The most ancient civilizations on earth. What is the most ancient civilization on Earth? The birth of civilization on earth

Historians will probably never come to a common opinion about what the most ancient civilization in the world was. Official sources are repeatedly disputed by various legends of ancient peoples. The legends of ancient India and the Middle East say that the most ancient civilizations on Earth arose long before the appearance of the ancient peoples of Mesopotamia. And the ancient peoples already known to us simply used the knowledge of their distant ancestors.

There has been debate for centuries about which is the most ancient civilization on Earth, and history cannot yet give an exact answer to this question. The most ancient civilizations were the Hyperboreans, Atlanteans and the peoples of South Asia, which are known only from vague legends and traditions.

Atlanta

If a list were compiled that included the most ancient civilizations of the world, Atlantis would definitely be on it. This strange civilization existed, according to various sources, from 7 to 14 thousand years ago. Atlantis was first mentioned by Plato in his Dialogues. This ancient researcher learned about the existence of Atlantis from the elder Solon, who, in turn, relied on the knowledge of the Egyptian sages.

According to Plato, the Atlanteans lived on an island located in the Atlantic Ocean. This ancient civilization possessed enormous knowledge and possessed magnificent weapons. The Atlanteans themselves were distinguished by their great growth and longevity. But one night the Atlantean state sank into the sea, and not a trace remained of this ancient civilization.

Hyperboreans

A legendary country located in the far North. Very little is known about its origin - it is practically not mentioned in ancient Greek sources. But the Greeks knew that in a distant country the sun shines for six months, and night falls for six months. There are no bad winds in this country, but there are numerous meadows and groves. The Hyperboreans are glorious sailors and excellent traders. The Hyperborean civilization collapsed during the last Ice Age, when the entire territory of the forgotten country was covered with ice and covered with snow. The Hyperboreans gradually moved south and mixed with other peoples.

Until reliable ones are obtained scientific evidence existence of these peoples, the answer to the question of which civilization is the most ancient will be considered open. But both official and unofficial sources agree that most of the information that has survived to this day is about the Sumerian civilization.

Sumerian civilization

Reliable historical sources tell us that the most ancient civilization on Earth arose between the Tigris and Euphrates a little over 5 thousand years ago in the territory that modern historians call Mesopotamia. The Sumerians attributed their origin to the mysterious heavenly people - the Anunnaki, who descended to Earth in time immemorial. Perhaps these legends had some basis, otherwise it is difficult to explain why the people that emerged from oblivion suddenly began to rise sharply among the semi-wild primitive tribes. What was unique about the Sumerians and how did they achieve such an amazing breakthrough?

Social component

It is amazing how quickly the Sumerians built cities and fortresses of stone on the untouched lands of Mesopotamia. Moreover, the quality of the erected temples and buildings was so great that some fragments of the buildings that this ancient civilization erected have survived to this day.

In a short time, the Sumerians built an excellent administrative system that divided the state into cities and provinces, created an administrative apparatus and developed an established system of taxes and fees. Only many centuries later did the Egyptians recreate (or perhaps adopt from the Sumerians) a system for irrigating fertile fields and meadows. The Sumerians had an army, internal police, and courts - in general, all the attributes of a normal state system. How they managed to do this still remains a mystery.

Sumerian religion

The Sumerians worshiped not just one god, but an entire pantheon. All divine essences were divided into creative and non-creative. The creative gods were responsible for the birth and death of people, animals, light and darkness. The uncreative gods were responsible for order and justice. Interestingly, there was also a place for goddesses in the pantheon. Thus, the significant role of women in Sumerian culture was indirectly determined.

Scientific knowledge

Disputes about which civilization is the most ancient on the planet do not make sense if assessments of the level of scientific knowledge of a particular ancient people are not included in the discussion. Judging by scientific knowledge, the Sumerians were far ahead of all existing peoples at that time. They had considerable knowledge in the field of mathematics: they used the sexagesimal notation system, knew about the number “zero” and the Fibonacci sequence. Representatives of this ancient civilization knew how to calculate time from the stars and had considerable scientific knowledge in the field of natural sciences.

Astronomy and origins

The Sumerians knew about the structure of the solar system, and they placed the Sun, not the Earth, at its center. The Berlin Museum houses a stone slab on which the Sumerians depicted the Sun surrounded by planets and objects in our system. These objects were not visible to the naked eye, and were only rediscovered by Europeans several thousand years later. It is interesting that this very ancient civilization knew about the wandering planet Nibiru. The Sumerians placed it between Mars and Jupiter and attributed it to a very elongated ellipsoidal orbit. It was the inhabitants of Nibiru, the mysterious Anunnaki, that the Sumerians considered their ancestors. According to the ancient legends of the Sumerians, all the knowledge they possessed was received by them from heaven.

