today we're looking at the top five inventions of ancient Mesopotamia
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videos from communication and transportation to mathematics and time the ancient civilizations
of Mesopotamia the region between the Tigris and Euphrates river in the present day Middle
East developed a groundbreaking Innovations and inventions thousands of years ago that are still
in use today and truly shape our modern world but are many times taken for granted by society today
although not a complete list of all the inventions of Mesopotamia today I would like to share five
inventions that change the world the origins of the wheel are a little uncertain with the
earliest discovered wheel being found in Central Europe and dating back to around 3200 BC but many
historians and archaeologists believe the wheel was first developed in Mesopotamia as early as 35
500 BC the first Wheels were not used for transportation but rather by Potters to spin soft
clay and form it into Pottery there is evidence that by 3000 BC carts and wagons were commonly
used by the people of Sumer these early Wheels were generally made of two solid half disc of wood
nailed together to create a complete wheel many times leather would be wrapped around the outside
edge of the wheel to cushion it as it traveled basically the first tires these early Wheels were
heavy and bulky and it would not be until about 2000 BC that spoked wheels were invented that were
much lighter and mobile this would lead to the development of Chariots to be used in combat but
also used on wagons to move items from place to place the Tigris and Euphrates rivers were primary
modes of transportation for ancient Mesopotamians Goods to trade could be easily floated down the
river but returning was another issue as the boats would have to travel against the current
of the rivers many archaeologists believe sales were developed to help push the boats along as
they tried to navigate the rivers Upstream the ancient Egyptians developed some of the first
boats along the Nile River using sails by 4000 BC but it is believed that the sale was invented and
in use in Mesopotamia by as early as 5000 BC as the first depiction of a boat under a sail appears
on a painted disc found in Mesopotamia dating back to 5000 BC these primitive sailboats had
simple rectangular sails likely made from linen or Papyrus and would have carried trade goods such
as cloth wool and jewels the sale not only allowed Mesopotamians to travel against the current of the
rivers but also allowed for long-distance trading as now they could harness the power of the wind to
carry them to far away locations cuneiform was the earliest form of riding developed somewhere around
3 500 BC by the Sumerians at the southern end of Mesopotamia this writing system contained over 500
symbols and was written by drawing lines and wedge shapes into soft clay that would then be later
dried it was originally invented as a method to keep record of the surplus of food and trade but
eventually cuneiform writings ventured away from Strictly keeping track of trade and archaeologists
and historians have found some of the earliest forms of literature and histories written down for
more information check out my other video devoted strictly to cuneiform today there are over 500
000 cuneiform tablets that have been found and studied somewhere around 3000 BC Mesopotamians
developed the concept of time by dividing a day into 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of
Darkness or night giving us a 24-hour day they even took it a step further by dividing hours
into 60 minutes and minutes into 60 seconds now Mesopotamians could keep better track of
their work hours and religious observances mess mesutamians created sundials and water clocks
in order to keep more accurate measurements of time even before riding or time was developed
ancient Mesopotamians developed basic principles of mathematics again when considering the surplus
of food being produced in Mesopotamia some form of keeping track of what was being produced and
traded had to be created hence math became a basic skill for early scribes Beyond simple
addition and subtraction Mesopotamians developed geometry in order to measure and divide Farmland
between people the inventions and Innovations developed by early people of Mesopotamia would
spread throughout the world and change how people survived and lived today we take many
of these inventions for granted but we should stop and reflect on how much we owe today to the
civilizations of the past so with that hopefully you learned something and thanks for watching
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