Early Societies: From The Beginning of Time Writing and City Life

1
early societies
i
From the Beginning of Time
Writing and City Life
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2 THEMES IN WORLD H ISTORY
early societies
I
N this section, we will read about two themes relating to
early societies. The first is about the beginnings of human
existence, from the remote past, millions of years ago. You will
learn how humans first emerged in Africa and how archaeologists
have studied these early phases of history from remains of bones and
stone tools.
Archaeologists have made attempts to reconstruct the lives of early
people – to find out about the shelters in which they lived, the food
they ate by gathering plant produce and hunting animals, and the
ways in which they expressed themselves. Other important
developments include the use of fire and of language. And, finally, you
will see whether the lives of people who live by hunting and gathering
today can help us to understand the past.
The second theme deals with some of the earliest cities – those of
Mesopotamia, present-day Iraq. These cities developed around temples,
and were centres of long-distance trade. Archaeological evidence –
remains of old settlements – and an abundance of written material are
used to reconstruct the lives of the different people who lived there –
craftspeople, scribes, labourers, priests, kings and queens. You will
notice how pastoral people played an important role in some of these
towns. A question to think about is whether the many activities that
went on in cities would have been possible if writing had not developed.
You may wonder as to how people who for millions of years had
lived in forests, in caves or temporary shelters and rock shelters
began to eventually live in villages and cities. Well, the story is a
long one and is related to several developments that took place
at least 5,000 years before the establishment of the first cities.
One of the most far-reaching changes was the gradual shift
from nomadic life to settled agriculture, which began around
10,000 years ago. As you will see in Theme 1, prior to the adoption
of agriculture, people had gathered plant produce as a source of
food. Slowly, they learnt more about different kinds of plants –
where they grew, the seasons when they bore fruit and so on.
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EARLY SOCIETIES 3
From this, they learnt to grow plants. In West Asia, wheat and
barley, peas and various kinds of pulses were grown. In East and
Southeast Asia, the crops that grew easily were millet and rice.
Millet was also grown in Africa. Around the same time, people
learnt how to domesticate animals such as sheep, goat, cattle,
pig and donkey. Plant fibres such as cotton and flax, and animal
fibres such as wool were now woven into cloth. Somewhat later,
about 5,000 years ago, domesticated animals such as cattle and
donkeys were harnessed to ploughs and carts.
These developments led to other changes as well. When people
grew crops, they had to stay in the same place till the crops
ripened. So, settled life became more common. And with that,
people built more permanent structures in which to live.
This was also the time when some communities learnt how to make
earthen pots. These were used to store grain and other produce, and
to prepare and cook a variety of foods made from the new grains that
were cultivated. In fact, a great deal of attention was given to processing
foods to make them tasty and digestible.
The way stone tools were made also changed. While earlier
methods of making tools continued, some tools and equipment
were now smoothened and polished by an elaborate process of
grinding. New equipment included mortars and pestles for
processing and grinding grain, as well as stone axes and hoes,
which were used to clear land for cultivation, as well as for digging
the earth to sow seeds.
In some areas, people learnt to tap the ores of metals such as copper
and tin. Sometimes, copper ores were collected and used for their
distinctive bluish-green colour. This prepared the way for the more
extensive use of metal for jewellery and for tools subsequently.
There was also a growing familiarity with other kinds of produce
from distant lands (and seas). This included wood, stones, including
precious and semi-precious stones, metals and shell, and obsidian
(hardened) volcanic lava. Clearly, people were going from place
to place, carrying goods and ideas with them.
With increasing trade, the growth of villages and towns, and the
movements of people, in place of the small communities of early people
there now grew small states. While these changes took place slowly,
over several thousand years, the pace quickened with the growth of
the first cities. Also, the changes had far-reaching consequences.
Some scholars have described this as a revolution, as the lives of
people were probably transformed beyond recognition. Look out for
continuities and changes as you explore these two contrasting themes
in early history.
Remember too, that we have selected only some examples of early
societies for detailed study. There were other kinds of early societies,
including farming communities and pastoral peoples. And there were
other peoples who were hunter-gatherers as well as city dwellers, apart
from the examples selected.
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How to Read Timelines

You will find a timeline like this
one in every section. Timeline i
Each of these will indicate some of
the major processes and events in
world history. (6 MYA TO 1 BCE)
As you study the timelines,
remember—
• Processes through which
ordinary women and men have
shaped history are far more
difficult to date than events
such as a war between kings.
• Some dates may indicate the
beginning of a process, or when
it reaches maturation.
• Historians are constantly
revising dates in the light of
new evidence, or new ways of
assessing old data.
• While we have divided
the timelines on a geographical
basis as a matter of
convenience, actual historical
developments often transcend
these divisions.
• Also, there is a chronological
overlap in historical processes.
• Only some landmarks in human
history have been shown here –
we have highlighted the
processes dealt with in the This timeline focuses on the
themes that follow, which also
have separate timelines. emergence of humans and the
• Wherever you see a*, you will domestication of plants and animals.
also find an illustration related
to the date along the column. It highlights some major technological
• Blank spaces do not mean that developments such as the use of fire,
nothing was happening –
sometimes these indicate that metals, plough agriculture and the
we do not as yet know what
was happening. wheel. Other processes that are shown
• You will be lear ning more include the emergence of cities and the
about South Asian history in
general and Indian history in use of writing. You will also find
particular next year. The dates mention of some of the earliest
selected for South Asia
are only indicative of some empires – a theme that will be
of the developments in the
subcontinent. developed in Timeline II.
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T IMELINE - I 5
DATES AFRICA EUROPE
6 mya-500,000 BP Australopithecus fossils (5.6 mya)