The fall of the Sumerian civilization is rather associated with the assimilation of the “children of heaven” with various neighboring tribes. Based on historical facts, it can be assumed that the Sumerians mixed with other peoples and laid the foundation for successful and aggressive new states - Elam, Babylon, Lydia. Scientific knowledge and cultural heritage were preserved only to a small extent - most of the achievements of the Sumerians were lost in the fire of wars and forgotten forever.

At this point, the list, which includes the most ancient civilizations on Earth, can be considered closed. The civilizations of Ancient India and China appeared already during the heyday of Assyria, Elam and Babylon, which arose from the ruins of Sumerian culture. And the first Egyptian kingdoms arose even later. The most ancient civilizations on Earth left many scientific discoveries and developments that their contemporaries were unable or unwilling to take advantage of.

At the dawn of mankind, the southern part of Mesopotamia, which in the classical era was called Babylonia, was inhabited by the very first civilization on Earth. Nowadays this is the territory of modern Iraq, stretching from Baghdad to the Persian Gulf, with a total area of ​​about 26 thousand square meters. km.

The place has a very dry and hot climate with scorched and weathered, low-fertility soils. A river plain devoid of stones and minerals, swamps covered with reeds, a complete absence of wood - this is exactly what this land was like more than three thousand years ago. But the people who inhabited this territory and were known throughout the world as the Sumerians were endowed with a decisive and enterprising disposition and an extraordinary mind. He turned a lifeless plain into a blooming garden and created what would later be called nothing less than “the first civilization on Earth.”

Origin of the Sumerians

There is no reliable information about the origin of the Sumerians. Until now, it is difficult for historians and archaeologists to say whether they were the indigenous inhabitants of Mesopotamia or came to these lands from outside. The second option is considered the most likely. Presumably the representatives came from the Zagros mountains, or even Hindustan. The Sumerians themselves did not write anything about their origins. In 1964, a proposal was first made to consider this issue from various aspects: linguistic, racial, ethnic. After this, the search for truth finally deepened into linguistics, into elucidating the genetic connections of the Sumerian language, which is currently considered isolated.

The Sumerians, who founded the first civilization on Earth, never called themselves that. In fact, this word denotes the territory, the south of Mesopotamia, while the Sumerians called themselves “black-headed”.

Sumerian language

Linguists define Sumerian as an agglutinative language. This means that the formation of forms and derivatives occurs by adding unambiguous affixes. The Sumerian language consisted mainly of monosyllabic words, so it’s hard to even imagine how many there were, sounding the same, but differing in meaning. In ancient sources, according to scientists, there are about three thousand of them. Moreover, more than 100 words are used only 1-2 times, and the most frequently used are only 23.

As already mentioned, one of the main features of the language is the abundance of homonyms. Most likely, there was a rich system of tones and laryngeal sounds, which is difficult to read in the graphics of clay tablets. In addition, the first civilization on Earth had two dialects. Literary language(eme-gir) was used most widely, and the priests spoke a secret dialect (eme-sal), inherited from their ancestors and, most likely, not a tone one.

Sumerian was the intermediary language and was used throughout southern Mesopotamia. Therefore, its bearer was not necessarily an ethnic representative of this ancient people.

Writing

The question of whether the Sumerians created writing remains controversial. However, the fact is that they improved it and transformed it into cuneiform. They greatly valued the art of writing and attribute its appearance to the very beginning of the creation of their civilization. It is likely that at the dawn of the history of writing, it was not clay that was used, but another, more easily destroyed material. Therefore, a lot of information is lost.

The very first civilization on earth BC, to be fair, created its own writing system. The process was long and complex. Is the gazelle depicted by an ancient artist art or a message? If he did this on a stone, in places where there are many animals, then this will be a valid message for his comrades. It says: “There are a lot of gazelles here,” which means there will be a good hunt. The message could well include several drawings. For example, add a lion, and the warning already sounds: “There are many gazelles here, but there is danger.” This historical stage is considered the first step towards the creation of writing. Gradually, the drawings were transformed, simplified and began to be schematic in nature. In the picture you see how this transformation took place. People have noticed that it is easier to make impressions on clay with a reed stick rather than paint. All the curves are gone.

The ancient Sumerians - the first civilization on earth that found its own - consisted of several hundred signs, with 300 being the most used. Most of them had several similar meanings. Cuneiform was used in Mesopotamia for almost 3,000 years.

