Sumer: The First Civilization

Released in 2023, this documentary explores the emergence of Sumer in southern Mesopotamia around 4500–4000 BC as the world’s earliest urban civilization. It examines the development of cuneiform writing on clay tablets, the invention of the wheel and plow, monumental ziggurat architecture, complex irrigation systems, and the rise of city-states such as Uruk, Ur, Eridu, and Lagash. Featuring archaeological discoveries from sites like the Royal Cemetery of Ur and the Standard of Ur, expert commentary from Assyriologists, and 3D reconstructions of ancient temples and palaces, the film traces Sumerian contributions to law codes, mathematics, astronomy, literature including the Epic of Gilgamesh, and the transition to Akkadian dominance by 2334 BC.