HaHa wanted to learn her cuneiform writing too!

 

We baked the tablets in the oven to harden them and give them the appearance of age.

Finished Work.

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The Sumerians also built temples called ziggurats, a kind of flattened pyramid.  The kids made a model ziggurat out of cuisenaire math blocks.

Working together on a model ziggurat.

                                                             

Our model ziggurat.                                                A  Sumerian ziggurat in Ur, Iraq

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To decorate the temples, Sumerian artists carved elaborate masterpieces (reliefs) out of gypsum or other soft stone.  

Our reliefs weren't quite as elaborate but they gave us a deep appreciation for the art of the Sumerians.   We had a great and very messy time doing it!

NaNa sketching the images onto polystyrene foam.

Here is the picture that Bubby chose for his relief.

The kids "carved" out the images with metal finger nail files.

HaHa poked holes around the edges with a stick.  She wanted to help too!

I broke off the extra foam around the image to give it an ancient ruin kind of look.  Sis and Bubby painted the reliefs with a coat of all purpose primer (outdoors).

Then they painted the entire surface with a watered down mixture of acrylic paints (black, blue, grey and brown).  The paint mixture seeped into the carved lines and the kids blotted the excess paint with paper towels.

 

Then we (mostly me) painted the sides and the area surrounding the relief with melted wax that had bits of crayon added to give it a little color.  We added the wax several times which gave it a layered stone effect.

Sis' Sumerian Masterpierce!

Bubby's Sumerian Masterpiece!

Who needs Home Interior when you have home school?

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We also read the flood account in the Epic of Gilgamesh, one of the oldest known books besides the Bible.  It is an epic poem.  The kids thought it was amazing that this very, very, very long piece of literature was written on clay tablets with an alphabet that had about 600 characters.  Talk about hard work! 

It was really interesting for us all to see the many similarities between these two flood accounts.  Of course we know the biblical account is true because it was inspired by God.              

After the dispersion of the different people groups at the tower of Babel, the flood account would have been handed down orally and changed over time.  We also read about flood legends from several cultures.  Very interesting stuff!

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Fun Facts:

*Some Sumerian homes had hot and cold running water and flushing toilets. 

*They had schools (edubba or tablet houses) that were dedicated to teaching cuneiform writing. 

*Sumer was located in modern day Iraq between the Tigris and Euphrates river.  This is the spot where some people believe the Garden of Eden was located. 

*Sumerians had beautiful art work, poetry, calendars and even libraries.

*There is evidence that the Sumerians may have invented the wheel.

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Thanks for reading and have a blessed day!