17. What were the reasons for the fall of Sumerian civilization?

History 8 Mesopotamia Manual Concepts

There are multiple reasons for the fall of Sumerian civilization. The first is that the plain went through a drought and that brought a lack of grains to trade which was the basis of Sumer. in The manual on page 76, it says that "the climate of the plain seems now to have been going through a long dry spell" and later it says "administrators shifting from wheat to more salt-resistant barley to combat salinization." Salinization is a problem that the Sumerians had because the water that they used to irrigate was salt water so when it evaporated it left behind salt which destroyed the land. Another reason is that "raids from nomadic outsiders"(76) became more imminent. Lastly, after there had been no rain, it is said that a comet hit the water by Mesopotamia and caused flood-like rains for days upon days. This is the same kind of flood that is reported in Gilgamesh and the Bible.(76)

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