outhern Mesopotamia were the Sumerians, even if they were unable to tell us so themselves.The second group of scholars is the professional philologists, the students of the Sumerian language. Many of these linguistic experts have never excavated, just as the archaeologists are not necessarily readers of Sumerian. It must be remembered that these fields are highly specialized. E.A. Speiser and B. Landsberger, who insisted that many of the words in Sumerian documents are not Sumerian words at all, led the linguists and philologists in the early days. Landsberger pointed out that this is especially true of words pertaining to agriculture, showing that the basic farming vocabulary and common farming techniques used in southern Mesopotamia were the invention of non-Sumerian people.To the philologists, then, there must have been an invasion or at least an infiltration by Sumerians into the river valley, an event or series of events that they date to the start of the Uruk period. Philologists draw this conclusion because there is clear evidence in Sumerian texts that there was an older language in use for farming, etc., in Mesopotamia before Sumerian was used.To summarize: professional archaeologists say that the earliest major people in southern Mesopotamia were the Sumerians; there is no archaeological evidence that there was anyone else. Thus, the Ubaid people were Sumerians. On the other hand, experts on the Sumerian language say that the Ubaid people must have been of some other ethnic and/or linguistic group, whose language is mainly lost today, and that the Uruk people must have been Sumerian-speaking newcomers. Thus, Sumerian history starts not with the Ubaid period but with the Uruk Culture.This so-called Sumerian Problem has become one of the most debated issues of early ancient history, and has seemingly reached an impasse. Some scholars have even gone so far as to say that the problem cannot be resolved without new information.A Biblical AnswerAlthough the Bible does not mention this issue, it is clear that, although ignored by the secular scholarly community,
The Bible does provide an answer to the Sumerian Problem.
Note some things told to us in the early chapters of Genesis. Genesis correctly places the seat of early Near Eastern civilization in southern Mesopotamia. After the great Flood, when all human life began to develop anew as descendants of Shem, Ham, and Japheth spread from the mountains of Ararat (Urartu of Assyrian records), we find a large number of Semitic and Hamitic names having connections with place names in Mesopotamia. In fact, the Tower of Babel was obviously built in the Babylon region, as is demonstrated by its name and the fact that the Bible tells us it was constructed in the Plains of Shinar (Sumer).Before we attempt to fit the Biblical narrative into the above-discussed archaeological picture and into the context of the Sumerian Problem, it would be helpful to examine the origins of urban life and architecture in southern Mesopotamia. Paul H. Seely has pointed out (2001:16) that until the Uruk period (ca. 3500 BC) there were no cities as such in the southern river valley, and that there was no monumental architecture either. But with the advent of baked bricks, the ability to make large (and high) buildings arose. With the rise of cities and massive temples, a new form of building was born, one that would symbolize Mesopotamia through the times of Nebuchadnezzar II, the ziggurat. The ziggurat, as Seely points out, was the most important and visible structure in any Mesopotamian city. It was a pyramid-shaped temple base (not meant to be a tomb or a building with interior rooms), with a flight of stairs up one face. Atop this structure was placed a temple to the city’s chief deity.The Tower of Babel spoken of in Genesis was certainly a ziggurat, since it was built with baked brick and bitumen (Gn 11:3). These materials were reserved for religious and ceremonial buildings, and were/are used for simple military towers (Seely 2001:18). Also, the terminology used of the Tower of Babel in Genesis was typical ziggurat terminology, of which Seely gives several examples. In the Enuma Elish story, the building of the great ziggurat at Babylon is described just as the Tower is in the Bible. The builders start by making baked bricks, and then move to the building of the city and ziggurat (cf. Gn. 11:3–4). In other texts from other periods, ziggurats are described as being high and lofty. They also clearly represent the reputation and prestige of the city and its god. So the Tower of Babel was without much doubt an early ziggurat; and ziggurats first appear in the Uruk period, ca. 3500–3100 BC.Base of the ziggurat at Babylon, thought to be the location of the Tower of Babel described in Genesis 11.What does this have to do with the Sumerian Problem, especially the part of that problem regarding the date of entrance of the Sumerians into southern Mesopotamia? The archaeologists tell us that no new people came into southern Mesopotamia after the start of the Ubaid culture; the linguists tell us that the Uruk people must be a new people, and are the Sumerians. But notice what the Bible tells us; people of Southern Mesopotamia were