Most people think of Ancient Egypt as the first great civilization — but the real title might go to the Sumerians.

Around 4500 BCE, in the land known as Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq), the Sumerians built bustling cities, invented writing (cuneiform), and created the first known legal codes — more than 2,000 years before the pyramids were built.

They weren’t alone, either.

While the Sumerians were shaping clay tablets, other early civilizations were rising across the globe:

• The Indus Valley (in modern-day Pakistan and India) built cities with advanced plumbing and street grids.

• In China, dynasties were forming along the Yellow River.

• In Peru, the mysterious Caral civilization flourished — without ever developing writing.

All of this happened long before the Greeks, the Romans, or even the Great Wall of China.

History runs deeper than we often realize — and it started in more places than you might think.