Evidence of use of fire (1.4 mya)
500,000-150,000 BP Homo sapiens fossils (195,000 BP) Evidence of use of fire (400,000 BP)
150,000-50,000 BP
50,000-30,000 Homo sapiens fossils (40,000)
30,000-10,000 Paintings in caves/rock shelters (27,500) Paintings in caves/rock shelters
(especially France and Spain)
8000-7000 BCE
7000-6000 Domestication of cattle and dogs
6000-5000 Cultivation of wheat and barley (Greece)
5000-4000
4000-3000 Domestication of donkey, cultivation of Use of copper (Crete)
millet, use of copper
3000-2000 Plough agriculture, first kingdoms, cities, Domestication of horse (eastern Europe)
pyramids, calendar, hieroglyphic script*,
writing on papyrus (Egypt)
2000-1900 Cities, palaces, use of bronze, the potter’s
wheel, development of trade (Crete)
1900-1800
1800-1700
1700-1600 Development of a script (Crete)*
1600-1500
1500-1400 Use of glass bottles (Egypt)
1400-1300
1300-1200
1200-1100
1100-1000 Use of iron
1000-900
900-800 City of Carthage established in North
Africa by the Phoenicians from West Asia;
growing trade around the Mediterranean
800-700 Use of iron (Sudan) First Olympic games (Greece, 776 BCE)
700-600 Use of iron (Egypt)
600-500 Use of coins* (Greece); establishment of
the Roman republic (510 BCE)
500-400 Persians invade Egypt Establishment of a ‘democracy’ in Athens
(Greece)
400-300 Establishment of Alexandria, Egypt (332 Alexander of Macedonia conquers Egypt
BCE ), which becomes a major centre of and parts of West Asia (336-323 BCE)
learning
300-200
200-100
100-1 BCE
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DATES ASIA SOUTH ASIA
6mya-500,000 BP Use of fire (700,000 BP, China) Stone age site in Riwat (1,900,000 BP ,
Pakistan)
500,000-150,000 BP
150,000-50,000 BP Homo sapiens fossils (100,000 BP, West
Asia)
50,000-30,000 BP
30,000-10,000 BP Domestication of dog (14,000, West Asia) Cave paintings at Bhimbetka (Madhya
Pradesh); Homo sapiens fossils (25,500
BP , Sri Lanka)
8000-7000 BCE Domestication of sheep and goat,
cultivation of wheat and barley (West Asia)
7000-6000 Domestication of pig and cattle (West Early agricultural settlements (Baluchistan)
and East Asia)
6000-5000 Domestication of chicken, cultivation of
millet and yam (East Asia)
5000-4000 Cultivation of cotton (South Asia); use of
copper (West Asia)
4000-3000 Use of the potter’s wheel, wheel for Use of copper
transport (3600 BCE), writing (3200 BCE,
Mesopotamia), use of bronze
3000-2000 Plough agriculture, cities (Mesopotamia); silk- Cities of the Harappan civilisation, use of
making (China); domestication of horse (Central script* (c.2700 BCE)
Asia); cultivation of rice (Southeast Asia)
2000-1900 Domestication of water-buffalo (East Asia)
1900-1800
1800-1700
1700-1600
1600-1500 Cities, writing, kingdoms (Shang
dynasty), use of bronze (China)*
1500-1400 Use of iron (West Asia) Composition of the Rig Veda
1400-1300
1300-1200
1200-1100 Use of iron, megaliths (Deccan and South
India)
1100-1000 Domestication of the one-humped camel (Arabia)
1000-900
900-800
800-700
700-600
600-500 Use of coins (Turkey); Persian empire (546 Cities and states in several areas, first
BCE ) with capital at Persepolis; Chinese coins, spread of Jainism and Buddhism
philosopher Confucius (c. 551 BCE)
500-400
400-300 Establishment of the Mauryan empire
(c. 321 BCE)
300-200 Establishment of an empire in China (221
BCE ), beginning of the construction of the
Great Wall
200-100
100-1 BCE
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T IMELINE - I 7
DATES AMERICAS AUSTRALIA / PACIFIC ISLANDS
6 mya-500,000 BP
500,000-150,000 BP
150,000-50,000 BP
50,000-30,000 BP Homo sapiens fossils, earliest indications
of sea-faring (45,000 BP)
30,000-10,000 BP Homo sapiens fossils (12,000 BP ) Paintings (20,000 BP)

8000-7000 BCE
7000-6000 Cultivation of squash
6000-5000
5000-4000 Cultivation of beans ACTIVITY
4000-3000 Cultivation of cotton, bottle gourd Choose one date

3000-2000 Domestication of guinea pig, turkey,
from each of the
cultivation of maize six columns and
discuss the
2000-1900 Cultivation of potato, chilli * , cassava, possible
peanut, domestication of llama* and alpaca significance of
the process/
1900-1800 event for men
1800-1700
and women
living in the
1700-1600 region.
1600-1500
1500-1400
1400-1300
1300-1200
1200-1100 Olmec settlements around the Gulf of Settlements in Polynesia and Micronesia
Mexico, early temples and sculpture
1100-1000
1000-900 Development of a hieroglyphic script
900-800
800-700
700-600
600-500
500-400
400-300
300-200
200-100
100-1 BCE
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THEME 8 T HEMES IN WORLD HISTORY
1 FROM THE BEGINNING

OF TIME
THIS chapter traces the beginning of human existence. It was

5.6 million years ago (written as mya) that the first human-
like creatures appeared on the earth's surface. After this,
several forms of humans emerged and then became extinct.
Human beings resembling us (henceforth referred to as
'modern humans') originated about 160,000 years ago. During
this long period of human history, people obtained food by
either scavenging or hunting animals and gathering plant
produce. They also learnt how to make stone tools and to
communicate with each other.
Although other ways of obtaining food were adopted later,
hunting-gathering continued. Even today there are hunter-
gatherer societies in some parts of the world. This makes us
wonder whether the lifestyles of present-day hunter-gatherers
can tell us anything about the past.
Fossils are the Discoveries of human fossils, stone tools and cave paintings
help us to understand early human history. Each of these
remains or
discoveries has a history of its own. Very often, when such
impressions of a
finds were first made, most scholars refused to accept that
very old plant, these fossils were the remains of early humans. They were
animal or human also sceptical about the ability of early humans to make stone
which have turned tools or paint. It was only over a period of time that the true
into stone. These significance of these finds was realised.
are often embedded The evidence for human evolution comes from fossils of
in rock, and are species of humans which have become extinct. Fossils can
thus preserved for be dated either through direct chemical analysis or indirectly
millions of years. by dating the sediments in which they are buried. Once fossils
are dated, a sequence of human evolution can be worked
out.
When such discoveries were first made, about 200 years
Species is a group ago, many scholars were often reluctant to accept that fossils
of organisms that and other finds including stone tools and paintings were
can breed to actually connected with early forms of humans. This
produce fertile reluctance generally stemmed from their belief in the Old
offspring. Members Testament of the Bible, according to which human origin was
of one species regarded as an act of Creation by God.
cannot mate with For instance, in August 1856, workmen who were quarrying
for limestone in the Neander valley (see Map 2, p. 18), a gorge
those of other
near the German city of Dusseldorf, found a skull and some
species to produce
skeletal fragments. These were handed over to Carl Fuhlrott,
fertile offspring. a local schoolmaster and natural historian, who realised that
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F ROM THE B EGINNING OF TIME 9
they did not belong to a modern human. He then made a

plaster cast of the skull and sent it to Herman Schaaffhausen,
a professor of anatomy at Bonn University. The following year
they jointly published a paper, claiming that this skull
represented a form of human that was extinct. At that time,
scholars did not accept this view and instead declared that
the skull belonged to a person of more recent times.
RECOVERING FOSSILS
A painstaking process. The precise location of finds is important for dating.
Shows the equipment used to record the location of finds. The Shows how a fossil fragment is
square frame to the left of the archaeologist is a grid divided recovered from the surrounding
into 10 cm squares. Placing it over the find spot helps to stone, in this case a variety of
record the horizontal position of the find. The triangular limestone, in which it is
apparatus to the right is used to record the vertical position. embedded. As you can see, this
requires skill and patience.
ACTIVITY 1
24 November 1859, when Charles Darwin’s On the Origin
Most religions
of Species was published, marked a landmark in the study
have stories
of evolution. All 1,250 copies of the first print were sold out
about the
the same day. Darwin argued that humans had evolved from
creation of
animals a long time ago.
human beings
which often do
not correspond
with scientific
discoveries. Find
out about some
of these and
compare them
with the history of
The skull of Neanderthal man. Some human evolution
of those who dismissed the antiquity as discussed in
of the skull regarded it as 'brutish' or
this chapter.
that of a 'pathological idiot'.
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The Story of Human Evolution

(a) The Precursors of Modern Human Beings
Look at these four skulls.

