Sumerians Sumer (/ˈsuːmər/) is ne of the earliest known civilization from southern Mesopotamia (south-central Iraq) around 3500 to 2000 BCE, It is the first urban civilizations in the world, along with the Indus Valley civilization that is emerging as older than Sumrians based on recent genetic studies. Origin Roughly 10,000 years ago, villages started popping up across Mesopotamia . The people who lived in the region raised animals and grew grains, even as they continued to hunt and gather. By the 7th century BC small farming settlements of people were established. Over time, those villages expanded leading to the first of Mesopotamian towns called Eridu and Uruk . River Based Civilization Geography Mesopotamia is Greek for ‘a land between two rivers’ Tigris and Euphrates. Living along the valleys of the two rivers, Sumerian farmers grew an abundance of grain and other crops, the surplus from which enabled them to form urban settlements. Ironically, the Greek name for Punjab was