As the 'cradle of civilization,' the Sumerian civilization (c. 4500–1900 BCE) established several defining milestones in human history within the Mesopotamian plains.

• Trailblazing Innovations: Beyond inventing cuneiform, the world's earliest writing system, the Sumerians developed the sexagesimal (base-60) system, which is the precise reason we still divide an hour into 60 minutes today.
• Engineering Prowess: Through sophisticated irrigation systems, they transformed arid deserts into granaries, achieving agricultural productivity rates roughly 10 to 20 times higher than those of contemporary hunter-gatherer groups.
• Urban Complexity: While other regions were still operating in tribal units, the Sumerian city-state of Uruk reached populations in the tens of thousands, featuring a level of professional specialization and administrative complexity that remained unrivaled for the next two millennia.