A belongs to an ape.
B belongs to a species known as Australopithecus (see below).
C belongs to a species known as Homo erectus (literally ‘upright man’).
A D belongs to a species known as Homo sapiens (literally ‘thinking/wise
man’} to which all present-day human beings belong.
List as many similarities and differences that you notice, looking
carefully at the brain case, jaws and teeth.
B The differences that you notice in the skulls shown in the illustration
are some of the changes that came about as a result of human
evolution. The story of human evolution is enormously long, and
somewhat complicated. There are also many unanswered questions,
and new data often lead to a revision and modification of earlier
C
understandings. Let us look at some of the developments and their
implications more closely.
It is possible to trace these developments back to between 36 and
24 mya. We sometimes find it difficult to conceptualise such long
spans of time. If you consider a page of your book to represent
D
10,000 years, in itself a vast span of time, 10 pages would represent
100,000 years, and a 100 pages would equal 1 million years.
To think of 36 million years, you would have to imagine a book
3,600 pages long! That was when primates, a category of mammals,
emerged in Asia and Africa. Subsequently, by about 24 mya, there
emerged a subgroup amongst primates, called hominoids. This
Primates included apes. And, much later, about 5.6 mya, we find evidence of
are a subgroup of a the first hominids.
larger group of While hominids have evolved from hominoids and share certain
mammals. They common features, there are major differences as well. Hominoids have
include monkeys, a smaller brain than hominids. They are quadrupeds, walking on all
apes and humans. fours, but with flexible forelimbs. Hominids, by contrast, have an
They have body upright posture and bipedal locomotion (walking on two feet). There
hair, a relatively are also marked differences in the hand, which enables the making
long gestation and use of tools. We will examine the kinds of tools made and their
period following significance more closely later.
birth, mammary Two lines of evidence suggest an African origin for hominids. First,
glands, different it is the group of African apes that are most closely related to hominids.
types of teeth, and Second, the earliest hominid fossils, which belong to the genus
the ability to Australopithecus, have been found in East Africa and date back to
maintain a constant about 5.6 mya. In contrast, fossils found outside Africa are no older
body temperature. than 1.8 million years.
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F ROM THE B EGINNING OF T IME 11
THE EVOLUTION OF THE HAND A

A shows the precision grip of the chimpanzee.
B
B shows the power grip of the human hand.
C shows the precision grip of the hominid.
The development of the power grip probably
preceded the precision grip.
Compare the precision grip of the chimpanzee with that of the
human hand.
Make a list of the things you do using a precision grip.
What are the things you do using a power grip?
C
Hominids belong to a family known as Hominidae, which includes
all forms of human beings. The distinctive characteristics of hominids
include a large brain size, upright posture, bipedal locomotion and
specialisation of the hand.
Hominids are further subdivided into branches, known as genus, of
which Australopithecus and Homo are important. Each of these in
turn includes several species. The major differences between
Australopithecus and Homo relate to brain size, jaws and teeth. Hominoids are
The former has a smaller brain size, heavier jaws and larger teeth than different from
the latter. monkeys in a
Virtually all the names given by scientists to species are derived number of ways.
from Latin and Greek words. For instance, the name Australopithecus They have a larger
comes from a Latin word, ‘austral’, meaning ‘southern’ and a Greek body and do not
word, ‘pithekos’, meaning ‘ape.’ The name was given because this earliest have a tail.
form of humans still retained many features of an ape, such as a Besides, there is a
relatively small brain size in comparison to Homo, large back teeth and longer period of
limited dexterity of the hands. Upright walking was also restricted, as infant development
they still spent a lot of time on trees. They retained characteristics and dependency
amongst
hominoids.
This is a view of the

Olduvai Gorge in the
Rift Valley, East Africa
(see Map 1b, p.14),
one of the areas from
which traces of early
human history have
been recovered. Notice
the different levels of
earth at the centre of
the photograph. Each
of these represents a
distinct geological
phase.
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(such as long forelimbs, curved hand and foot bones and mobile ankle
joints) suited to life on trees. Over time, as tool making and long-
distance walking increased, many human characteristics also developed.
The Discovery of Australopithecus, Olduvai Gorge,

17 July 1959
The Olduvai Gorge (see p. 14) was first ‘discovered’ in the early twentieth
century by a German butterfly collector. However, Olduvai has come to be
identified with Mary and Louis Leakey, who worked here for over 40 years.
It was Mary Leakey who directed archaeological excavations at Olduvai
and Laetoli and she made some of the most exciting discoveries. This is
what Louis Leakey wrote about one of their most remarkable finds:
‘That morning I woke with a headache and
a slight fever. Reluctantly, I agreed to spend the
day in camp.With one of us out of commission,
it was even more vital for the other to continue
the work, for our precarious seven-week season
was running out. So Mary departed for the
diggings with Sally and Toots [two of their dogs]
in the Land-Rover [a jeep-like vehicle], and I
settled back to a restless day off.
Some time later – perhaps I dozed off – I heard
the Land-Rover coming up fast to camp. I had a
momentary vision of Mary stung by one of our
hundreds of resident scorpions or bitten by a
snake that had slipped past the dogs.
The Land-Rover rattled to a stop, and I heard
Mary’s voice calling over and over: “I’ve got him!
I've got him! I’ve got him!” Still groggy from
the headache, I couldn’t make her out. “Got what? Are you hurt?” I asked.
“Him, the man! Our man,” Mary said. “The one we’ve been looking for 23
years. Come quick, I’ve found his teeth!” ’
– From ‘Finding the World's Earliest Man’, by L.S.B. Leakey, National Geographic, 118
(September 1960).
The remains of early humans have been classified into different

species. These are often distinguished from one another on the basis
of differences in bone structure. For instance, species of early humans
are differentiated in terms of their skull size and distinctive jaws (see
illustration on p.10). These characteristics may have evolved due to
what has been called the positive feedback mechanism.
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F ROM THE BEGINNING OF TIME 13
THE POSITIVE FEEDBACK MECHANISM

The arrows pointing towards a box indicate the influences that
shaped that particular development.
The arrows pointing away from a box indicate how developments

mentioned in the box influenced other processes.
For example, bipedalism enabled hands to be freed for carrying

infants or objects. In turn, as hands were used more and more, upright
walking gradually became more efficient. Apart from the advantage of
freeing hands for various uses, far less energy is consumed while walking
as compared to the movement of a quadruped. However, the advantage
in terms of saving energy is reversed while running. There is indirect
evidence of bipedalism as early as 3.6 mya. This comes from the
fossilised hominid footprints at Laetoli, Tanzania (see Section cover).
Fossil limb bones recovered from Hadar, Ethiopia provide more direct
evidence of bipedalism.
Around 2.5 mya, with the onset of a phase of glaciation (or an Ice
Age), when large parts of the earth were covered with snow, there were
major changes in climate and vegetation. Due to the reduction in
temperatures as well as rainfall, grassland areas expanded at the expense
of forests, leading to the gradual extinction of the early forms of
Australopithecus (that were adapted to forests) and the replacement
by species that were better adapted to the drier conditions. Among
these were the earliest representatives of the genus Homo.
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Homo is a Latin word, meaning ‘man’, although there were

women as well! Scientists distinguish amongst several types of
Homo. The names assigned to these species are derived from
what are regarded as their typical characteristics. So fossils are
classified as Homo habilis (the tool maker), Homo erectus (the
upright man), and Homo sapiens (the wise or thinking man).
Fossils of Homo habilis have been discovered at Omo in Ethiopia
and at Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania. The earliest fossils of Homo
erectus have been found both in Africa and Asia: Koobi Fora and
west Turkana, Kenya, Modjokerto and Sangiran, Java. As the
finds in Asia belong to a later date than those in Africa, it is
likely that hominids migrated from East Africa to southern and
northern Africa, to southern and north-eastern Asia, and perhaps
to Europe, some time between 2 and 1.5 mya. This species survived
for nearly a million years.
MAP 1(a): Africa
MAP 1(b): The East

