The Sumerians are recognized as the beginning of civilization and society. The recent discovery of their clay tablets allows us to learn of their culture, government, religion, science, laws, and everyday life. The civilizations of the Americas started with the crossing of the Bering Strait, a 900-mile-wide land bridge, some 11,000 years ago, creating a totally independent culture from that of Eurasia. Their solutions to society, farming, governance, and war differed from those practiced in Eurasia.