Term Paper- Ancient Sumeria/Babylon One of the many ancient civilizations that need to be clarified is ancient Sumeria. Sumer was an ancient region in southern Mesopotamia, located in the extreme southeastern part of what is now Iraq. The land of Sumer was virtually devoid of human occupants until about 5000 BC, when settlers moved into the swamps at the head of the Persian Gulf and gradually spread northward up the lower Tigris-Euphrates Valley. Although the Sumerians as people disappeared, their language and literature continued to influence the religion of their successors. Their basic economic organizat