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The Mesopotamians were a spiritually advanced technological culture.  They sought inspiration and wisdom via spiritual means and then developed the inspiration obtained into technological solutions.

The progress made was extraordinary.  They knew how to manufacture glass, they brewed beer, made both red and white wine using all sorts of fruit not just grapes; they found out how to make copper, bronze, iron and alloys such as copper and tin.  Before 7000 BC native copper was being used to make tools and ornaments using cold hammering.  By 6000 BC smelting was being used.  Gold and silver were being used well before 4000 BC.

They invented various forms of transport – chariots, sledges, and carriages.  The produced musical instruments – lyre and harp; weapons – spears, bows, swords, daggers; and jewellery. 

They developed the plough and advanced farming tools.  The world’s oldest known farming communities are to be found in the Upper Euphrates valley and in the foothills adjacent to Mesopotamia.  By 6000 BC all the staple crops were being grown and herd animals domesticated.  The Mesopotamians had a very varied diet with fruit [pomegranates, apples, figs, pears, plums etc], vegetables [onions, garlic, leeks, turnips, lettuce, cucumber etc], nuts, honey, seeds, spices and herbs, grains [wheat, barley etc], oils and meat [pigs, goats, sheep, cattle, ducks, geese, etc], fish, [over 50 different types of fish are mentioned in Sumerian texts], and dairy products [butter, milk, yoghurt, cheese].  A better diet than many people enjoy today.  The date palm was introduced and became an extremely important tree and a staple of the diet.  Even locusts were eaten and considered a delicacy served like prawns on a skewer.  Mesopotamians were probably nutritionally better fed than we are with two good meals at least a day and much variety, meals being accompanied by beer or wine.

They understood chemistry and could list minerals and chemical substances.  Even before 3000 BC, chemists were experimenting with lime, soda and silicates in combination with coloured minerals to produce glazes and coloured glass. Their perfume ‘industry’ was very advanced.  Soap was known as early as the 3rd millennium.  Among the chemical apparatus found have been crucibles, vessels for filtering, equipment for distillation and extraction, drip bottles and more.  The texts reveal that women were chemists too, even appearing as the ‘author’ of recipes. 

They were advanced engineers, building dams and canals and extremely complex tall structures.  They knew how to deploy architectural vaulting and other advanced building techniques.  They developed forms of complex irrigation systems.

 The art of bleaching, spinning, fulling, dying and weaving of wool was fully developed by the 4th millennium BC.  Even as far back as the 6th millennium BC quite complex woven stuffs were being produced.  Tanning was widespread and leather was used in shields, harnesses, boats [coracle like], floats, water carriers, shoes and even parchment.  The making of pottery can be traced back to 8000 BC. The potter’s wheel was in use well before 4000 BC, kilns were in use by 6000 BC with temperatures as high as 1000 degrees C.

 Their medical practises and knowledge appear to be far in advance of our current ones.

The culture, for its time, far surpassed any ‘progress’ we like to think we have made in our materialistic age and did not leave the world imperilled either.  By understanding the difference between wisdom and knowledge their advancements were made in tune with the natural world.  Mesopotamians did not consider themselves ‘against nature’, their objective was to understand Nature and the systems of the universe better, so that they might be better able to predict nature and work with those systems.