Sumerian problem

The Sumerian problem is a debate in the study of ancient Mesopotamia concerning the origins of the Sumerians and the extent to which the culture of ancient Mesopotamia can be attributed specifically to them. The problem developed from the 19th century onwards as new questions emerged. According to Jean M. Evans, "[d]ebate over the Sumerian problem permeated most aspects of early ancient Near Eastern scholarship until well into the twentieth century".

Herman L. J. Vanstiphout distinguishes three main successive "Sumerian questions":

Quoting A Dictionary of Archaeology:

It seems likely that the Sumerian population actually included both Sumerian and Semitic linguistic/ethnic elements, although all may have shared the same Sumerian material culture, thus making them difficult to distinguish in archaeological terms – this quandary is usually described as the ‘Sumerian problem’. As Harriet Crawford (1991:20) points out, 'It is not possible to tell how much of this culture should be attributed to the Sumerian speakers and how much to those speaking a Semitic language, but the question hardly matters as it seems to have been the fusion of all the elements in the population which produced the distinctive [Sumerian] civilization ...'. It is clear, however, that the term Sumerian can be comfortably applied, in a general sense, to the culture that dominated Mesopotamia for two millennia, from the Uruk period to the end of the Early Dynastic phase (c. 3800–2010 BC).

See also

References

  1. ↑ Jones 1969, p. 2: "Replete with magnificent examples of human ingenuity and marred by the usual instances of academic rivalry and competition, the history of the Sumerian Problem is long and varied. Still unresolved, it may be incapable of solution. / The famous Homeric Question and our Sumerian Problem have more than a little in common. In both cases, the initial study was made by philologists; then the archaeologists arrived on the scene to clarify some points and confuse others."
  2. ↑ Ziskind 1972.
  3. 1 2 Shaw & Jameson 2008, p. 550–551.
  4. ↑ Evans 2012, p. 17: "Long before the first archaeological discoveries, Mesopotamia had been associated with the origins of civilization. The Sumerians, upon discovery, were believed to hold the key to civilization because, among other achievements, they had invented writing. There was much debate over the Sumerians. Who were they? When did they arrive in southern Iraq, and where had they come from? Did they bring civilization to southern Iraq or did they build on the contributions of earlier inhabitants? These overarching questions became known as the "Sumerian problem.""
  5. ↑ Evans 2012, p. 17.
  6. ↑ Vanstiphout 2022, p. 143.
  7. ↑ Vanstiphout 2022, p. 143: "The second Sumerian question was largely archaeological and historical, and coincided partly with the first one: the question was where the Sumerians came from."
  8. ↑ Vanstiphout 2022, p. 143: "The third one, which seems not completely resolved at this time, deals with the relations between the Sumerians and the Akkadians, and the concept of a Sumerian 'Renaissance' in the Ur III period (2112–2004 BCE)."

Sources

  • Crawford, Harriet E. W. (1991). Sumer and the Sumerians (1st ed.). New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-38175-8.
  • Evans, Jean M. (2012). The Lives of Sumerian Sculpture. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-139-78942-4.
  • Jones, Tom Bard (1969). The Sumerian Problem. Wiley. ISBN 978-0-471-44940-9.
  • Kramer, Samuel Noah (1963). The Sumerians. University of Chicago Press.
  • Shaw, Ian; Jameson, Robert (2008). A Dictionary of Archaeology. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0-470-75196-1.
  • Vanstiphout, H.L.J. (2022). All Those Nations. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-50216-1.
  • Ziskind, Jonathan R. (1972). "The Sumerian Problem". The History Teacher. 5 (2). JSTOR 491500.