African Rift Valley
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In some instances, the names for fossils are derived from the
places where the first fossils of a particular type were found. So
fossils found in Heidelberg, a city in Germany, were called Homo
heidelbergensis, while those found in the Neander valley (see p.
18) were categorised as Homo neanderthalensis.
The earliest fossils from Europe are of Homo heidelbergensis
and Homo neanderthalensis. Both belong to the species of archaic
(that is, old) Homo sapiens. The fossils of Homo heidelbergensis
(0.8-0.1 mya) have a wide distribution, having been found in
Africa, Asia and Europe. The Neanderthals occupied Europe and
western and Central Asia from roughly 130,000 to 35,000 years
ago. They disappeared abruptly in western Europe around 35,000
years ago.
In general, compared with Australopithecus, Homo have a larger
brain, jaws with a reduced outward protrusion and smaller teeth (see
illustration on p. 10). An increase in brain size is associated with more
intelligence and a better memory. The changes in the jaws and teeth
were probably related to differences in dietary habits.
PEOPLING OF THE WORLD
WHEN WHERE WHO

5-1 mya Sub-Saharan Africa Australopithecus, early
Homo, Homo erectus
1 mya-40,000 years ago Africa, Asia and Europe in Homo erectus, archaic
mid-latitudes Homo sapiens,
Neanderthals, Homo
sapiens sapiens/modern
humans
45,000 years ago Australia Modern humans
40,000 years ago to Europe in high-latitudes Late Neanderthals,
present and Asia-Pacific islands modern humans
North and South America
in deserts, rain forests
ACTIVITY 2
Plot the changes indicated in the chart above on an outline

map of the world. Use different colours for the four time
brackets. List the continents where you use (a) a single
colour, (b) two colours, (c) more than two colours.
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The Story of Human Evolution

(b) Modern Human Beings
If you look at this chart, you will notice that

THE EARLIEST FOSSILS OF some of the earliest evidence for Homo sapiens
MODERN HUMANS has been found in different parts of Africa.
This raises the question of the centre of human
WHERE WHEN (years ago) origin. Was there a single centre or were there
several?
ETHIOPIA 195,000-160,000 The issue of the place of origin of modern
Omo Kibish humans has been much debated. Two totally
divergent views have been expounded, one
SOUTH AFRICA 120,000-50,000 advocating the regional continuity model (with
Border Cave
multiple regions of origin), the other the
Die Kelders
replacement model (with a single origin in
Klasies River Mouth
Africa).
MOROCCO 70,000-50,000 According to the regional continuity model,
Dar es Solton the archaic Homo sapiens in different regions
gradually evolved at different rates into modern
ISRAEL 100,000-80,000 humans, and hence the variation in the first
Qafzeh Skhul appearance of modern humans in different
parts of the world. The argument is based on
AUSTRALIA 45,000-35,000 the regional differences in the features of
Lake Mungo
present-day humans. According to those who
advocate this view, these dissimilarities are due
BORNEO 40,000
Niah Cave to differences between the pre-existing Homo
erectus and Homo heidelbergensis populations
FRANCE 35,000 that occupied the same regions.
Cro-Magnon,
near Les Eyzies The Replacement and Regional
Continuity Models
The replacement model visualises the
complete replacement everywhere of all older forms of humans
with modern humans. In support of this view is the evidence of
the genetic and anatomical homogeneity of modern humans. Those
who suggest this argue that the enormous similarity amongst
modern humans is due to their descent from a population that
originated in a single region, which is Africa. The evidence of the
earliest fossils of modern humans (from Omo in Ethiopia) also
supports the replacement model. Scholars who hold this view
suggest that the physical differences observed today among
modern humans are the result of adaptation (over a span of
thousands of years) by populations who migrated to the particular
regions where they finally settled down.
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FROM THE BEGINNING OF T IME 17
Early Humans: Ways of Obtaining Food
So far, we have been considering the evidence of skeletal remains and

seeing how these have been used to reconstruct the histories of the
movements of peoples across continents. But, there are other, more
routine aspects of human life as well. Let us see how these can be studied.
Early humans would have obtained food through a number of
ways, such as gathering, hunting, scavenging and fishing.
Gathering would involve collecting plant foods such as seeds,
nuts, berries, fruits and tubers. That gathering was practised is
generally assumed rather than conclusively established, as there
is very little direct evidence for it. While we get a fair amount of
fossil bones, fossilised plant remains are relatively rare. The only
other way of getting information about plant intake would be if
plant remains were accidentally burnt. This process results in
carbonisation. In this form, organic matter is preserved for a
long span of time. However, so far archaeologists have not found
much evidence of carbonised seeds for this very early period.
In recent years, the term hunting has been under discussion
by scholars. Increasingly, it is being suggested that the early *Foraging means to
hominids scavenged or foraged* for meat and marrow from the search
for food.
carcasses of animals that had died naturally or had been killed
by other predators. It is equally possible that small mammals
such as rodents, birds (and their eggs), reptiles and even insects
(such as termites) were eaten by early hominids.
Hunting probably began later – about 500,000 years ago. The
earliest clear evidence for the deliberate, planned hunting and butchery
of large mammals comes from two sites: Boxgrove in southern England
(500,000 years ago) and Schoningen in Germany (400,000 years ago)
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(see Map 2 ). Fishing was also important, as is evident from the

discovery of fish bones at different sites.
MAP 2: Europe
From about 35,000 years ago, there is evidence of planned

hunting from some European sites. Some sites, such as Dolni
Vestonice (in the Czech Republic, see Map 2), which was near a
river, seem to have been deliberately chosen by early people.
Herds of migratory animals such as reindeer and horse probably
crossed the river during their autumn and spring migrations
and were killed on a large scale. The choice of such sites indicates
that people knew about the movement of these animals and
also about the means of killing large numbers of animals quickly.
Did men and women have different roles in gathering,
scavenging, hunting and fishing? We do not really know. Today
we find societies that live by hunting and gathering, where women
and men undertake a range of different activities, but, as we will
see later in the chapter, it is not always possible to suggest
parallels with the past.
Early Humans
From Trees, to Caves and Open-air Sites
We are on surer ground when we try to reconstruct the evidence

for patterns of residence. One way of doing this is by plotting the
distribution of artefacts. For example, thousands of flake tools and
hand axes have been excavated at Kilombe and Olorgesailie (Kenya).
These finds are dated between 700,000 and 500,000 years ago.
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How did these tools accumulate in one place? It is possible Left: The site of
Olorgesailie. The
that some places, where food resources were abundant, were
excavators, Mary and
visited repeatedly. In such areas, people would tend to leave Louis Leakey, had a
behind traces of their activities and presence, including artefacts. catwalk built around
The deposited artefacts would appear as patches on the landscape. the site for observers.
The places that were less frequently visited would have fewer Above: A close-up of
tools found at the site,
artefacts, which may have been scattered over the surface. including hand axes.
It is also important to remember that the same locations could
have been shared by hominids, other primates and carnivores.
Look at the diagram below to see how this may have worked.
Artefacts are
objects that are
made by human
beings. The term
can refer to a wide
range of things –
tools, paintings,
sculpture,
Archaeologists suggest that early hominids such as Homo habilis probably engravings.
consumed most of the food where they found it, slept in different places, and
spent much of their time in trees. How would bones have reached the site? How
would stones have reached the site? Would bones have survived intact?
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Between 400,000 and 125,000 years ago, caves and open-

