What Did Houses For Ordinary People In Sumer Look Like?
A. Sutherland - AncientPages.com - When the Sumerian civilization began to flourish, also daily life in Mesopotamia began to change.
New cities and large towns created new possibilities for people who lived in small villages and were only occupied with haunting and farming.
Most houses (approximately 90 square meters) had a square center room with other rooms built around an area that provided access to the light and ventilated the interior.
People in Sumer were divided into three social classes. The upper class included the richest and most influential people such as kings, priests, and government officials. The middle class of the Sumerian society included artisans (skilled workers making metal products, weapons, pottery, or cloth), farmers, fishermen, merchants, and traders, who traveled much to other neighboring towns to trade wheat, tools, and barley for copper.
The lower class included enslaved people who were captured, then sold and bought among the upper class; they worked in temples and on farms.
Sumerians built their houses by themselves
The average house was a small one-story structure made of mud-brick. It contained several rooms grouped around a courtyard. People with more resources probably lived in two-story houses, which were plastered and whitewashed and had about ten or even twelve rooms, equipped with wooden doors, although wood was not common in some cities of Sumer.
The ground floor in two-story houses usually consisted of a reception room, kitchen, and toilet, and servant’s quarters.
Most houses (approximately 90 square meters) had a square center room with other rooms built around an area that provided access to the light and ventilated the interior. Light in the home was provided by small lamps fueled by sesame seed oil.
While wealthy people built their houses of sun-dried bricks, other people had only means for construction reeds.
A hearth, placed in the courtyard or in a separate room, was an important part of the house. The windows (often in more expensive houses) were very small and placed at high altitudes. They efficiently isolated the interior of the house from the outdoor heat.
Among basic furniture in the Sumerian house, there were low tables, beds with wooden frames, and high-backed chairs and kitchens with household vessels; there were also baskets and chests made of reed. Walls and floors were often covered with reed mats and skim rugs.
Those who could not afford to buy comfortable, luxurious beds and chairs enjoyed sleeping on mats of woven straw or reeds, which covered the floor of the house.
Under the floor of the house, there was sometimes a family mausoleum where the dead family members were buried. However, there also seem to have been special cemeteries for the dead located outside the cities.
Reed houses were also built
While wealthy people built their houses of sun-dried bricks, other people had only means for construction reeds.
Sumer had no trees for timber but it had the huge reeds in the marshes, and this raw material was widely used in the building of reed houses.
People tied reed bundles or plaited them into mats and set vertically in the ground, like columns, in two parallel rows, and then their peaks were tied.
Stephen Bertman writes in "Handbook to Life in Ancient Mesopotamia":
"Digging a series of holes in the ground, the builders would insert a tall bundle of reeds in each hole. A circle of holes would be used to make a circular house; two parallel rows to make a rectangular one. Once the bundles were all firmly inserted, the ones opposite each other would be bent over and tied at the top to form a roof. For a front or back door, a reed mat would be draped over an opening (either at the ends of a rectangular house, or on the side of a circular one).
Such primitive homes are still made and used by the marsh-dwellers of southern Iraq. In a hot climate like Iraq’s, a well-designed house must protect its dwellers from the sun’s searing heat. The reed houses accomplished this purpose by providing shade. In addition, the thick bundles of reeds provided some insulation. If the house was rectangular and there was an opening at either end, its owners may have enjoyed cross-ventilation as well..."
All humans, no matter their wealth or rank have preserved a very beautiful tradition: gathering at the table for the evening meal. This tradition still continues.
Written by – A. Sutherland - AncientPages.com Senior Staff Writer
Copyright © AncientPages.com All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or part without the express written permission of AncientPages.com
Expand for referencesReferences:
Hunter N. Daily Life in Ancient Sumer
Bertman S. Handbook to Life in Ancient Mesopotamia
More From Ancient Pages
-
Nammu: Sumerian Goddess Who Got The Idea To Create Mankind In The Image Of Gods
Featured Stories | Apr 1, 2019
-
Dangerous Underground Secret In The Valley No-One Dares To Enter
Featured Stories | Jun 26, 2018
-
2,250-Year-Old Iron Age Settlement Discovered Near Upton-Upon-Severn
Archaeology | Jan 4, 2022
-
How Did Sargon Become The Most Powerful Ruler Of Mesopotamia?
Featured Stories | Apr 3, 2020
-
3,000-Year-Old Tutankhamun’s Head Sculpture Is Expected To Be Sold On Thursday In London
Archaeology | Jul 2, 2019
-
Controversial Ancient Takenouchi Documents Could-Re-Write Our History – Story Of Gods, Lost Continents And Ancient Sages
Featured Stories | Apr 28, 2017
-
Secrets Of Viking Age Shields Finally Revealed
Civilizations | Oct 7, 2020
-
Rare Ancient Roman Cauldron Discovered In Central Norway
Archaeology | Sep 16, 2019
-
Mystery Of The Delphi Oracle Prophecies: Was Pythia On Drugs While Guiding Ancient Greek Civilization For Thousands Of Years?
Civilizations | Nov 3, 2016
-
Celtic Valhalla And Sacred Wells – Magic Of Invisible Worlds
Celtic Mythology | Nov 17, 2021
-
Unravelling The Mystery Of The Ulfberht Sword – An Ancient Viking Artifact Far Ahead Of Its Time
Artifacts | Feb 11, 2014
-
The Battle Of Anghiari – Lost Painting Of Leonardo Da Vinci – One Of Art History’s Greatest Mysteries
Artifacts | Jan 24, 2018
-
Mysterious Ancient European Civilization – Puzzling Ancient Egyptian Connection – Part 2
Civilizations | Oct 23, 2019
-
Did An Extraterrestrial Spacecraft Land In Ancient China? Remarkable UFO Accounts From The Past
Featured Stories | Nov 17, 2014
-
Ancient Irish Were First To Record An Eclipse – 5,355 Years Ago
Civilizations | Jul 31, 2015
-
Major Underwater Archaeological Find On The Western Coast Of Sicily – Artifacts From The Battle Of The Egadi Islands?
Archaeology | Sep 11, 2023
-
Thousand-Year-Old Sarcophagus Discovered In Odense
News | Sep 28, 2015
-
Rare 1,850-Year-Old Bronze Zodiac Coin Discovered During Underwater Survey Off Israel’s Coast
Archaeology | Jul 27, 2022
-
Image Of The Day: The Inghirami Tomb At Volterra, Italy
Image Of The Day | Sep 9, 2015
-
Ancient Flying Canoes And Magic In The Pacific – Arrival Of Strange People – Part 1
Featured Stories | Jan 28, 2020