Religion of the people

The work of the pantheon of Sumerian gods can be compared to an assembly, headed by a supreme “king”. Such a meeting was further divided into groups. The main one is known as the “Great Gods” and consisted of 50 deities. It was she, according to the Sumerians, who decided the destinies of people.

According to mythology, it was created from clay mixed with the blood of the gods. The universe consisted of two worlds (upper and lower), separated by earth. It is interesting that already in those days the Sumerians had a myth about the global flood. In addition, a poem has reached us that tells about the creation of the world, individual episodes of which very closely intersect with the main Christian shrine - the Bible. For example, the sequence of events, in particular the creation of man on the sixth day. There are heated debates about such a connection between pagan religion and Christianity.

Culture

Sumerian culture is one of the most interesting and vibrant among the other peoples who inhabited Mesopotamia. By the third millennium it had reached its peak. People lived during this period and were actively engaged in cattle breeding, farming, and fishing. Gradually, exclusively agriculture replaced handicrafts: pottery, foundry, weaving and stone-cutting industries developed.

The characteristic features of the architecture are: the erection of buildings on artificial embankments, the distribution of rooms around the courtyard, the division of walls with vertical niches and the introduction of color. Two of the most striking monuments of monumental construction of 4 thousand BC. e. - temples in Uruk.

Archaeologists have found quite a lot of art objects: sculptures, remains of images on stone walls, vessels, metal products. All of them are made with great skill. What is the magnificent helmet made of pure gold worth (pictured)! One of the most interesting inventions of the Sumerians is printing. They depicted people, animals, and scenes from everyday life.

Early Dynastic period: Stage 1

This is the time when genuine cuneiform was already created - 2750-2600 BC. e. This period is characterized by the existence of a large number of city-states, the center of which was a large temple economy. Outside them there were large family communities. The main productive labor lay with the so-called temple clients, who were deprived of property rights. The spiritual and political elite of society already existed - the military leader and priest and, accordingly, their immediate circle.

The ancient people had an extraordinary mind and a certain inventive talent. In those distant times, people had already come to the idea of ​​irrigation, having studied the possibility of collecting and directing the muddy waters of the Euphrates and Tigris in the right direction. By enriching the soil in the fields and gardens with organic matter, they increased its productivity. But large-scale work, as you know, requires a large workforce. The first civilization on earth was familiar with slavery, moreover, it was legalized.

It is reliably known about the existence of 14 Sumerian cities during this period. Moreover, the most developed, prosperous and cultic place was Nippur, where the temple of the main god, Enlil, was located.

Early Dynastic period: Stage 2

This period (2600-2500 BC) is characterized by military conflicts. The century began with the defeat of the ruler of the city of Kish, which supposedly caused the invasion of the Elamites - the inhabitants of the ancient state on the territory of modern Iran. In the south, a number of city-nomes united into a military alliance. There was a tendency towards centralization of power.

Early Dynastic period: Stage 3

At the third stage of the Early Dynastic period, 500 years after the moment when the first civilization appeared on Earth (according to archaeologists), the growth and development of city-states occurs, and stratification and increasing social contradictions are observed in society. On this basis, the struggle of the rulers of the nomes for power intensifies. One military conflict followed another in pursuit of the hegemony of one city over all. In one of the ancient Sumerian epics, dating back to 2600 BC. e., talks about the unification of Sumer under the rule of Gilgamesh, the king of Uruk. After another two hundred years, most of the state was conquered by the king of Akkad.

The growing Babylonian Empire absorbed Sumer by the middle of the second millennium BC. e., and Sumerian lost its status as a spoken language even earlier. However, for several thousand years it was preserved as a literary text. This is the approximate time when the Sumerian civilization ceased to exist as a political integral formation.

Very often you can find information that the mythical Atlantis is the first civilization on earth. The Atlanteans who inhabited it are the ancestors of modern people. However, most of the scientific world calls this fact nothing more than fiction, a beautiful story. Indeed, every year information about the mysterious continent acquires new details, but at the same time does not have any historical support by facts or archaeological excavations.

In this regard, the opinion is increasingly heard that the first civilization on earth arose in the fourth millennium BC, and these were the Sumerians.

Ancient civilizations have always excited the minds of scientists, treasure hunters and lovers of historical puzzles. The Sumerians, Egyptians or Romans left plenty of evidence of their existence, but they were not the first on the planet. In addition to the legends about their rise and fall, there are still blank spots in history that have not yet been filled.

All these civilizations were outstanding in their time and in many ways surpassed not only their era, but also modern achievements. But, for various reasons, they disappeared from the face of the Earth, losing their greatness and power. It's about not only about those empires that definitely flourished on the planet, but also about the cultures that may have existed. For example, the well-known Atlantis has not yet been found, but could it even exist?

