Ancient Mesopotamia
By: Alana Monson
Architecture- Ziggurats
Ziggurats were temples the Sumerians would use to worship their gods. They formed them by piling layers of adobe on top of each other, each layer getting smaller than the previous layer.The ziggurats gave the Sumerians a way to worship their gods. Although we don’t use ziggurats today, we do use buildings to worship and praise our God.
Technology-Plumbing
Once the Sumerians began using water, they developed dams, drains, and personal bathrooms. They would angle the floors of the bathrooms to form a drain. I imagine it helped them a lot by using drains for their bathrooms. They could now easily get leftover water out of bathrooms. Although our plumbing is more advanced, we still use the basics of this such as dams, bathroom drains, and running water.
Recreation-Dance
The Sumerians would often dance at weddings, harvest festivals, and religious rituals. Men and women would not dance together, but the men would dance with men, and the women with other women. The women would often line dance and circle dance, while the men would often squat dance. Sometimes they would sing and dance together. They often danced at the annual feast for the Goddess Ishtar to honor her. They could have fun while honoring their goddess too. We still dance today at weddings and other celebrations, or just for fun. It was back then that dancing really began for everyone to enjoy.
Medicine-Healing Techniques
When treating a wound, they would wash it, bandage it, and make plasters that would sometimes have animal fat or plant particles in it. They would also blame the different diseases on different gods. People had also found tablets full of prescriptions from then. It helped them because they could now treat wounds of the hurt and potentially save their lives. We use part of the same technique they used by washing a wound and bandaging it. People in hospitals use it all the time and without it, we would not be in a very good condition.
Math/Astrology-Numbers/Counting
To begin with, they drew one object for each object that it represented. (Drew two lanterns if they had two lanterns in real life) Developed a different counting system for different items. Eventually drew different symbols for different numbers (A small cone represented the number one, A small circle represented the number 10). It impacted them by giving them a way to communicate numbers easier than drawing symbol for every object they have in reality. It started a counting method that we would later perfect and change.