Assignments to complete:

 

1.  Notes about 12 artifacts on a graphic organizer.

2.  Textbook notes using a graphic organizer suitable for descriptive text structures such as an annotated spoke-and-wheel diagram (aka cluster map or bubble map). 

3.  Real Estate Brochure

4.  Analysis of the Royal Standard of Ur.  What does this artifact reveal about whether Sumer was a civilization?   What elements of a civilization does it NOT show? 

5.  Chapter 5 reading quiz (in class)

  

Learning Target:
What will I be able to do?: You will analyze the 7+1 characteristics of civilizations to determine whether ancient Sumer was a civilization; you will be able to identify legacies of ancient Sumer; you will look at artifacts and make inferences about what they show aboutthe 7+1 aspects of civilization in ancient Sumer;
What idea, topic, or subject is important to learn and understand so that I can do this?:  You will learn about the 7+1 characteristics of a civilization and see how Sumerians developed new ideas within each of these areas.  
What I will do to show that you know this?: You will complete the Sumerian Achievements Graphic Organizer, answer the comprehension questions about the 7+1 Characteristics of a civilization.

Content-Area Vocabulary:   civilization, social structure, technology, arch, stele, status, chariot, scribe, ziggurat, cuneiform, pictograph

Other words to know:  moat, bronze, plow, irrigation, lyre, priest, ritiual, deity, lapis lazuli, whitewashed

Introduction:
Sumer was a region located on the southern Mesopotamian plains. It was settled around 3,500 B.C.E. by Mesopotamians who were later known as Sumerians. Sumer extended over 10,000 square miles - an area about the size of the state of Maryland - and consisted of various powerful city-states, such as Lagash, Ur, and Uruk. The Sumerian environment had a number of disadvantages - hot summers, a lack of rainfall, and rivers that flooded unpredictably. Historians believe the Sumerians' struggles with this harsh environment inspired some of their greatest achievements. Many inventions, such as writing, the plow, and the sailboat, were adapted by other civilizations, and some are still in use today. For these reasons, some historians refer to Sumer as the "cradle of civilization."

 

Watch Civilisations http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yc8m9DHxH4E (Skip the parts in French! and keep clicking through to parts 2-6.   This is a British production (hence the spelling of "civilisations."  Pay attention to whether you are looking at modern people and settings, reconstructions of ancient settings, or video of ancient artifacts.  The reconstructions, particulary in part 3, have human animations that students should realize are imagined scenes)  

AND/OR Watch the must shorter, whirlwind introduction from National Geographic:  http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/kids/people-places-kids/iraq-mesopotamia-kids.html

 

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Step 1: Notes About Sumerian Achievements -  Complete the handout Notes About Sumerian Achievements by looking at the pictures below and reading the corresponding information handouts. (Download the complete Achievement Information Handout here):

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The Arch 

A pointed arch made of stone. This arch was part of a house at Ur and dates to approximately 2160 B.C.E.

Information Handout

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City-States/Kings

The Stele of Naram-Sin, a rounded stone slab depicting King Naram-Sin and his soldiers on the battlefield. It was found at Susa in Iran and dates to the second half of the third millennium B.C.E.

Information Handout

 

Cuneiform/Writing

A circular cuneiform tablet from Lagash in Iraq, dating to approximately 1980 B.C.E.

Information Handout

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Devotional Statues

A devotional statue dating to 2600 B.C.E. of what scholars believe is a married couple. The gypsum statue was found buried beneath the floor of a shine at Nippur in Iraq and mesures 3.5 inches wide at the bottom. The couple originally had feet, and the figures have eyes made of shell and lapis lazuli set in bitumen, a natural cement-like substance.

Information Handout

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Games

A Sumerian game board and playing pieces made of shell, bone, lapis lazuli, and red limestone. They were found in the Royal Cemetery at Ur and date to the twenty-fifth century B.C.E. The game board measures about 10.5 inches long and 4.5 inches wide.

Information Handout

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Irrigation

An irrigated field on the banks of the Euphrates River in Iraq. The irrigation canal connects to the river, which can be seen in the background.

Information Handout

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Mathematics

Two fragments of an ancient Mesopotamian clay tablet containing geometry exercises and questions written in cuneiform.

Information Handout

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Medicine

An ancient Mesopotamian skull with three holes cut in it. Such holes are the result of a surgical procedure performed by ancient Sumerian doctors. This individual is believed to have survived the surgery, since the bone shows signs of healing.

Information Handout

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Metalworking

Three gold cups from Ur, dating to approximately 2450 B.C.E. The cup on the right belonged to Queen Shubad and may once have containted the poison that killed her.

Information Handout

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Music

A reconstruction of a lyre found at Ur. The original lyre was made of wood and decorated with gold and lapis lazuli, and it dates to approximately the first half of the third millenium B.C.E.

Information Handout

Music Track [Listen]

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Organized Armies

Two groups of soldiers in formation behind their leaders. They are depicted on a fragment of The Stele of Vultures, a rounded stone slab found at Lagash in Iraq dating to the first half of the third millennium B.C.E.

