Originally posted by RuneSpider
reply to post by Funkydung

---

So, the Sumer civilization does not count then? Or for that matter the settlements at Jericho or Catalhoyuk?

Sumer , Akkadian: Šumeru; possibly Biblical Shinar) was a civilization and a historical region located in southern Iraq (Mesopotamia), known as the Cradle of civilization. It lasted from the first settlement of Eridu in the Ubaid period (late 6th millennium BC) through the Uruk period (4th millennium BC) and the Dynastic periods (3rd millennium BC) until the rise of Babylon in the early 2nd millennium BC. The term "Sumerian" applies to all speakers of the Sumerian language.

The first permanent settlement was built near the Ein es-Sultan spring between 8000 and 7000 BC by an unknown people, and consisted of a number of walls, a religious shrine, and a 23 feet 0 inches (7.0 m) tower with an internal staircase.[9] After a few centuries, it was abandoned for a second settlement, established in 6800 BC, perhaps by an invading people who absorbed the original inhabitants into their dominant culture. Artifacts dating from this period include ten skulls, plastered and painted so as to reconstitute the individuals' features.[9] These represent the first example of portraiture in art history, and it is thought that these were kept in people's homes while the bodies were buried.[14][5] This was followed by a succession of settlements from 4500 BC onward, the largest of these being constructed in 2600 BC.

It lasted from the first settlement of Eridu in the Ubaid period (late 6th millennium BC) through the Uruk period (4th millennium BC) and the Dynastic periods (3rd millennium BC) until the rise of Babylon in the early 2nd millennium BC. The term "Sumerian" applies to all speakers of the Sumerian language.

By 8000 B.C., agricultural communities are already established in northern Mesopotamia, the eastern end of the Fertile Crescent. Early in the sixth millennium B.C., farming communities, relying on irrigation rather than rainfall, settle ever further south along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. As these new communities grow, monumental architecture and more elaborate forms of artistic representation reflect an increasingly differentiated social hierarchy. Forms of administration and recording are developed as cities emerge across the region, especially in the south. By 2500 B.C., cuneiform inscriptions describe rivalry between city-states, with rulers building temples and palaces decorated with royal imagery proclaiming their power. Within two centuries, the city-states of Mesopotamia are unified by Sargon of Akkad, who creates the first empire.