The Sumerian problem: "Replete with magnificent examples of human ingenuity and marred by the usual instances of academic rivalry and competition, the history of the Sumerian Problem is long and varied. Still unresolved, it may be incapable of solution. / The famous Homeric Question and our Sumerian Problem have more than a little in common. In both cases, the initial study was made by philologists; then the archaeologists arrived on the scene to clarify some points and confuse others.": "Long before the first archaeological discoveries, Mesopotamia had been associated with the origins of civilization. The Sumerians, upon discovery, were believed to hold the key to civilization because, among other achievements, they had invented writing. There was much debate over the Sumerians. Who were they? When did they arrive in southern Iraq, and where had they come from? Did they bring civilization to southern Iraq or did they build on the contributions of earlier inhabitants? These overarching questions became known as the "Sumerian problem."" is a debate in the study of ancient Mesopotamia concerning the origins of the Sumerians and the extent to which the culture of ancient Mesopotamia can be attributed specifically to them. The problem developed from the 19th century onwards as new questions emerged. According to Jean M. Evans, "[d]ebate over the Sumerian problem permeated most aspects of early ancient Near Eastern scholarship until well into the twentieth century".
Herman L. J. Vanstiphout distinguishes three main successive "Sumerian questions": The first Sumerian question was about the existence of the Sumerian language. The question became particularly prominent in the late 19th century, when Joseph Halévy and other "s" disputed the existence of Sumerian as a language distinct from Akkadian. The second Sumerian question was concerned primarily with archaeology and history and partly overlapped with the first, focusing on the origins of the Sumerians and the question of where they came from.: "The second Sumerian question was largely archaeological and historical, and coincided partly with the first one: the question was where the Sumerians came from." It was the object of Henri Frankfort's Archeology and the Sumerian Problem, published in 1932. The third Sumerian question concerned the relationship between the Sumerians and Akkadians and the interpretation of the so-called Sumerian “Renaissance” during the Ur III period (2112–2004 BCE).: "The third one, which seems not completely resolved at this time, deals with the relations between the Sumerians and the Akkadians, and the concept of a Sumerian 'Renaissance' in the Ur III period (2112–2004 BCE)."
Quoting A Dictionary of Archaeology:
See also Pre-Sumerian substratum
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