How did civilizations first develop in Mesopotamia? Focus Question: Was Ancient Sumer a Civilization? *

Sumer – Background Info ● Means roughly “land of the civilized lords” ● Civilization in southern Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) ● Settled in the Tigris & Euphrates River Valleys ● Mesopotamia = Greek word meaning “land between the rivers” ● First settled ca. (about) BCE Source *

Was Sumer a Civilization? ● Today, you will provide evidence that proves ancient Sumer was in fact a civilization. ● To do this, we will use the GRAPES tool to see how these artifacts show the different aspects of a civilization: ● Geography ● Religion ● Achievements ● Political System (government) ● Economics ● Social Structure *

Title your paper GRAPES OF SUMER ● First, label your boxes with the 6 characteristics that make up GRAPES ● Your pages should look something like this -> this *

* GEOGRAPHY RELIGION ACHIEVEMENTS POLITICAL SYSTEM (GOVERNMENT) ECONOMICS SOCIAL STRUCTURE

GEOGRAPHY OF SUMER ● Looking at a map of Sumer, we’ll be able to identify/describe how geography played a role in this civilization’s development. ● Using our background knowledge of the Middle East region of the world, we’ll need to consider the following: ● Location (Where in the world is it?) ● Physical features (What does the land look like?) ● Human movement (Why did people move there? How do they move around there?) ● Human settlement (Where did people build their homes and set up cities?) ● Human-environmental interaction (How did people change their environment to make life better and easier?) Source *

GEOGRAPHY OF SUMER Source *

GEOGRAPHY ● Middle East/Asia ● Desert, mountains, rivers, seas ● Low precipitation (little rain) ● Settled cities between Tigris & Euphrates Rivers ● Rivers provided water for crops ● Rivers could be used for transportation RELIGION

GRAPES of Sumer Instructions: 1. You will gather information for the rest of the GRAPES boxes. You will first discuss with your elbow partner what characteristics made ancient Sumer a civilization, one component at a time. In complete, detailed sentences, describe the characteristics that make ancient Sumer a civilization on your paper. 2. For each component, you will need to also sketch a detailed illustration of any artifact, idea, example, etc. in the same box (this is what historians actually do).actually do *

Artifact Example RELIGION “Winged Bull of Khorsbad” This artifact is a statue of a bull with large wings and the head of a bearded man and is wearing a crown. This artifact most likely represents religion in Sumer and may have been a god that was worshipped which would explain why they made a statue of it. * How big is this statue exactly?

The question you are answering is: Was ancient Sumer a civilization? *

Scoring Rubric: ● Your response will be scored as reaching one of the following levels: ● 4 – Student consistently excels at accurately answering the question in detail and meeting the lesson objective. ● 3 – Student has satisfactorily and accurately answered the question with detail and has met the lesson objective. ● 2 – Student is making progress toward answering the question and is making progress toward meeting the lesson objective. ● 1 – Student is targeted for growth toward answering the question and may need additional assistance in meeting the lesson objective. *