. : . The evolution from “hunter-gatherer” to methods of sedentary agriculture initiated the “Neolithic Revolution.” Why do archaeologists label this evolution as “the most profound in the history of modern humans.”
What are the remarkable legacies of the Mesopotamian civilization? Human history began in Southwest Asia in a place historians refer to as “the Fertile Crescent.” The “crescent” portion of its name comes from the crescent-like shape of its uplands as seen on the map above. The term “Fertile” is used to describe this region because, as we shall see, it was uniquely positioned geographically in such a manner to support vast natural sources of food production. Within this region, archaeologists confirmed, was the earliest center of food production in the world. The history of this region changed life, as we know it. The Fertile Crescent became the place for a large number of developments: cities, writing, empires, and what historians refer to as civilization. “All of those developments sprang, in turn, from the dense human populations, stored food surpluses, and feeding of non-farming specialists made possible by the rise of food production in the form of crop cultivation and animal husbandry. MESOPOTAMIA
Whar is head start? : Whar is head start? Therefore, domesticated plants and animals is what provided the inhabitants of the Fertile Crescent a substantial head start in the process of the development of civilization. . “Thanks to this availability of suitable wild mammals and plants, early people of the Fertile Crescent could quickly assemble a potent and balanced biological package for intensive food production. Eventually, thousands of years after the beginnings of animal domestication and food production, the animals also began to be used for milk, wool, plowing, and transport. Thus, the crops and animals of the Fertile Crescent’s first farmers came to meet humanity’s basic economic needs: carbohydrate, protein, fat, clothing, traction, and transport.”
The transition from hunter-gatherer within the Fertile Crescent occurred rather quickly. In 9000 B.C.E., inhabitants were almost entirely reliant on “wild foods” while by 6000 B.C.E. some societies became completely dependent on crops and domesticated animals.
Mesopotamia the Sumerians 2900-1800 b.c : Mesopotamia the Sumerians 2900-1800 b.c , in what the Greeks later called Mesopotamia. This territory, once skilfully irrigated, proved very fertile, and major cities had long been in existence before the period when archaeologists can identify the Sumerian people themselves.
The Sumerians were characteristically inventive, and are likely to have been responsible for the development of the first writing. Well before 3000 BC Sumerians were recording their language using simple pictures. They wrote on tablets of clay, later evolving the script that to us is known as cuneiform, or ‘wedge-shaped.’
They were energetic farmers, traders and sailors. Their religion recognised many gods, whose feats and escapades were described in stories that were often preserved for generations. Rituals as well as parties were enlivened by skilful harpists and singers, and Sumerian musical instruments have even been excavated by modern archaeologists.
Book-keeping was a feature of Sumerian life, and very detailed records on clay tablets of offerings, rations, taxes and agricultural work have come down to us. Their favourite board game achieved popularity throughout the whole Middle Eastern world. Imported lapis lazuli and carnelian was much prized for inlays and jewellery.
Archaeology has shown that in about 2500 BC the ruling elite in the city of Ur went to their final resting place surrounded by their wealth and the attendant bodies of their court personnel.
Mesopotamia the Sumerians 2900-1800 b.c : Mesopotamia the Sumerians 2900-1800 b.c Ziggurat A rectangular tiered temple or terraced mound erected by the ancient Assyrians and Babylonians
. : . n the desert, a hundred miles south of Baghdad, lies the tell (mound) of Nippur. At sixty feet high and almost a mile Bippur.- across, the site preserves an unparalleled archaeological record spanning more than six thousand years. For thousands of years Nippur was the religious center of Mesopotamia, where Enlil, the supreme Sumerian god was worshipped. The city was the focus of pilgrimages and royal building programs. In 1888 the University of Pennsylvania sponsored the first American expedition ever to work in Mesopotamia and chose to excavate at Nippur. Their main achievements included finding the temple of Enlil and recovering more than thirty thousand cuneiform tablets. More than eighty percent of all known Sumerian literary compositions have been found at Nippur, including a Flood Story and tales of Gilgamesh. In 1948 a joint excavation team from the Universities of Chicago and Pennsylvania began work at Nippur. The archaeologists discovered the remains of a temple dedicated to the queen of heaven, Inanna. They revealed numerous rebuildings of the temple, one upon the other, dating from 3200 B.C. to A.D. 100 with thousands of artifacts Nippur
Slide 6 : The site of Warka: ancient Uruk
Uruk lies today about 35 km south of the modern course of the Euphrates, its name is an Akkadian rendering of the pre-Sumerian toponym UNUG, and the modern name for the site is Warka.
Excavations. Uruk is famous German site, and in discussing the techniques of excavation in the first half of the 20th century, I had discussed how Germans contributed, developed the study of the architectural history of the monuments unlike French who always went for the artifacts, not caring a little about architecture. This being a German excavation at Uruk, we are well informed about its architecture: very famous leading architectural historians and archaeologists of the Near east worked at the site, starting with Koldewey who inititaed the first large scientific project at the site in 1912, then Lenzen and even E. Heinrich between WW1 and 2 and after, after 1970s Schmidt and Boehmer. The architectural history of Uruk is so complicated and so rich that it is hard to deal within a lecture, so any sort of summery is an immense simplification of the architectural problems here.
Like Eridu, Uruk lay also in a well-watered alluvial and marshy land, covered with a dense network of Euphrates tributaries. For thousands of years reed and mud constituted the most important building materials for the settlements in the area, while whenever needed, stone, every piece of stone had to be imported from elsewhere. I feel the need to mention this because as you will see, enormous quantities of stone was used in the monumental structures of Uruk, perhaps on a scale which did not happen again for a very very long time, and the skill and technological innovations, that the Uruk artisans, craftsmen came up with was unrivalled for several hundred years.
The settlement was founded at the very end of the Ubaid period, in the 5th millennium. We are not well informed about the Ubaid period of the city, but the archaeologists did find Ubaid temples just contemporary to the Eridu temple complex, but not perhaps as monumental and as elaborate as that of Eridu.
Uruk, later in Mesopotamian history, has become a city of great historical importance, that later Mesopotamian kings tried to relate themselves to the mythical kings of Uruk. The most famous one of these is of course Gilgamesh that came down to us through its Late Babylonian copies, which talks about Gilgamesh the king of Uruk. and his accomplishments. Uruk
, : , Lagash.- Ancient capital in Sumer. It was located midway between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in Babylonia, now in southeastern Iraq. Excavations have uncovered palace and temple ruins as well as cuneiform texts that provide information about Sumer in the 3rd millennium BC. Founded in the Ubaid period (c. 5200–c. 3500 BC), it came under the control of Sargon of Akkad. It later prospered under Gudea, a governor nominally subject to the Guti. It was occupied as late as the Parthian era (247 BC–AD 224). Lagash