The Geographical and Historical Context
This geographical feature is common amongst the societies that appeared in China, Mesopotamia, and the Indus Valley.
What is rivers
This boxy artefact from Ur has sides called 'War' and 'Peace'
What is the Standard of Ur
This iconic metal figurine represents a young woman dancing.
What is the dancing girl statuette
Sumerians traded this valuable metal with the Indus Valley civilisation
What is bronze
This invention allowed for improved record keeping, communication, and social order.
What is writing
The region that contained the Indus Valley Civilisation is now part of these modern-day countries
What are India and Pakistan?
This artefact provides a record of fictional and legitimate kings from Sumerian city states such as Uruk and Ur.
What is the Sumerian King List
The Harrapan Civilisation relied on this river.
What is the Indus River
We can read this language written by the Sumerians
What is Cuneiform
This practice, central to both the Sumerians and the Indus Valley people, enabled societies to grow and sustain large populations
What is farming
This was a significant environmental challenge in the Sumerian region, contributing to the development of irrigation techniques
What is unpredictable flooding
This epic poem is one of the oldest pieces of literature and gives insight into Sumerian culture
What is the Epic of Gilgamesh
The Indus Valley civilisation's script is unreadable, but this mythological animal appears multiple times on seal stones and in artwork.
What is a unicorn.
What are the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers
The Sumerians built massive temples, and the Indus Valley likely worshipped nature gods, reflecting the importance of this aspect of society.
What is religion
These mountains to the north of the Indus Valley protected the civilisation from invasions but also influenced trade routes
What are the Himalayas
This large, tiered structure in the centre of many Sumerian cities was dedicated to religious worship
What is a ziggurat
The Indus Valley had standardised sizes for all of this building material
What are baked bricks
Sumerians invented this breakdown of time to organise their days.
What is 60 Seconds, 60 minutes, 24 hours.
The Standard of Ur, construction of Ziggurats, and the carefully planned cities of the Indus Valley are examples of this characteristic of early societies.
What is art and architecture
These three other civilisations all began during the same period as the Sumerians and the Indus Valley
What are the Minoans, Egyptians, and Chinese civilisations
A complaint tablet written by Nanni was addressed to this resident of Ur
Who is Ea-Nasir
The two capitals of the Indus Valley Civilisation
What are Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro
This Sumerian king was the first to be confirmed on the archaeological record.
Who is Meskalamdug
The code of Ur-Nammu reflects this characteristic of early socities
What is rule of law