Mesopotamian Civilization Report
Due: _______________________
Background:
The Fertile Crescent of ancient days was located in Southwest Asia in what is now known as Iraq,
Iran, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Israel. Cutting through this region are the Tigris and
Euphrates Rivers, which form the boundaries of what is known as Mesopotamia. Between 3500 B.C.
and 500 B.C., several significant ancient civilizations thrived in this area. Remnants of these early
cultures are even apparent in modern societies.
Your Task:
1. Choose one of the following ancient civilizations to research and report on:
Sumerians
Babylonians Assyrians
Israelites
Phoenicians
2. Find information about your civilization on the following 8 topics:
1) When they lived
- Between which dates did the civilization flourish?
Where they lived
- In which part(s) of the Fertile Crescent could they be found?
- What were some of the major cities? What were the cites known for?
2) Writing
- What was their system of written communication?
- Who did the writing? How were they trained?
- What writing instruments were used? What did they write on?
- Was their writing system borrowed from an earlier civilization?
3) Inventions / Innovations
- What tools or gadgets were invented or modified by this group of people? How
were they used?
- Which inventions or innovations are still used today?
4) Worshipping
- What were some of their religious practices?
- Where did they go to worship their god(s)?
God(s)
- Who/what were their god(s)?
- What did they represent? What was their importance?
5) Leaders
- Who were the leaders of this group?
- What laws or changes did this person or people implement?
- What were the people’s feelings towards them?
6) Jobs
- What kind of jobs and/or tasks did the men, women, and children have?
- Did they have money or a barter system?
7) Lifestyle and Culture
- What was important to the people?
- Were they involved in many battles and/or wars?
- What were their language, clothing, art, and architecture like?
8) End of the Civilization
- How, why and when did the civilization end?
3. Please write your report in the following format:

You will be given an “accordion” with 9 panels. 1 panel is for your name and the title of your
report; the remaining 8 are for your topics.

You will complete one panel per topic. They can be arranged in any order. Each panel must
include:
- The topic
- Carefully researched information about the topic. (This does not need to be in
paragraph form. You may organize your information in lists, charts, bullets, etc.)
Please answer all of the questions under each topic, and include anything else you
think is relevant to that subject.
- At least one picture that is appropriate for that topic. Example: A timeline or a map
would be perfect for the “When/Where They Lived” panel. Examples of their
writing would be nice on the “Writing” panel. Do not include pictures that do not
have anything to do with the civilization that you picked.
All of the information must be in your own words! Plagiarism is illegal and should be taken
very seriously. An automatic zero will be issued to all work that has been copied word for
word. Students will be able to rewrite the information in their own words for minimal credit.
4. Odds and Ends:
- Your report may be printed, written in cursive, or typed.
- Chapter 4 in your history book is a great place to start, but you’ll need to do
research elsewhere as well.
- There is a large amount of information on some civilizations (easy to find, time
consuming to sort through), and less information on others (more difficult to
find, less to sort through). Figure out what works best for you and choose your
civilization wisely.
- I will provide the “accordion” paper for you when I see a rough draft.
- Pictures may be drawn, cut out of magazines, or taken from the Internet.
- Creativity and neatness (straight lines, easy to read, even spacing, unwrinkled) count!
Please turn in your very best.
- You will be given class time almost daily to work on this. Please bring your
materials with you.
Remember, I am here to help you. Please don’t hesitate to ask for assistance!
Here is a map outline you may want to use:
Timeline:
Rough draft due: _____________
Final draft due: _____________
Mesopotamian Civilization Grading Sheet
Name: ___________________________________________
Civilization: ___________________________________________
Topic
Title
(Spelling and
capitalization
count)
/1
Picture
(Relative
to the
panel
topic)
/1
Info.
(All
Requirements
Met)
/6
Title Page
(Includes name of civilization,
your name, the date, and a
picture.)
When/Where They Lived
Writing
Inventions/Innovations
Worshipping/God(s)
Leaders
Jobs
Lifestyle/Culture
End of Civilization
Total: ________________
Grade: _________________
Neatness
(Straight
lines, no
lumps
and
smears.)
/2
Total
/10