Information Handout

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Plow

A cylinder-seal impression of two Gods, one with a left hand in the shape of a scorpion and the other plowing behind a dragon and a lion. The impression was made by a seal found at Tell Asmar in Iraq.

Information Handout

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Sailboat

An artist's rendition of one type of Sumerian sailboat. The rope indicates where the sails would have hung on the wooden mast. The body of the boat is made of bundled reeds covered with leather.

Information Handout

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Wheel

A copper statue of a chariot being pulled by four donkeys. It depicts an early form of the wheel, which Sumerians made by pressing two pieces of wood together. The statue is 2.75 inches tall, dates to about 2700 B.C.E., and was found at Tell Agrab in Iraq.

Information Handout

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Written Laws

A tablet and a copper statue of King Ur-Nammu, found at Nippur in Iraq, dating to approximately 2100 B.C.E.

Information Handout

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Ziggurat

A reconstruction of the ziggurat found at Ur. The original ziggurat was built by King Ur-Nammu in the twenty-first century B.C.E. and was made of mud bricks.

Information Handout

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Step 2:  Read and take notes: Read Chapter 5 and take notes in your social studies notebook.  Use a spoke-and-wheel diagram (look at the example on the first page of the chapter) and annotate it with images and words to reflect the main idea and supporting details for each section.   Learn the Chapter 5 vocabulary:  Quizlet, chapter 5 vocabuarly.   More Mesopotamia vocabulary:  Quizlet Mesopotamia vocabulary

 

Step 3:  Real Estate Brochure.  "Sell" your city state to a potential resident.  Here's the assignment sheet with the embedded scoresheet.  You must complete the assignment sheet and turn it in with your final product.

 

Step 4:  Analyzing the Evidence - Characteristics of a Civilization: Use the artifacts and information covered (above) and the Standard of Ur example below to answer the following Analysis Questions below. Cite evidence and reference the content covered in this assignment for each answer in paragraph form.

 

 The Standard of Ur

The Standard of Ur is a 4,500 year-old hollow box (a triangular prism--like a tent--with two rectangular sides leaning against each other with triangular pieces on the ends) consisting of four panels inlaid with shell and lapis lazuli. The two larger panels, shown here, depict scenes of war and peace.   It was found buried in royal graves located in the Sumerian city-state of Ur in modern-day Iraq. The two main panels are 18.5 inches wide and 8 inches long and are covered with shell and lapis lazuli decorations. The British archeologist Sir Edward Leonard Woolley excavated the Standard in the 1920's. He believed that a man known as the king's standard-bearer carried the Standard's two panels in royal processions. Other archealologists believe that the Standard's panels were part of a sound box on a harp. The Standard continues to attract world-wide attention as one of the richest clues to Sumerian civilization in the third millennium B.C.E.  Examine the Royal Standard of Ur.  Using this artifact, what inferences can you make about whether Sumer was a civilization?  Note not only your inference but the evidence (details) you used to draw this conclusion. 

 

Picture credit:  http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.historywiz.com/images/neareast/royalstandardofur-war.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.historywiz.com/galleries/standardofur.html&usg=__iuEXVZqh7S71vOVU3NHlzVHS6yk=&h=465&w=1041&sz=123&hl=en&start=1&zoom=1&tbnid=ndPxcV6MmXyqUM:&tbnh=67&tbnw=150&ei=SA4ST_LbEuqjiQK6qu3NDQ&prev=/search%3Fq%3DRoyal%2BStandard%2Bof%2Bur%26hl%3Den%26gbv%3D2%26tbm%3Disch&itbs=1

 

Analysis Questions (Answer these on a lined piece of paper in paragraph form):
    1. Where do you see evidence of a system of government?
    2. How can you tell these people had a stable food supply (agriculture)?
    3. Is this a hierarchical or egalitarian society, in your opinion? Why?  Is there evidence that labor/jobs were specialized in this society?
    4. Where do you see evidence of a highly developed culture, including arts, music, etc? 

    5.  Where do you see evidence of technology on the Standard?

    6.  What about religion, including evidence of offerings, priests or temples?

    7.  There is no evidence of writing here.   

 

*Modified Format - Graphic Organizer

 

The Seven Characteristics of a Civilizations (according to the TCI textbook--others claim more--up to 10)

1. A stable food supply that is not likely to suddenly change.
2. A system of government that directs and controls some actions of the members of society.
3. A social structure with different social levels, some best on specialization of labor, which results in some members of the society are given higher status than others (a hierarchical society)
4. A developed arts culture including visual art, architecture, music, literature, games, and math/science,

5.  Technology. 

6.  A system of written symbols (writing).
7. A system of religious beliefs, which might include priests and temples.

+ 1 = life in cities with monumental architecture

 

Step 4:  Make a real estate advertisement for a Sumerian city-state. 

 

SUPPLEMENTAL RESOURCES:

Quizlet, chapter 5 vocabuarly

Quizlet Mesopotamia vocabulary