The ancient Sumerians invented cuneiform, shown here on a clay tablet documenting barley rations issued monthly to adults and children. The language may have died out as a result of a 200-year drought ...

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 ...

Many millennia ago, the tides turned for ancient Sumerians who built the first civilization - literally. Rising in southern Mesopotamia around 6,000 years ago, Sumer bridged a network of city-states ...

Life is hard. Who was the first person to say these grim words? I was hoping AI would provide the answer but it spectacularly ...

A new interdisciplinary study shows that the rise of the first urban civilization was not solely a product of human ingenuity, but a complex response to coastal dynamics and the predictable rhythms of ...

2K announced today that Gilgamesh, the hero of the oldest work of literature (the epic that’s named after him), is the in-game leader for Sumeria in Civilization VI. That turn-based strategy game is ...

Learn how the first civilization in Mesopotamia depended on tides and how it responded when faced with a major environmental challenge. Jack Knudson is an assistant editor for Discover Magazine who ...