air sites began to be used. Evidence for this comes from
sites in Europe. In the Lazaret cave in southern
France, a 12x4 metre shelter was built against the
cave wall. Inside it were two hearths and evidence of
different food sources: fruits, vegetables, seeds, nuts,
bird eggs and freshwater fish (trout, perch and carp).
At another site, Terra Amata on the coast of southern
France, flimsy shelters with roofs of wood and grasses
were built for short-term, seasonal visits.
Pieces of baked clay and burnt bone along with stone
This is a
tools, dated between 1.4 and 1 mya, have been found at Chesowanja,
reconstruction of a hut
at Terra Amata. The Kenya and Swartkrans, South Africa. Were these the result of a
large stone boulders natural bushfire or volcanic eruption? Or were they produced through
were used to support the deliberate, controlled use of fire? We do not really know.
the sides of the hut. Hearths, on the other hand, are indications of the controlled
The small scatters of
stone on the floor were use of fire. This had several advantages – fire provided warmth
places where people and light inside caves, and could be used for cooking. Besides,
made stone tools. The fire was used to harden wood, as for instance the tip of the spear.
black spot marked The use of heat also facilitated the flaking of tools. As important,
with an arrow
fire could be used to scare away dangerous animals.
indicates a hearth.
In what ways do you
think life for those
who lived in this Early Humans: Making Tools
shelter would be
different from that of
To start with, it is useful to remember that the use of tools and
the hominids who
lived on trees? tool making are not confined to humans. Birds are known to
make objects to assist them with feeding, hygiene and social
encounters; and while foraging for food some chimpanzees use
tools that they have made.
However, there are some features of human tool making that are not
known among apes. As we have seen (see p. 11),
certain anatomical and neurological (related to
the nervous system) adaptations have led to
Some early tools. the skilled use of hands, probably due to the
These tools were
found in Olduvai.
important role of tools in human lives.
The one above is a Moreover, the ways in which humans use
chopper. This is a large and make tools often require greater memory
stone from which and complex organisational skills, both
flakes have been
of which are absent in apes.
removed to produce a
working edge. The earliest evidence for the
The one below is a making and use of stone tools
hand axe. comes from sites in Ethiopia and
Can you suggest what Kenya (see Map 1). It is likely that
these tools may have
been used for?
the earliest stone tool makers
were the Australopithecus.
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As in the case of other activities, we do not know whether

tool making was done by men or women or both. It is possible
that stone tool makers were both women and men. Women in
particular may have made and used tools to obtain food for
themselves as well as to sustain their children after weaning.
About 35,000 years ago, improvements in the techniques for
killing animals are evident from the
appearance of new kinds of tools such
as spear -throwers and the bow and
arrow. The meat thus obtained was
probably processed by removing the
bones, followed by drying, smoking and
storage. Thus, food could be stored for
later consumption.
There were other changes, such as the trapping of fur-bearing A spear-thrower.
Note the carving on
animals (to use the fur for clothing) and the invention of sewing
the handle. The use of
needles. The earliest evidence of sewn clothing comes from about the spear-thrower
21,000 years ago. Besides, with the introduction of the punch enabled hunters to
blade technique to make small chisel-like tools, it was now hurl spears over
possible to make engravings on bone, antler, ivory or wood. longer distances.
Can you suggest any
advantage in using
such equipment?
THE PUNCH BLADE TECHNIQUE
A C
D
B
(a) The top of a large pebble is removed using a hammer stone.

(b) This produces a flat surface called the striking platform.
(c) This is then struck using a hammer and a punch, made of bone or antler.
(d) This leads to the production of blades that can be used as knives, or
modified to serve as chisels or burins which could be used to engrave bone,
antler, ivory or wood.
(e) An example of engraving on bone. Note the drawings of animals on it.
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Modes of Communication: Language and Art

Among living beings, it is humans alone that have a language.
There are several views on language development: (1) that hominid
language involved gestures or hand movements; (2) that spoken
language was preceded by vocal but non-verbal communication
such as singing or humming; (3) that human speech probably began
with calls like the ones that have been observed among primates.
Humans may have possessed a small number of speech sounds in
the initial stage. Gradually, these may have developed into language.
When did spoken language emerge? It has been suggested that
the brain of Homo habilis had certain features which would have
made it possible for them to speak. Thus, language may have
developed as early as 2 mya. The evolution of the vocal tract was
equally important. This occurred around 200,000 years ago. It is
more specifically associated with modern humans.
A third suggestion is that language developed around the same
time as art, that is, around 40,000-35,000 years ago. The
development of spoken language has been seen as closely
connected with art, since both are media for communication.
Cave Paintings at Altamira

Altamira is a cave site in Spain. The
paintings on the ceiling of the
cave were first brought to the
attention of Marcelino Sanz de
Sautuola, a local landowner and
an amateur archaeologist, by his
daughter Maria in November
1879. The little girl was ‘running
about in the cavern and playing
about here and there’, while her
father was digging the floor of the
cave. Suddenly she noticed the
paintings on the ceiling: ‘Look,
Papa, oxen!’ At first, her father just
laughed, but soon realised that
A drawing of a bison
at Altamira, northern some sort of paste rather than paint had been used for the
Spain. paintings and became ‘so enthusiastic that he could hardly speak’.
He published a booklet the following year, but for almost two
decades his findings were dismissed by European archaeologists
on the ground that these were too good to be ancient.
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F ROM THE B EGINNING OF TIME 23
Hundreds of paintings of animals (done between 30,000

and12,000 years ago) have been discovered in the caves of Lascaux
and Chauvet, both in France, and Altamira, in Spain. These
include depictions of bison, horses, ibex, deer, mammoths, rhinos,
lions, bears, panthers, hyenas and owls.
More questions have been raised than answered regarding these
paintings. For example, why do some areas of caves have paintings
and not others? Why were some animals painted and not others? Why
were men painted both individually and in groups, whereas women
were depicted only in groups? Why were men painted near animals
but never women? Why were groups of animals painted in the sections
of caves where sounds carried well?
Several explanations have been offered. One is that because of the
importance of hunting, the paintings of animals were associated with
ritual and magic. The act of painting could have been a ritual to ensure
a successful hunt. Another explanation offered is that these caves
were possibly meeting places for small groups of people or locations for
group activities. These groups could share hunting techniques and
knowledge, while paintings and engravings served as the media for
passing information from one generation to the next.
The above account of early societies has been based on
archaeological evidence. Clearly, there is much that we still do not
know. As mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, hunter-gatherer
societies exist even today. Can one learn anything about past societies
from present-day hunter-gatherers? This is a question we will
address in the next section.
Early Encounters with Hunter-Gatherers

