Buildings+and+Structures+-+Sandy

The Sumerians were really the first people to ever build serious buildings. Before them all the buildings were small structure made of mud and sticks, then the Sumerians came and built some massive buildings. Some of their temples were up to 150 feet high. Now remember that this was in 3500 B.C. so that was huge. It wasn’t just their temples that were huge either, they also made fairly large houses huge walls and they made the first non-supported bridges. Non-supported bridges means that they weren’t just a wall with a little opening in the middle, these bridges had actual small arches with a few supports across the river or pond. Their walls were very strong because they used supports inside and made them out of wood with a façade of stone this made them lighter, so they could build them higher and straight up instead of on an angle. The Sumerians primarily made their buildings out of mud bricks which were almost being mass produced at the river. They had lots of slaves who worked at the river collecting mud, putting it in molds and putting it out to dry. They made thousands a day at their peak. They made these mud bricks then attached them together like a brick wall with mortar. They built almost all their buildings out of this, because it was easy and fast. They also built some buildings out of wood, this was where the richer and more powerful people lived, they used wood because it was nicer and provided more insulation than bricks. In terms of what was kept in the buildings, they were mostly where people lived. There were some special buildings like warehouses and workshops that were used for storing tools and materials/food. First there were workshops where they would build wooden frames and other things like tools and perhaps carts. Then there were huge warehouses where they would keep all the building materials. Other than the ziggurat, the most important building was the king’s palace. This didn’t just serve as the home and meeting place of the king, it was also the most important warehouse in the city. This is where they stored all the wheat, barley, cloth and other important things to the city. It was also a place with lots of security because it was where all the gold and money was stored. The systems in this time relate a lot becuase a lot of modern things like irrigation and power all come from architecture and design. 
 * __Buildings in Sumer __**