[Physicist]

All memories of FAILED Culture

I hope you're not talking about Mesopotamian culture. Here are a few things to consider over dinner tonight.

That restaurant menu? Thank the Sumerians. They invented writing, and apparently ALL other writing systems in use today took their lead from the Sumerian example and its derivatives. (Even Chinese: Mesopotamian domesticates appeared in China before the advent of writing.)

That cheeseburger you ordered? The meat and the cheese came from cows that descend from the ones domesticated in Mesopotamia. The same goes for the wheat in the bun, and the sesame seeds on top.

That glass of beer? Mesopotamia again: barley was domesticated there, and beer was invented there. The oldest recipe known is a Sumerian recipe for beer.

If Mesopotamian culture was a failure, then our culture is a failure, because our culture could not have existed without it; our agriculture and our writing came ultimately from there. Any cultural heritage that has been lost in Iraq is OUR cultural heritage.

[Truthsearcher]

I think you're missing the point.

Of course ancient Mesopotamian culture made advancement that all who came after benefited from. But that's exactly the issue, they contributions they made to humanity are what portions of their culture that has survived and flourish in later cultures, such as writing, wheat, etc. The sucessful part of their culture is passed on, it is the failed parts that sits museums. These part of the culture that didn't survive, these failed parts of that culture, although they satify the intellectual curiosity of people like you, are worth nothing in any practical sense.

The oil fields we saved will eventually provide the income that will feed real live people, I would not be so readily dismissive of their value compared to 5000 old tablets.