that were used to record history and legends and poems. One poem is "The Epic of Gilgamesh". The Mesopotamians developed their skills in pottery over thousands of years. At first they used their hands to make simple pots. Later, they learned how to use a potter's wheel.A potters Wheel is a wheel that you put clay on and the wheel spins very fast, making it way more easy to make pots and other things. They also learned to use very high temperature ovens to harden the clay, like we do now. They learned how to make different shapes, glazes, and patterns. Soon they turned all their pottery into amazing works of art. The style that Mesopotamians used for pottery quickly spread over to a large area in northern Mesopotamia around 5500 BCE. This type of pottery was made locally in northern Mesopotamia, and traded because of its amazing beauty. People also traded because of its high quality and durability.This type of pottery has also been found by archeologists in many different areas. (BN)

Jewelry

Jewelry in Mesopotamia is a lot . They make jewelry out of basic copper, silver, gold, electrum, and not so basic gemstones. They made jewelry that looks like toes ( I saw a picture.). The people even made shoes out of gold and more. Some of the jewelry was to wear but most of it was for decoration, such as head pieces and the toes.

How it was made

These craftsmen made most gold and silver items by cutting the precious metals into thin sheets, which they shaped with hammers and other tools. (EP)

Cylinder Seals

In museums with the most amazing artifacts discovered in ancient Mesopotamia, most people might not pay attention to the small items known as cylinder seals. The cylinder seal was an important part of life in ancient Mesopotamia and tells the story of the people more completely than royal reliefs or towering statues ever can. (BN)

Sciences

Math

The early Mesopotamians were on base 60 in math. Their time was divided by 60s. For instance, they had a 60 second minute, and a 60 minute hour. They knew about math like addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, quadratic and cubic equations, and fractions. Knowing this information helped them keep records of their building projects. The early Mesopotamians used clay cones to symbolize the number 1, a clay ball to symbolize the number 10, and a large clay cone to symbolize 60. They used those cones almost like a piece of paper. (IC)

Astronomy

Mesopotamia's advanced math helped Mesopotamia's astronomers to follow the movement of stars, planets, and the Moon. One of the achievements the Early Mesopotamians got too was the ability to predict the movement of planets and stars. Another achievement that the Mesopotamians reached was the ability to encounter the phases of the moon, which led to the early Mesopotamians creating the first calendar which took a while, but they used their advanced math and the Scientific Method to help them. (IC)

Writing

Writing is the most important mesopotamian invention. Without writing we would have no way to keep track of laws. Also we would not develop our world at all. The first form of writing or record keeping is called cuneiform. This invention was created by the mesopotamians in 3500-3000 BCE. “When the ancient cuneiform tablets of Mesopotamia were discovered and deciphered in the late 19th century CE, they would literally transform human understanding of history.” (AV)

Boats

In ancient mesopotamia, boats were the main form of transportation. These ancient mesopotamian boats are called Quffa or kupfer. These boats built of willow frames and covered with leather the insides were protected by straw. They carried wooden casks of wine from Armenia to Babylon. There were two people paddling the boat, One paddler would pull from the front and the other would push from the rear. The quffa was used on the tigris and Euphrates Rivers; and especially around Baghdad they were used in the first half of the 20th century as water taxis and carriers. (AV)

Page updated

Report abuse