640 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1959 
stocky Mesopotamians. The present study attempts to give a brief 
review of the high points in the long succession of basic innovations, 
inventions, and achievements of the Sumerians in various fields of 
technology, as far as these may be identified by archeology and by 
the existing documents. It is the aim to present the merits of the 
Sumerians, those builders of the first high culture in Eurasia, who 
have to be recognized sooner or later as the real source of Western 
civilization. 
CANALIZATION AND AGRICULTURE 
The first achievement of the Sumerian people was the canalization 
of the land between and around the two great rivers, the Euphrates 
and the Tigris. This feat created the proverbial riches of Mesopota- 
Ficure 6.—Deities of agriculture, with plow and produce, engraved on cylinder seal. 
mia—the first man-made plenty and variety of food, thanks to easy 
transportation and exchange. Canalization provided good grazing 
grounds for cattle and sheep, as well as breeding waters for fish. 
Caught with metal harpoons and hooks and easily available to the 
whole people, fish remained for a long time the basic source of protein 
for the Sumerians. Vegetables and fruit, grown systematically, 
rounded out the healthful Sumerian diet. 
The digging of navigable canals, which bring irrigation water to 
desert sands and make agriculture possible, cannot be attributed to 
a few geniuses, but must have been supported by organized groups 
Figure 7.—Goldfish amulet of Queen Shubad. 
of people, coaxed into concerted effort by the first statesmen and 
economists, aided by the first engineers able to draft plans. It is 
estimated that the majestic network of Mesopotamian irrigation was 
ready by 4000 B.C., the inscriptions of later kings boasting about 
