When analyzing ancient civilization and how it began, there are many elements and aspects that should be considered. Questions like: How did civilization begin? What led to its creation? Where did it start and why exactly in that place? Many of these questions can be examined and answered by researching what many believe to be the world's first civilization, Mesopotamia. It is widely believed that this region was chosen and supported by one of the world's first civilizations. This area was inhabited more than 10,000 years ago by a group of people known as the Sumerians (Cunningham & Reich, 2010). Why did this ancient civilization form? There are many reasons why the Sumerians founded the world's first society. Many of the reasons developed out of basic necessity or simple convenience. One of the most significant reasons was food, which until the evolution of the first cities, finding food often meant traveling from place to place in search of food. Foraging for food was also usually done alone or in groups with family members. The Sumerians' establishment of an early civilization helped to greatly reduce that burden by remaining in a region as a community and taking advantage of what was available nearby. This created a communal approach to searching for food sources and significantly reduced the amount of energy expended by constantly moving from place to place in search of food. Agriculture also became a constant source of food for early civilizations. With homes established, communities were able to create crude irrigation systems to support their crops in the very dry, desert climate. Animal domestication also became a possibility, with the more permanent living situation of the early civilization... mid-paper... of the Sumerians, a series of significant battles with another nascent Mesopotamian civilization, the Akkadians would bring to the loss of control over their city and most of their territory. The Akkadians would eventually gain complete control over all Sumerian city-states and would ultimately spell the end for the creators of the original Mesopotamian civilization. Works Cited Cunningham, L., & Reich, J. J. (2010). Culture and Values: A Survey of the Humanities (7th ed.). Boston, MA: Wadsworth/Cengage Learning.Hirst, K.K. (n.d.). Chronology and definition of Mesopotamia. About archaeology: the study of human history. Retrieved April 17, 2011, from http://archaeology.about.com/od/mterms/qt/mesopotamia.htmHooker, R. (1999). Mesopotamia. Washington State University-Pullman, Washington. Retrieved April 15, 2011, from http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/MESO/MESO.HTM