The editors of InPlanet have compiled a list of ancient civilizations, the legacy of which still causes heated debate among historians. We present to your attention the 12 greatest empires that left behind many mysteries!

1 Continent of Lemuria / 4 million years ago

2 Hyperborea / before 11540 BC

3 Aroe Civilization / 13,000 BC

4 Gobi Desert Civilizations / approximately 10,000 BC

5 Atlantis / 9500 BC

6 Ancient China / 8500 BC - our days

7 Civilization of Osiris / before 4000 AD

8 Ancient Egypt / 4000 BC - VI-VII centuries AD

9 Sumerians and Babylon / 3300 BC - 1000 BC

10 Ancient Greece / 3000 BC - I century BC.

11 Maya / 2000 BC - XVI century AD

12 Ancient Rome / 753 BC - V century AD

All these ancient civilizations left behind a huge cultural heritage and a lot of mysteries that remain to be solved. Whether humanity will be able to find out whether some empires existed or not, time will tell. For now, we can only be content with guesses and existing facts.

The debate among historians about which civilizations arose first, where they appeared, and what name they had, will probably never stop. These questions have occupied the minds of scientists for many years. There are also discussions about which of the first civilizations is considered the most ancient on Earth.

Rating of the first civilizations

Today, historians have data that allows them to compile a list of those civilizations that were among the first to appear. Here are the top five.

Aborigines of Australia

Many scientists are supporters of the idea that Aboriginal civilization was one of the first to appear on the Australian mainland. Their way of life left an imprint on their way of life, cultural traditions and customs. For a long time, their culture was considered primitive, but it turned out to be quite rich, but too mysterious for us.

Atlantis

Plato also mentioned this civilization. She existed near the Strait of Gibraltar and sank due to a powerful earthquake. Many scientists doubt its existence.

Lemuria

There is also a point of view that an early civilization called Lemuria lived on a huge and mysterious continent that existed more than 80 thousand years ago. She died due to a powerful earthquake. Some scientists believe that one of the achievements of this civilization was the construction of buildings made of stone.

Ancient Slavs

There is no exact data about the time of existence of this civilization, which was called Hyperborea. After the axis of rotation of our planet changed, the climate began to change, which led to the resettlement of the Slavs to other lands. Settlement and redistribution provided the basis for the formation of new civilizations. Slavic civilization reached its peak in the 7th-9th centuries.

Sumerians

Most scientists distinguish Sumerian among the early civilizations, believing that it is the most ancient.

Civilization out of nowhere

The Sumerians are the most ancient civilization in the world, as most scientists believe. The time of its appearance is approximately the end of the fourth millennium BC.

The most mysterious thing is that almost no one can explain where it came from. It is believed that the Sumerians belong to an ancient Semitic tribe that once lived on our planet.

But these are just assumptions; no evidence of this exists so far. During the research, no connections were found between the Sumerians and Semitic tribes. These were two completely different civilizations, although both were ancient.

Until now, it has not become known to which race the Sumerians belonged. All events that are to some extent connected with this civilization are shrouded in mystery. They remain a mystery to scientists.

Secrets of Sumerian civilization

The most ancient civilization left behind many secrets and unsolved mysteries. It is they who force archaeologists around the world to still engage in excavations and research in order to at least slightly lift the veil of this mystery.

Most scientists associate the Sumerians with:

• writing;
• first skills in metal processing;
• invention of the wheel;
• appearance of the potter's wheel.

The Sumerians left behind many manuscripts, deciphering which scientists never cease to be amazed. It turns out that this civilization even knew what our science had only reached relatively recently.

1. The Sumerians used a ternary number system. It is used in modern computers.
2. The Sumerians were familiar with the principle of the golden ratio.
3. They had deep knowledge in the field of chemistry, astronomy, physics and other sciences.
4. The Sumerians were among the first to learn how to make soap.
5. Beer was made for the first time.
6. According to archaeological finds, it was the Sumerians who were the first to learn how to make and burn bricks.
7. Sumerian builders knew how to build beautiful temples and palaces, which were superior in beauty to many modern buildings.
8. Their government system was at a high level. They had governing bodies, courts, laws that protected citizens.

It must be taken into account that the Sumerians had all this when Ancient Greece and Rome did not exist. In terms of development, the Sumerian civilization was very close to modern society.

It was a civilization that had its own ideas about beauty. During excavations, tablets were found that depict proverbs, poems and entire works about adventures.