in Africa
The following is an account by a member of an African pastoral
group about its initial contact in 1870 with the !Kung San, a
hunter-gatherer society living in the Kalahari desert:
When we first came into this area, all we saw were strange
footprints in the sand. We wondered what kind of people these
were. They were very afraid of us and would hide whenever we
came around. We found their villages, but they were always
empty because as soon as they saw strangers coming, they
would scatter and hide in the bush. We said: ‘Oh, this is
good; these people are afraid of us, they are weak and we
can easily rule over them.’ So we just ruled them. There
was no killing or fighting.
You will read more about encounters with hunter-gatherers in
Themes 8 and 10.
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Anthropology is a The Hadza

discipline that ‘The Hadza are a small group of hunters and gatherers, living in
studies human the vicinity of Lake Eyasi, a salt, rift-valley lake...The country of the
culture and
eastern Hadza, dry, rocky savanna, dominated by thorn scrub and
evolutionary
acacia trees...is rich in wild foods. Animals are exceptionally
aspects of human
numerous and were certainly commoner at the beginning of the
biology.
century. Elephant, rhinoceros, buffalo, giraffe, zebra, waterbuck,
gazelle, warthog, baboon, lion, leopard, and hyena are all common,
as are smaller animals such as porcupine, hare, jackal, tortoise and
many others. All of these animals, apart from the elephant, are
hunted and eaten by the Hadza. The amount of meat that could be
regularly eaten without endangering the future of the game is
probably greater than anywhere else in the world where hunters
and gatherers live or have lived in the recent past.
Vegetable food – roots, berries, the fruit of the baobab tree, etc. –
though not often obvious to the casual observer, is always abundant
even at the height of the dry season in a year of drought. The type
of vegetable food available is different in the six-month wet season
from the dry season but there is no period of shortage. The honey
and grubs of seven species of wild bee are eaten; supplies of these
vary from season to season and from year to year.
Sources of water are widely distributed over the country in the wet
ACTIVITY 3
season but are very few in the dry season. The Hadza consider that
Why do the about 5-6 kilometres is the maximum distance over which water
Hadza not assert can reasonably be carried and camps are normally sited within a
rights over land kilometre of a water course.
and its Part of the country consists of open grass plains but the Hadza
resources? Why never build camps there. Camps are invariably sited among trees
do the size and
or rocks and, by preference, among both.
location of
camps keep
The eastern Hadza assert no rights over land and its resources.
changing from Any individual may live wherever he likes and may hunt animals,
season to collect roots, berries, and honey and draw water anywhere in Hadza
season? Why is country without any sort of restriction...
there never any In spite of the exceptional numbers of game animals in their
shortage of food area, the Hadza rely mainly on wild vegetable matter for their
even in times of food. Probably as much as 80 per cent of their food by weight
drought? Can is vegetable, while meat and honey together account for the
you name any remaining 20 per cent.
such hunter-
Camps are commonly small and widely dispersed in the wet
gatherer
societies in India
season, large and concentrated near the few available sources of
today? water in the dry season.
There is never any shortage of food even in the time of drought.’
– Written in 1960 by James Woodburn, an anthropologist.
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Hunter-Gatherer Societies
From the Present to the Past
As our knowledge of present-day hunter -gatherers increased Ethnography is the

through studies by anthropologists, a question that began to be study of
posed was whether the information about living hunters and contemporary
gatherers could be used to understand past societies. Currently, ethnic groups. It
there are two opposing views on this issue. includes an
On one side are scholars who have directly applied specific examination of
data from present-day hunter-gatherer societies to interpret the their modes of
archaeological remains of the past. For example, some livelihood,
archaeologists have suggested that the hominid sites, dated to 2 technology, gender
mya, along the margins of Lake Turkana could have been dry roles, rituals,
season camps of early humans, because such a practice has political
been observed among the Hadza and the !Kung San. institutions and
On the other side are scholars who feel that ethnographic data social customs.
cannot be used for understanding past societies as the two are
totally different. For instance, present-day hunter -gatherer
societies pursue several other economic activities along with
hunting and gathering. These include engaging in exchange and
trade in minor forest produce, or working as paid labourers in
the fields of neighbouring farmers. Moreover, these societies are
totally marginalised in all senses – geographically, politically and
socially. The conditions in which they live are very different from
those of early humans.
Another problem is that there is tremendous variation amongst
living hunter -gatherer societies. There are conflicting data on
many issues such as the relative importance of hunting and
gathering, group sizes, or the movement from place to place.
Also, there is little consensus regarding the division of labour
in food procurement. Although today generally women gather and
men hunt, there are societies where both women and men hunt
and gather and make tools. In any case, the important role of
women in contributing to the food supply in such societies cannot ACTIVITY 4
be denied. It is perhaps this factor that ensures a relatively equal What do you
role for both women and men in present-day hunter-gatherer think are the
societies, although there are variations. While this may be the advantages and
case today, it is difficult to make any such inference for the past. disadvantages of
using
Epilogue ethnographic
accounts to
For several million years, humans lived by hunting wild animals reconstruct the
and gathering wild plants. Then, between 10,000 and 4,500 years lives of the
ago, people in different parts of the world learnt to domesticate certain earliest peoples?
plants and animals. This led to the development of farming and
pastoralism as a way of life. The shift from foraging to farming was a
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major turning point in human history. Why did this change take
place at this point of time?
The last ice age came to an end about 13,000 years ago and
with that warmer, wetter conditions prevailed. As a result,
conditions were favourable for the growth of grasses such as
wild barley and wheat. At the same time, as open forests and
grasslands expanded, the population of certain animal species
such as wild sheep, goat, cattle, pig and donkey increased. What
we find is that human societies began to gradually prefer areas
that had an abundance of wild grasses and animals. Now
relatively large, permanent communities occupied such areas
for most parts of the year. With some areas being clearly preferred,
a pressure may have built up to increase the food supply. This
may have triggered the process of domestication of certain plants
and animals. It is likely that a combination of factors which
included climatic change, population pressure, a greater reliance
on and knowledge of a few species of plants (such as wheat,
barley, rice and millet) and animals (such as sheep, goat, cattle,
donkey and pig) played a role in this transformation.
One such area where farming and pastoralism began around 10,000
years ago was the Fertile Crescent, extending from the Mediterranean
coast to the Zagros mountains in Iran. With the introduction of
agriculture, more people began to stay in one place for even longer
periods than they had done before. Thus permanent houses began to
be built of mud, mud bricks and even stone. These are some of the
earliest villages known to archaeologists.
Farming and pastoralism led to the introduction of many other
changes such as the making of pots in which to store grain and
other produce, and to cook food. Besides, new kinds of stone
tools came into use. Other new tools such as the plough were
used in agriculture. Gradually, people became familiar with metals
such as copper and tin. The wheel, important for both pot making
and transportation, came into use.
About 5,000 years ago, even larger concentrations of people
began to live together in cities. Why did this happen? And what
are the differences between cities and other settlements? Look
out for answers to these and other questions in Theme 2.
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TIMELINE 1 (mya)
36-24 mya Primates;

Monkeys in Asia and Africa
24 mya (Superfamily) Hominoids;
Gibbons, Asian orang-utan and
African apes (gorilla, chimpanzee and
bonobo or ‘pygmy’ chimpanzee)
6.4 mya Branching out of hominoids and hominids
5.6 mya Australopithecus
2.6-2.5 Earliest stone tools
2.5-2.0 Cooling and drying of Africa, resulting in decrease in
woodlands and increase in grasslands
2.5-2.0 mya Homo
2.2 mya Homo habilis
1.8 mya Homo erectus
1.3 mya Extinction of Australopithecus
0.8 mya ‘Archaic’ sapiens, Homo heidelbergensis
0.19-0.16 mya Homo sapiens sapiens (modern humans)
TIMELINE 2 (years ago)
Earliest evidence of burials 300,000

