Rivers and Tides Shaped Development of Urban Civilization

Archaeology Magazine ^ | August 25, 2025 | editors / unattributed

[SunkenCiv]

Sumer is commonly acknowledged as one of -- if not the earliest known -- human civilizations. Emerging in southern Mesopotamia between the sixth and fifth millennium b.c., the Sumerians are often credited with a number of key innovations, including the invention of writing, the establishment of human-engineered agricultural systems, and the construction of the first urban centers. According to a statement released by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, a groundbreaking new study suggests that all of these Sumerian developments may have been driven by dynamic changes in the interactions between rivers, tides, and sediments. The research shows that between 7,000 and 5,000 years ago, the Persian Gulf extended further inland, and tides pushed fresh water twice daily up into the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Early Sumerian communities living in the region took advantage of this by creating short canals to irrigate their crops. However, as delta sediments eventually built up, they cut off gulf tides from reaching inland areas, which caused a socioecological crisis. Researchers argue that this led to the development of social complexity, labor specialization, and hierarchical political structures, since the situation required large-scale resource management on a state-wide level. This theory coincides with some of the archaeological findings from the Sumerian site of Lagash in recent years. "The radical conclusions of this study are clear in what we're finding at Lagash," said Holly Pittman, director of the Penn Museum's Lagash Archaeological Project. "Rapid environmental change fostered inequality, political consolidation, and the ideologies of the world's first urban society." Read the original scholarly article about this research in PLOS One. To read more about Lagash, go to "On the Origin of Cities," one of ARCHAEOLOGY's Top 10 Discoveries of 2022.

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TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: godsgravesglyphs; lagash; mesopotamia; persiangulf; sumer; sumeria; sumerians

[SunkenCiv]

Iraqi Marsh Arabs poling mashoofs, traditional canoes, loaded with freshly cut reeds

Reed Goodman, Clemson University

[SunkenCiv]

Lagash peaked under Gudea, but eventually got taken out by one of the none-too-neighborly neighboring city-states.

[Tax-chick]

Of course.

[blackdog]

Captain Obvious confirms this universally understood geographic requirement for the early civilizations of man.

[rey]

More importantly, private property rights.

The Noblest Triumph.

https://www.amazon.com/Noblest-Triumph-Property-Prosperity-Through/dp/0312210833

[SunkenCiv]

At least you read the title, even though your snarking is a steaming pile.

[BenLurkin]

bttt

[SunkenCiv]

Because of the annual seasonal flood, the Sumerians (and Egyptians for that matter) had to master early versions of surveying, recordkeeping, and (for taxation) accounting.

[silent majority rising]

95% of early settlements were near water sources by necessity. They were necessary for crop growth, defense, and other things necessary for civilizations. That is why the Fertile crescent was the early site for human development (between the Tigris and Euphrates), and The Egyptian Empire on the Nile, etc.

[House Atreides]

“ At least you read the title, even though your snarking is a steaming pile.”
*********************************

I told you that you should not have pissed in her Frosted Flakes this morning! /sarc

[SunkenCiv]

Shouldn’t have held a gun to her head and forced her to not read it, too.

[sauropod]

Bfl study.

[Red Badger]

So they were No Gudea?.............

[PIF]

Just as rivers and tides shaped our current civilization, so too they shaped the previous one, destroyed during the Younger Dryas event, and now under hundreds of feet of ocean water and uncountable feet of silt.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Researchers argue that this led to the development of social complexity, labor specialization, and hierarchical political structures, since the situation required large-scale resource management on a state-wide level.

And so led to the first armies rather then war bands.

Maybe.

[Tell It Right]

The research shows that between 7,000 and 5,000 years ago, the Persian Gulf extended further inland, and tides pushed fresh water twice daily up into the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.

Are they starting to admit that the current sea levels aren't the highest ever? LOL (For some reason I have Rush's ta-dut-dut, ta-dut-dut "global warming update" in my head. LOL)

By the way, the Persian Gulf being extended further inland 7,000 to 5,000 years ago seems to correspond with the Holocene Climate Optimum that FReepers already knew about (graph below getting posted every now and then).

[ScottHammett]

Please show the work that supports your timelines.