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Sumer was a region in southern Mesopotamia, between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, in what is now Iraq. By about 3500 BCE, people there had built some of the world’s earliest cities, including Uruk and Ur. The rivers supplied water, but floods could be unpredictable. Sumerians dug canals and built levees to bring water to fields and protect them. Farmers grew crops such as barley. Extra food helped support builders, traders, priests, and other workers. Sumerian cities were independent city-states, each with its own ruler and patron god. A large stepped temple called a ziggurat stood at the heart of many cities. Sumerians developed cuneiform, a system of writing made by pressing wedge-shaped marks into damp clay with a reed stylus. Early records helped people track goods, taxes, and work. Sumerians also used a number system based on 60. Its influence survives in the 60 minutes in an hour and 360 degrees in a circle. Historians learn about Sumer from objects and written records, including clay tablets, tools, buildings, and seals. These sources offer clues, but they do not tell us everything about how people lived.