Extinction of Homo erectus 200,000
Development of voice box 200,000
Archaic Homo sapiens skull in the Narmada valley, India 200,000-130,000
Emergence of modern humans 195,000-160,000
Emergence of Neanderthals 130,000
Earliest evidence of hearths 125,000
Extinction of Neanderthals 35,000
Earliest evidence of figurines made of fired clay 27,000
Invention of sewing needles 21,000
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The Rift Valley, East

Africa.
Exercises
ANSWER IN BRIEF
1. Look at the diagram showing the positive feedback mechanism on
page 13. Can you list the inputs that went into tool making? What
were the processes that were strengthened by tool making?
2. Humans and mammals such as monkeys and apes have certain
similarities in behaviour and anatomy. This indicates that humans
possibly evolved from apes. List these resemblances in two columns
under the headings of (a) behaviour and (b) anatomy. Are there any
differences that you think are noteworthy?
3. Discuss the arguments advanced in favour of the regional continuity
model of human origins. Do you think it provides a convincing
explanation of the archaeological evidence? Give reasons for your
answer.
4. Which of the following do you think is best documented in the
archaeological record: (a) gathering, (b) tool making, (c) the use of fire?
ANSWER IN A SHORT ESSAY
5. Discuss the extent to which (a) hunting and (b) constructing shelters
would have been facilitated by the use of language. What other modes
of communication could have been used for these activities?
6. Choose any two developments each from Timelines 1 and 2 at the
end of the chapter and indicate why you think these are significant.
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29 THEME
writing and city life 2

CITY life began in Mesopotamia*, the land between the
Euphrates and the Tigris rivers that is now part of the
Republic of Iraq. Mesopotamian civilisation is known for its
prosperity, city life, its voluminous and rich literature and its
mathematics and astronomy. Mesopotamia’s writing system
and literature spread to the eastern Mediterranean, northern *The name
Syria, and Turkey after 2000 BCE, so that the kingdoms of Mesopotamia is
that entire region were writing to one another, and to the
derived from the
Pharaoh of Egypt, in the language and script of Mesopotamia.
Greek words mesos,
Here we shall explore the connection between city life and
meaning middle,
writing, and then look at some outcomes of a sustained
tradition of writing. and potamos,
In the beginning of recorded history, the land, mainly the meaning river.
urbanised south (see discussion below), was called Sumer
and Akkad. After 2000 B C E , when Babylon became an
important city, the term Babylonia was used for the southern
region. From about 1100 BCE, when the Assyrians established
their kingdom in the north, the region became known as
Assyria. The first known language of the land was Sumerian.
It was gradually replaced by Akkadian around 2400 BCE
when Akkadian speakers arrived. This language flourished
till about Alexander’s time (336-323 BCE), with some regional
changes occurring. From 1400 BCE, Aramaic also trickled in.
This language, similar to Hebrew, became widely spoken after
1000 BCE. It is still spoken in parts of Iraq.
Archaeology in Mesopotamia began in the 1840s. At one or

two sites (including Uruk and Mari, which we discuss below),
excavations continued for decades. (No Indian site has ever
seen such long-term projects.) Not only can we study
hundreds of Mesopotamian buildings, statues, ornaments,
graves, tools and seals as sources, there are thousands of
written documents.
Mesopotamia was important to Europeans because of
references to it in the Old Testament, the first part of the
Bible. For instance, the Book of Genesis of the Old Testament
refers to ‘Shimar’, meaning Sumer, as a land of brick-built
cities. Travellers and scholars of Europe looked on
Mesopotamia as a kind of ancestral land, and when
archaeological work began in the area, there was an attempt
to prove the literal truth of the Old Testament.
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According to the From the mid-nineteenth century there was no stopping

Bible, the Flood was the enthusiasm for exploring the ancient past of
Mesopotamia. In 1873, a British newspaper funded an
meant to destroy
expedition of the British Museum to search for a tablet
all life on earth.
narrating the story of the Flood, mentioned in the Bible.
However, God chose
By the 1960s, it was understood that the stories of the
a man, Noah, to Old Testament were not literally true, but may have been
ensure that life ways of expressing memories about important changes in
could continue after history. Gradually, archaeological techniques became far
the Flood. Noah more sophisticated and refined. What is more, attention was
built a huge boat, directed to different questions, including reconstructing the
an ark. He took a lives of ordinary people. Establishing the literal truth of
pair each of all Biblical narratives receded into the background. Much of
known species of what we discuss subsequently in the chapter is based on
animals and birds these later studies.
on board the ark,
which survived the
Flood. There was a
strikingly similar
story in the
Mesopotamian
tradition, where the
principal character
was called Ziusudra
or Utnapishtim.
MAP 1: West Asia
ACTIVITY 1
Many societies
have myths
about floods.
These are often
ways of
preserving and
expressing
memories about
Mesopotamia and its Geography
important Iraq is a land of diverse environments. In the north-east lie green,
changes in undulating plains, gradually rising to tree-covered mountain ranges
history. Find out
with clear streams and wild flowers, with enough rainfall to grow crops.
more about
these, noting how
Here, agriculture began between 7000 and 6000 BCE. In the north,
life before and there is a stretch of upland called a steppe, where animal herding
after the flood is offers people a better livelihood than agriculture – after the winter
represented. rains, sheep and goats feed on the grasses and low shrubs that grow
here. To the east, tributaries of the Tigris provide routes of
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WRITING AND CITY LIFE 31
communication into the mountains of Iran. The south is a desert – and

this is where the first cities and writing emerged (see below). This
desert could support cities because the rivers Euphrates and Tigris,
which rise in the northern mountains, carry loads of silt (fine mud).
When they flood or when their water is let out on to the fields, fertile
silt is deposited.
MAP 2: Mesopotamia:
Mountains, Steppe,
Desert, Irrigated
Zone of the South.
After the Euphrates has entered the desert, its water flows out into
small channels. These channels flood their banks and, in the past,
functioned as irrigation canals: water could be let into the fields of
wheat, barley, peas or lentils when necessary. Of all ancient systems,
that of the Roman Empire (Theme 3) included, it was the agriculture
of southern Mesopotamia that was the most productive, even though
the region did not have sufficient rainfall to grow crops.
Not only agriculture, Mesopotamian sheep and goats that grazed
on the steppe, the north-eastern plains and the mountain slopes
(that is, on tracts too high for the rivers to flood and fertilise) produced
meat, milk and wool in abundance. Further, fish was available in
rivers and date-palms gave fruit in summer. Let us not, however,
make the mistake of thinking that cities grew simply because of
rural prosperity. We shall discuss other factors by and by, but first
let us be clear about city life.
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The earliest cities in The Significance of Urbanism

