The Mesopotamians were very smart people. They invented cuneiform, ziggurats, and irrigation. They even learned to weave and use wool from sheep to make beautiful mats and carpets. These are called textiles. They invented many helpful items which we will identify on our study guide. Just like the invention of the toilet, people built upon these great ideas to make our life today easier.
1. Mesopotamians also came up with a way to keep track of the days and months. They invented a 12 month calendar based on cycles of the moon. This helped with farming as they could predict the seasons like when the flood season or dry seasons would be.
2. Most people in Mesopotamia were farmers. Mesopotamian farmers had the hardest job; planting and harvesting all that food by hand. They didn't have big tractors and combines to help them. They invented the plow and used it for farming to make it much easier. They had animals pull the plow to make rows for them.
3. Travel and trading goods was made much easier with the invention of the wheel. Many of the first wheels were very heavy and not always perfectly round. They still helped make life easier. They also invented the chariot which helped with trade and war.
4. They were really good at math. Geometry was used for measuring fields and building ziggurats. The Mesopotamians were the first to use the pythagorean theory for triangles. You will probably learn this way of measuring a triangle in math this year. Just think, the Mesopotamians were using it thousands of years ago.
5. They came up with a number system based on 60. We have them to thank for our time measurement - 60 seconds in a minute, and 60 minutes in an hour. This was probably done by studying astronomy and when the sun rose and set each day. It is amazing that they figured out time thousands of years ago.
6. Sailboats were also used to travel and trade. They replaced muscle power with wind power. The people of Mesopotamia traveled far away to trade with other people. Their sailboats were called guffas and traveled really fast along the rivers. We will watch a video about how they made guffas.