The tireless researcher Charles Fort was widely known as the chronicler of what are now called "Forteana," bizarre anomalies and mysteries that throw the current perception of reality on its ear, whether it be religious or scientific. In an attempt to explain these anomalies, which include weird stories or "myths" and enormous, astonishing ruins worldwide, an Ancient astronaut. 'Chariots of the Gods,' p. 78 number of people, including Swiss writer Erich von Daniken and Zecharia Sitchin, have created the "ancient astronaut theory," which dictates that alien visitors have been influencing human life for thousands if not millions of years, even to the point of genetic manipulation. Von Daniken, it should be recalled, was one of the first moderns to put forth the ancient astronaut theory.
Sometime around 4000 B.C., ancient Sumerian culture emerged on a sun-scorched floodplain along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in what is now southern Iraq. These enigmatic Mesopotamians are best known for inventing cuneiform script-the world's oldest extant writing system-but they also forged a vibrant religious and literary tradition and made massive leaps forward in government, mathematics, urban planning and agriculture. Here are nine fascinating facts about one of the earliest sophisticated civilizations known to history.