the Sumerians, even if they were unable to tell us so themselves.The second group of scholars is the professional philologists, the students of the Sumerian language. Many of these linguistic experts have never excavated, just as the archaeologists are not necessarily readers of Sumerian. It must be remembered that these fields are highly specialized. E.A. Speiser and B. Landsberger, who insisted that many of the words in Sumerian documents are not Sumerian words at all, led the linguists and philologists in the early days. Landsberger pointed out that this is especially true of words pertaining to agriculture, showing that the basic farming vocabulary and common farming techniques used in southern Mesopotamia were the invention of non-Sumerian people.To the philologists, then, there must have been an invasion or at least an infiltration by Sumerians into the river valley, an event or series of events that they date to the start of the Uruk period. Philologists draw this conclusion because there is clear evidence in Sumerian texts that there was an older language in use for farming, etc., in Mesopotamia before Sumerian was used.To summarize: professional archaeologists say that the earliest major people in southern Mesopotamia were the Sumerians; there is no archaeological evidence that there was anyone else. Thus, the Ubaid people were Sumerians. On the other hand, experts on the Sumerian language say that the Ubaid people must have been of some other ethnic and/or linguistic group, whose language is mainly lost today, and that the Uruk people must have been Sumerian-speaking newcomers. Thus, Sumerian history starts not with the Ubaid period but with the Uruk Culture.This so-called Sumerian Problem has become one of the most debated issues of early ancient history, and has seemingly reached an impasse. Some scholars have even gone so far as to say that the problem cannot be resolved without new information.A Biblical AnswerAlthough the Bible does not mention this issue, it is clear that, although ignored by the secular scholarly community,
The Bible does provide an answer to the Sumerian Problem.
Note some things told to us in the early chapters of Genesis. Genesis correctly places the seat of early Near Eastern civilization in southern Mesopotamia. After the great Flood, when all human life began to develop anew as descendants of Shem, Ham, and Japheth spread from the mountains of Ararat (Urartu of Assyrian records), we find a large number of Semitic and Hamitic names having connections with place names in Mesopotamia. In fact, the Tower of Babel was obviously built in the Babylon region, as is demonstrated by its name and the fact that the Bible tells us it was constructed in the Plains of Shinar (Sumer).Before we attempt to fit the Biblical narrative into the above-discussed archaeological picture and into the context of the Sumerian Problem, it would be helpful to examine the origins of urban life and architecture in southern Mesopotamia. Paul H. Seely has pointed out (2001:16) that until the Uruk period (ca. 3500 BC) there were no cities as such in the southern river valley, and that there was no monumental architecture either. But with the advent of baked bricks, the ability to make large (and high) buildings arose. With the rise of cities and massive temples, a new form of building was born, one that would symbolize Mesopotamia through the times of Nebuchadnezzar II, the ziggurat. The ziggurat, as Seely points out, was the most important and visible structure in any Mesopotamian city. It was a pyramid-shaped temple base (not meant to be a tomb or a building with interior rooms), with a flight of stairs up one face. Atop this structure was placed a temple to the city’s chief deity.The Tower of Babel spoken of in Genesis was certainly a ziggurat, since it was built with baked brick and bitumen (Gn 11:3). These materials were reserved for religious and ceremonial buildings, and were/are used for simple military towers (Seely 2001:18). Also, the terminology used of the Tower of Babel in Genesis was typical ziggurat terminology, of which Seely gives several examples. In the Enuma Elish story, the building of the great ziggurat at Babylon is described just as the Tower is in the Bible. The builders start by making baked bricks, and then move to the building of the city and ziggurat (cf. Gn. 11:3–4). In other texts from other periods, ziggurats are described as being high and lofty. They also clearly represent the reputation and prestige of the city and its god. So the Tower of Babel was without much doubt an early ziggurat; and ziggurats first appear in the Uruk period, ca. 3500–3100 BC.Base of the ziggurat at Babylon, thought to be the location of the Tower of Babel described in Genesis 11.What does this have to do with the Sumerian Problem, especially the part of that problem regarding the date of entrance of the Sumerians into southern Mesopotamia? The archaeologists tell us that no new people came into southern Mesopotamia after the start of the Ubaid culture; the linguists tell us that the Uruk people must be a new people, and are the Sumerians. But notice what the Bible tells us; people of S
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