Iraqi minister claims Sumerians built world’s first airport

Recent claims by Iraqi transportation minister that ancient Sumerians owned an airport to “launch spaceships 7000 years ago” have been found to be inaccurate, Alarabiya.net reported.

Minister Kazem Finjan claimed Iraq was home to the world’s first airport, built thousands of years ago by Sumerians who used it for space exploration in 5000BC.

Finjan made the remarks during his visit to a new airport construction site in a governorate in southern Iraq. He described Iraq’s newest airport to be the safest in the world for aircraft takeoff and landing.

He added that Sumerians built in that exact location the first airport in history, and that they were also the first to come across planet Pluto, the solar system’s 12th planet.

To back up his claims, Finjan referred to a book by Russian professor and Sumerian expert Samuel Kramer called “History Begins at Sumer.”

Kramer highlighted in his work the achievements of the Sumerian civilization - one of the oldest societies - who according to him, existed around 3000 BC and not 5000 BC as the minister had said.

However, Kramer made no mention of airports in Iraq, but said the Sumerians closely studied the sky and earth, the stars and planets.