2016 have suggested a partial North African origin for some pre-Semitic cultures of the Middle East, particularly Natufians, after testing the genomes of Natufian and Pre-Pottery Neolithic culture-bearers. Although not specifically discussing Sumerians, Lazaridis et al. However, with evidence strongly suggesting the first farmers originated from the Fertile Crescent, this suggestion is often discarded. Others have suggested that the Sumerians were a North African people who migrated from the Green Sahara into the Middle East and were responsible for the spread of farming in the Middle East. The Blau Monuments combine proto-cuneiform characters and illustrations of early Sumerians, Jemdet Nasr period, 3100–2700 BC. In contrast to its Semitic neighbours, it was not an inflected language. 55 BC by a West Asian people who spoke the Sumerian language (pointing to the names of cities, rivers, basic occupations, etc., as evidence), a non-Semitic and non- Indo-European agglutinative language isolate. Most historians have suggested that Sumer was first permanently settled between c. Hebrew שִׁנְעָר‎ Šinʿar, Egyptian Sngr, and Hittite Šanhar(a), all referring to southern Mesopotamia, could be western variants of Sumer. The Akkadian word Šumer may represent the geographical name in dialect, but the phonological development leading to the Akkadian term šumerû is uncertain. The Akkadians also called the Sumerians 'black-headed people', or ṣalmat-qaqqadi, in the Semitic Akkadian language. For example, the Sumerian king Shulgi described himself as 'the king of the four quarters, the pastor of the black-headed people'. The origin of the Sumerians is not known, but the people of Sumer referred to themselves as 'Black Headed Ones' or 'Black-Headed People' ( 𒊕 𒈪, saĝ-gíg, lit. 'country' + 'lords' + 'noble') as seen in their inscriptions. The Sumerians referred to their land as Kengir, the 'Country of the noble lords' ( 𒆠 𒂗 𒄀, k-en-gi(-r), lit. The term 'Sumer' ( Sumerian: 𒅴𒄀 eme-gi or 𒅴𒂠 eme-ĝir 15, Akkadian: 𒋗𒈨𒊒 šumeru) is the name given to the language spoken by the 'Sumerians', the ancient non- Semitic-speaking inhabitants of southern Mesopotamia, by their successors the East Semitic-speaking Akkadians. The first is the pictographic character for 'head' (, later ), the second the character for 'night', and for 'black' when pronounced gíg (, later ). Right: cuneiform characters for Saĝ-gíg ( 𒊕 𒈪), 'Black Headed Ones', the native designation for the Sumerians. Left: Sculpture of the head of Sumerian ruler Gudea, c. The earliest texts come from the cities of Uruk and Jemdet Nasr, and date to between c. Living along the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, Sumerian farmers grew an abundance of grain and other crops, the surplus from which enabled them to form urban settlements. It is one of the cradles of civilization in the world, along with ancient Egypt, Elam, the Caral-Supe civilization, Olmecs, the Indus Valley civilisation, and ancient China. Sumer ( / ˈ s uː m ər/) is the earliest known civilization in the historical region of southern Mesopotamia (south-central Iraq), emerging during the Chalcolithic and early Bronze Ages between the sixth and fifth millennium BC. The coastline was nearly reaching Ur in ancient times. General location on a modern map, and main cities of Sumer with ancient coastline.

Sumer civilization