The Coming of the Ice Age and Flood
(Black, 1999) Humans have always been vulnerable to climate and climate change and after about 1.64 million years BC, the coming of the Ice Age greatly affected the hunter-gathers; the animals began to migrate to escape the severe cold and the huge glaciers that spread like tongues across the inhabited Earth. Plants that could not survive the lower temperatures died out. Now, if possible, humans had to resettle where fishing, hunting and vegetation was plentiful, time to move on. With this, humans begin to live permanently in caves. Latecomers finding the best caves already occupied had to move on to find new caves or remain hunter-gathers.
In 10,000 BC While seeking food, human-gathers were perpetuals nomads following the prey wherever it led them. What shelter they could find consisted of temporary “tents” made from brushwood and leaves or if their surrounding afforded caves where they could find protection from wind, rain, cold and wild animals,
In 10,000 BC Because of the practical demands of prehistoric life it led to technological discoveries. Chipping flints by hand to produce sharp edges was succeeded by a more clever way using stones to grind them. Making fire by striking stone was a more convenient way then waiting for lighting to set the forest ablaze The greatest prehistoric discovery of all was when rolling large round stones inspired the invention of the wheel,

The Achievements of Sumer -- The First Civilization and “Cradle of Civilization”
(Wright, 1985) There are two great rivers in Mesopotamia that flow into the Persian Gulf that are bonded on the west by a vast desert, on the east by high mountains and by the north mountains of Turkey in the south the marches of the rivers.
North of the marchland is a flat plain which has summers unbearable hot where no rain falls and plants can only survive if watered by irrigation from the Tigris and Euphrates. Like the Nile, they flood when the snow melts in the mountains. However unlike the Nile, the floods come at a most inconvenient time for the farmer who plants his corn in November in a shortage of water but when it nearly ripens in March the rivers are in full flood stage. And it is with the greatest of difficulty that the farmer must save his hard earned crop from disaster. It is certain that the first people to live in this land of Sumer not only knew how to grow corn and other crops but how to control the rivers by leading off water thru ditches and canals when it was scarce but also by building dams and escape canals when the floods came that would destroy his fields. At this time Sumer was no more advanced then the countries surrounding it and they all shared the knowledge of agriculture, pottery and metals. They built their houses with sun baked bricks, the material of most construction of the Near East even today. Although their property grew slowly we can see that the temples being built again and again were larger and more splendid then the last. The wealth of the village shrine is a sure indication of the wealth of the worshippers who built it.
At this time (5000 to 4000 BC) people in the Middle East had learned about the fermentation of (Asimov, 1991) grape juice and soaked barley so that wine and beer were beginning to come into use. Undoubtedly these drinks were popular because they induced intoxication and in moderation they felt good. Such beverages were important in another way, although early drinkers were unaware of it, but alcohol tended to kill microorganisms so that drinking wine and beer was safer than drinking water which might be contaminated with human or animal waste
(Lewis, 1999) The oldest and largest city of Sumerian civilization was Uruk which had a population of about 10,000. Founded in around 3500 BC. Uruk ‘s population quintupled over the next eight centuries. The major occupation was farming and this was so rich and fruitful before long surpluses were being produced. This encouraged the growth of specialists occupations which thrived on a food supply that was furnished by others and Uruk became a center for sculpture, pottery, bronze-casting, bakeries, breweries, weaving and stone-masonry. Thus, goods were produced for trade. The temples were storehouses and entrepots. This was big business that required accurate counts and record keeping. By about 3400 BC in Sumeria, record keeping had advanced to a pictorial system of writing called cuneiform using reeds to create wedge shaped letters on wet clay bricks or tablets which were later baked in the sun. Even with its great wealth, trouble was brewing for around 2900 BC huge defensive walls were built around their cities and bronze weapons were produced in ever increasing numbers
In 3000 BC the Sumerian cities were prosperous and the city of Uruk was perhaps the leading city of the time and was ruled by the legendary king called Gilgamesh who is supposed to have built a brick wall around the city that was 6 miles in circumference. However the city received a rude shock of which it may have not have ever recovered and by 2500 BC Sumer had definitely fallen behind Egypt in wealth and prosperity, What happened was ,a natural disaster of unanticipated damage.
When British archaeologist Charles Woolley was excavating the remains of the Sumerian cities, he came upon a layer of silt 14 feet thick, with no relics or artifacts anywhere in it . He decided that the silt must have been laid down by a huge flood. Sumeria’s population may have been as high as 1.25 million before the Flood Woolley estimated the silt that he found was caused by a flood that was 25 feet deep and covered a stretch of land 300 miles long by 100 miles wide!
(New Encyclopedia Brtannuca Volume 12, 1988) “Charles Woodly was a British archaeologist whose excavations of ancient city of Ur (modern Iraq) greatly advanced knowledge of ancient Mesopotamian civilization. His discovery of geologic evidence of a great flood suggested a possible correlation with the deluge described in Genesis of the Bible. His work was funded by the British Museum in London and the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. He was knighted by Britain in 1935”.
Bibliography
Asimov, I. (1991). Chronology of the World. New York: Harper Collins.
Black, J. (1999). Encyclopedia of World History. Bath, England: Dempsey Press.
Lewis, B. R. (1999). Great Civilizations. Bath, England: Demsey Park.
New Encyclopedia Brtannuca Volume 12. (1988). Chicago, Illinois: Brittanica.
Wright, E. (1985). History of the World - Prehistory to the Enaiaance. Middlesex, England: Newest Books.