World History Mesopotamia and Sumer

The people of ancient Mesopotamia faced challenges because of the geography of where they lived. The Rise of Sumerian
City-States We will look at four of these geographic challenges and discover how the solutions to them transformed Neolithic farming villages into complex Sumerian city-states.

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​The Rise of Sumerian City-States

The Rise in Sumerian City-States

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Use information from the section and this image to propose some possible answers to the Essential

Question: How did geographic challenges lead to the rise of city-states in Mesopotamia?

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Read Introduction

Response Groups

You will now work in you groups to take on the role of ancient Mesopotamians facing a series of problems. For each problem, you will learn about the issue and propose a solution. Then you will read to find out how Mesopotamians responded to the problem.

Section 1

You will now learn about the environment of Mesopotamia. This

will help you in your role as ancient Mesopotamians.

Read Section 1, Mesopotamia: A Difficult Environment.

Problem A: Food Shortage in the hills

​You must decide what to do about the food shortages

in your village.

Discuss the options with your group.

• Increase the number of times each year that farmers plant their crops.

• Move down to the river plains and try to grow crops there.

• Abandon farming and return to hunting and

  gathering.

• Attack neighboring villages and steal their

  food.

Poll

Choose the option you think will best address the

problem. Prepare to justify your choice.

• Increase the number of times each year that

  farmers plant their crops.

• Move down to the river plains and try to grow

  crops there.

• Abandon farming and return to hunting and

  gathering.

• Attack neighboring villages and steal their

  food.

Open Ended

Explain why your option is the best solution.

Section 2

To find out what ancient Mesopotamians did to solve their food shortages problem, read Section 2, Food Shortages in the Hills.

Multiple Choice

Which solution did the Sumerians choose?

• Increase the number of times each year that

  farmers plant their crops.

• Move down to the river plains and try to grow

  crops there.

• Abandon farming and return to hunting and

  gathering.

• Attack neighboring villages and steal their

  food.

Problem B: Uncontrolled Water Supply in River Valley

You live in one of the villages on the Mesopotamian

plains. You must find a solution to provide your village with a year-round water supply.

On the poster paper supplied, work with your group to design a water-control system. Draw and label the best plan for this system. Your plan should include rivers and fields.

Section 3

To find out what ancient Mesopotamians did to solve their flooding problem, read Section 3, An

Uncontrolled Water Supply in the River Valley.

Multiple Select

What tools did the Sumerians use to control the water supply.

• levees

• dams

• canals

• buckets

Multiple Select

What was this system of water control called.

• Irrigation system

• Splash City

• Water Control System

Problem C: Building and Maintaining a Complex Irrigation System

​You must decide what to do about the irrigation issue

in your village.

Discuss the options with your group.

• Maintain only the canals around your village’s

  fields.

• Force members of another village to maintain

  the entire irrigation system throughout the

  year.

• Cooperate with other villages to regularly

  maintain the entire irrigation system.

• Abandon irrigation and return to collecting

  and carrying water from the river to the fields.

Poll

Choose the option you think will best address the

problem. Prepare to justify your choice.

• Maintain only the canals around your village’s

  fields.

• Force members of another village to maintain

  the entire irrigation system throughout the

  year.

• Cooperate with other villages to regularly

  maintain the entire irrigation system.

• Abandon irrigation and return to collecting

  and carrying water from the river to the fields.

Open Ended

Explain why your option is the best solution.

Section 4

To find out what Mesopotamians did to solve their

problem of maintaining an irrigation system, read

Section 4, Building and Maintaining a Complex

Irrigation System.

Multiple Choice

Which option did the Sumerians choose?

• Maintain only the canals around your village’s

  fields.

• Force members of another village to maintain

  the entire irrigation system throughout the

  year.

• Cooperate with other villages to regularly

  maintain the entire irrigation system.

• Abandon irrigation and return to collecting

  and carrying water from the river to the fields.

Problem D: Attacks by Neighboring Communities

​You live in a Sumerian city. Neighboring communities are planning attacks on your city. On the poster paper, work with your group to design and draw a defense plan to protect the city. Make a simple drawing of the city, and design your defense plan around it.

Section 5

To find out what Mesopotamians did to solve their

problem related to fights over water use, read Section 5, Attacks by Neighboring Communities.

Section 6

Read Section 6, From Small Farming Villages to

Large City-States, in the Student Text.

Then comple the matching activity on the next slide.

Reorder

Put these problems and solutions in the correct order the shows how the geographic challenges lead to the rise of city-states in Mesopotamia. Continues on next slide.

• Food shortages in the foothills

• Moved to river

  valley of Sumer

• Too much or too

  little water

• Built an

  irrigation system

1

2

3

4

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4

Reorder

Continued from previous slide. Put these problems and solutions in the correct order the shows how the geographic challenges lead to the rise of city-states in Mesopotamia.

• Built an

  irrigation system

• Irrigation system

  crossed village

  boundaries

• Began to work

  together and live

  in cities

• city-states fought with each other

• build walls and dug moats around city-states

1

2

3

4

5

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5

Vocabulary

Match

Match each word to its correct definition

• Area in southern Mesopotamia, where cities

  first appeared

• Two largest rivers in Southwest Asia that flow

  from the mountains in Turkey to the Persian Gulf

• in ancient times, the geographic area located

  between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers

Sumer

Tigris and

Euphrates

Mesopotamia

• Sumer

• Tigris and

  Euphrates

• Mesopotamia

Match

Match each word to its correct definition

• a means of supplying land with water

• an early city that was like a small, independent

  country with its own laws and government

• a wall of earth built to prevent a river from

  flooding its banks

• fine particles of rock

irrigation

city-state

levee

silt

• irrigation

• city-state

• levee

• silt