Where, when and how did the first civilization originate? Scientists (historians, archaeologists, linguists) still do not have a single opinion on this score. But most experts believe that the Sumerians were the first people to have indisputable signs of civilization, such as writing, culture, science.
Who are the Sumerians?
The Sumerians are residents of Mesopotamia - an area located between the two great Asian rivers Tigris and Euphrates. The emergence of Sumerian civilization dates back to about 4000 BC. The origin of the Sumerians is still unknown. Probably, they were not the original inhabitants of Mesopotamia, but came there from some mountainous area. Confirmation of this hypothesis is the fact that the concepts of "mountain" and "country" are denoted by one symbol. In general, the Sumerians are considered the most ancient people, who generally had written language. At the heart of the Sumerian writing ("cuneiform writing") lay pictograms, that is, images of signs characterizing a particular subject, as well as its features. Moreover, writing among the Sumerians was owned not only by representatives of the upper classes and religious cults, but also commoners.
Scientists found that initially the number of Sumerians' pictograms was about 1000, but later they began to use a more abridged 600-digit version of the writing system.
