Vocabulary
The process of artificially supplying water to soil
Irrigation
The landscape in Sumeria was mostly
flat
What was the first problem the Mesopotamians faced?
What caused this problem?
What was the solution?
Food shortages
Overpopulation
moving to the river plains
Name a Sumerian city-state
Uruk, Catal Hoyuk, Ur
Sumerians built ______ to transport water from the river to the fields
canals
The area in Mesopotamia that had good resources like timber and stone
Zagros Mountains
What was the second problem Mesopotamians faced?
What caused this?
What was the solution?
Flooding of rivers
It would rain really hard or snow would melt from the mountains
Water control system.
Why did the villages of Sumer depend on each other?
To keep the canals cleared of silt
Built on the side of rivers to prevent flooding
levees
The location between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers is called ___________
Mesopotamia
What was the third problem the Mesopotamians faced?
What contributed to this problem?
solution?
silt clogging the canals
Villages didn't communicate with each other to clear them out
villages working together
what was the main purpose of dams and reservoirs?
To store water for later use
Who were the Sumerians?
The people who moved to the river plains
Describe the living conditions in the hills versus the river plains
The hills were rainy and had good weather but didn't have rivers.
The plains had rivers and had lots of rain in the spring but for the rest of the year it was dry.
Why were Sumerian cities called city-states?
Because they had their own ruler and laws
What does the word "Mesopotamia" mean?
the land between the rivers
An area in Mesopotamia known for its good climate
Zagros Mountains
What was the fourth problem Mesopotamians faced?
What caused this?
Solution?
attacks by other cities
other cities wanted control of water supply, and there was flat land in the plains.
Building walls and moats.
When was Sumer first settled? Give an estimate from ___year to _____year. (maximum 500 years apart)
4500-4000 BCE