Archaeologists at the Sumerian habitat found mines in which gold was mined. Why did they need such a large amount of precious metal in the Stone Age? A tentative answer can be obtained if you get acquainted with Sumerian mythology.

Sumerian myths

By studying the records of this ancient civilization, scientists learned that the Sumerians knew that 12 planets revolved around the sun. These are the ones that are well known at present and another one between Jupiter and Mars called Nabiru.

This planet had such an elongated orbit that it appeared in the solar system once every 3600 years. According to modern calculations by astronomers, it should pass near our planet in the interval between 2100 and 2158 years.

According to Sumerian records, more than 4 billion years ago there was a catastrophe so enormous that everything changed solar system, many planets have changed the tilt of their axis.

According to the Sumerians, the Anunaki descended to our earth from the mysterious planet Nabiru. By the way, even in holy scripture there is a mention of “those who came down from heaven.” They were incredibly tall - from 4 to 5 meters, with a wide face and black hair. In images they always have large protruding ears, in their understanding this is a symbol of wisdom.

According to Sumerian mythology, the Anunaki created earthlings for the purpose of mining gold. The first attempts to extract the precious metal from the waters of the Persian Gulf were unsuccessful. Then searches began in the mines.

According to explanations, a huge amount of gold was required to protect the atmosphere of Nabiru with gold dust. It is worth recalling that such technologies are currently used in space projects. Gold was transported to the planet once every 3,600 years, when it came closest to Earth.

In the chronicles of the Sumerians you can find a lot of interesting and mysterious information, which is quite difficult to put into the head of a modern person. All this is perceived as myths and inventions of an ancient civilization. I just can’t believe that this was possible at the dawn of humanity.

The question of which civilization is the oldest is difficult to answer. There are many versions and theories, but one thing is for sure: Sumerian is the most mysterious and mysterious.

Despite the fact that research has provided a lot of information about this civilization, it still remains unknown where it came from, and even with such a wealth of knowledge. The only thing we can be sure of is that for many years to come, scientists around the world will be provided with work to find answers to this question. And in the future we will have to digest a lot of new information. Let's hope that it will be even more interesting and educational.

The Indus Valley Civilization, also known as the Harappan, turned out to be much older than the Egyptian (7000-3000 BC) and Mesopotamian (6500-3100 BC), which were still considered the oldest known.

According to a group of scientists from the Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur (ASI), the Harappan civilization arose at least 8,000 years ago, and not 5,500 years ago, as previously thought, reports TASS.

“We have reconstructed what may be the oldest pottery in the world using optically stimulated luminescence technology from pot shards left behind by this culture 6,000 years ago, as well as from excavations of cultural layers over 8,000 years old,” said the head of the department of geology and geophysics of ASI Anindya Sarkar.

Modern archeology still considered the pre-Aryan Harappan civilization to be the third in time to appear in the Ancient East after the Egyptian and Mesopotamian. However, it turned out that historically this vast region developed much faster than neighboring regions. It is already known that it occupied the largest area - about 800,000 km 2, which significantly exceeds the territory of the early states of Mesopotamia and Egypt.

Archaeologists have also discovered traces of an even earlier civilization in the Indus Valley that predated the Harappan civilization for about a thousand years. “At the excavations, we saw perfectly preserved all the cultural layers from the phase of the previous Indus Valley civilization (9000-8000 BC) to the level that we classified as early (8000-7000 BC), and then mature Harappan civilization (3500-2200 BC),” Sarkar said.

Just over 100 years ago, scientists believed that the first creators of civilization on the Indian subcontinent were the Aryan aliens. Harappa, unlike most other ancient civilizations, was discovered and began to be explored relatively recently.

The scientific world first learned about it in the 60s of the 19th century, when samples of stamp seals characteristic of this civilization were found near the small city of Harappa in Punjab during the construction of road embankments. The unusual artifacts were noticed by engineer officer Alexander Cunningham, later the first head of the Archaeological Survey of India, who is considered one of the founders of Indian archaeology.

For a long time, many researchers believed that the disappearance of the Harappan civilization was due to its displacement by the arriving Aryans. However, new research has shown that the cause of the decline of the ancient culture was changes in climatic and geological conditions.

Vedic texts speak of three great rivers of their time: the Ganges, the Jumna and the Saraswati, but now there are only two of them, so for a long time the Saraswati was considered a mythological river. But in our time, thanks to geological research and satellite photographs, scientists have been able to prove the existence of this ancient river in Northern India. Its bed began to dry up about 4,000 years ago due to shifting tectonic plates that changed the course of the river's tributaries and prevented it from being replenished by glacial waters flowing from the Himalayas.