Mesopotamia date
Cities and towns are not just places with large populations. It is
back to the bronze
when an economy develops in spheres other than food production
age, c.3000 BCE.
that it becomes an advantage for people to cluster in towns. Urban
Bronze is an alloy
of copper and tin.
economies comprise besides food production, trade, manufactures
Using bronze meant
and services. City people, thus, cease to be self-sufficient and depend
procuring these
on the products or services of other (city or village) people. There is
metals, often from continuous interaction among them. For instance, the carver of a
great distances. stone seal requires bronze tools that he himself cannot make, and
Metal tools were coloured stones for the seals that he does not know where to get:
necessary for his ‘specialisation’ is fine carving, not trading. The bronze tool maker
accurate carpentry, does not himself go out to get the metals, copper and tin. Besides,
drilling beads, he needs regular supplies of charcoal for fuel. The division of labour
carving stone seals, is a mark of urban life.
cutting shell for Further, there must be a social organisation in place. Fuel, metal,
inlaid furniture, various stones, wood, etc., come from many different places for
etc. Mesopotamian city manufacturers. Thus, organised trade and storage is needed.
weapons were also There are deliveries of grain and other food items from the village
of bronze – for to the city, and food supplies need to be stored and distributed.
example, the tips Besides, many different activities have to be coordinated: there
of the spears that must be not only stones but also bronze tools and pots available
you see in the for seal cutters. Obviously, in such a system some people give
illustration on commands that others obey, and urban economies often require
p. 38. the keeping of written records.
The Warka Head

This woman’s head was sculpted in
white marble at Uruk before 3000
BCE . The eyes and eyebrows would
probably have taken lapis lazuli
(blue) and shell (white) and
bitumen (black) inlays, respectively.
There is a groove along the top of
the head, perhaps for an
ornament. This is a world-famous
piece of sculpture, admired for the
ACTIVITY 2 delicate modelling of the woman’s
mouth, chin and cheeks. And it was
Discuss modelled in a hard stone that
whether city would have been imported from a
life would have distance.
been possible
without the Beginning with the procurement of
use of metals. stone, list all the specialists who would
be involved in the production of such a piece of sculpture.
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Movement of Goods into Cities

However rich the food resources of Mesopotamia, its mineral resources
were few. Most parts of the south lacked stones for tools, seals and
jewels; the wood of the Iraqi date-palm and poplar was not good
enough for carts, cart wheels or boats; and there was no metal for
tools, vessels or ornaments. So we can surmise that the ancient
Mesopotamians could have traded their abundant textiles and
agricultural produce for wood, copper, tin, silver, gold, shell and
various stones from Turkey and Iran, or across the Gulf. These latter
regions had mineral resources, but much less scope for agriculture.
Regular exchanges – possible only when there was a social organisation
– to equip foreign expeditions and direct the exchanges were initiated
by the people of southern Mesopotamia.
Besides crafts, trade and services, efficient transport is also
important for urban development. If it takes too much time, or too
much animal feed, to carry grain or charcoal into cities on pack
animals or bullock carts, the city economy will not be viable. The
cheapest mode of transportation is, everywhere, over water. River
boats or barges loaded with sacks of grain are propelled by the current
of the river and/or wind, but when animals transport goods,
they need to be fed. The canals and natural channels of
ancient Mesopotamia were in fact routes of goods transport Clay tablets c.3200 BCE. Each
tablet is 3.5 cm or less in
between large and small settlements, and in the account on height, with picture-like signs
the city of Mari later in the chapter, the importance of the (ox, fish, grain, boat) and
Euphrates as a ‘world route’ will become clear. numbers ( )
The Development of Writing

OX
All societies have languages in which certain spoken sounds
convey certain meanings. This is verbal communication.
Writing too is verbal communication – but in a different
way. When we talk about writing or a script, we mean that
spoken sounds are represented in
visible signs.
The first Mesopotamian tablets,
written around 3200 BCE, contained
picture-like signs and numbers. These
GRAIN,
were about 5,000 lists of oxen, fish, bread
FISH
loaves, etc. – lists of goods that were
brought into or distributed from the
temples of Uruk, a city in the south.
Clearly, writing began when society
needed to keep records of transactions – NUMBERS,
because in city life transactions occurred BOAT
at different times, and involved many Cuneiform syllabic
people and a variety of goods. signs.
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Mesopotamians wrote on tablets of clay. A scribe would wet clay

and pat it into a size he could hold comfortably in one hand. He would
A clay tablet written
on both sides in
cuneiform.
It is a mathematical
exercise – you can see
a triangle and lines
across the triangle on
the top of the obverse
side. You can see that
the letters have been
pressed into the clay.
carefully smoothen its surfaces. With the sharp end of a reed cut
* Cuneiform is obliquely, he would press wedge-shaped (‘cuneiform*’) signs on to the
derived from the smoothened surface while it was still moist. Once dried in the sun, the
Latin words cuneus, clay would harden and tablets would be almost as indestructible as
meaning ‘wedge’ and
forma, meaning pottery. When a written record of, say, the delivery of pieces of metal
‘shape’. had ceased to be relevant, the tablet was thrown away. Once the surface
dried, signs could not be pressed on to a tablet: so each transaction,
however minor, required a separate written tablet. This is why tablets
occur by the hundreds at Mesopotamian sites. And it is because of this
wealth of sources that we know so much more about Mesopotamia
than we do about contemporary India.
By 2600 BCE or so, the letters became cuneiform, and the language
was Sumerian. Writing was now used not only for keeping records,
but also for making dictionaries, giving legal validity to land transfers,
narrating the deeds of kings, and announcing the changes a king
had made in the customary laws of the land. Sumerian, the earliest
known language of Mesopotamia, was gradually replaced after
2400 BCE by the Akkadian language. Cuneiform writing in the
Akkadian language continued in use until the first century CE, that
is, for more than 2,000 years.
The System of Writing

The sound that a cuneiform sign represented was not a single consonant
or vowel (such as m or a in the English alphabet), but syllables (say,
-put-, or -la-, or -in-). Thus, the signs that a Mesopotamian scribe had
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to learn ran into hundreds, and he had to be able to handle a wet

tablet and get it written before it dried. So, writing was a skilled craft
but, more important, it was an enormous intellectual achievement,
conveying in visual form the system of sounds of a particular language.
Literacy
Very few Mesopotamians could read and write. Not only were there
hundreds of signs to learn, many of these were complex (see p. 33). If
a king could read, he made sure that this was recorded in one of his
boastful inscriptions! For the most part, however, writing reflected the
mode of speaking.
A letter from an official would have to be read out to the king. So it
would begin:
‘To my lord A, speak: … Thus says your servant B: … I have carried
out the work assigned to me ...’
A long mythical poem about creation ends thus:
‘Let these verses be held in remembrance and let the elder teach
them;
let the wise one and the scholar discuss them;
let the father repeat them to his sons;
let the ears of (even) the herdsman be opened to them.’
The Uses of Writing

The connection between city life, trade and writing is brought out in a
long Sumerian epic poem about Enmerkar, one of the earliest rulers of
Uruk. In Mesopotamian tradition, Uruk was the city par excellence,
often known simply as The City.
Enmerkar is associated with the organisation of the first trade of
Sumer: in the early days, the epic says, ‘trade was not known’.
Enmerkar wanted lapis lazuli and precious metals for the
beautification of a city temple and sent his messenger out to get
them from the chief of a very distant land called Aratta. ‘The
messenger heeded the word of the king. By night he went just by
the stars. By day, he would go by heaven’s sun divine. He had to go
up into the mountain ranges, and had to come down out of the
mountain ranges. The people of Susa (a city) below the mountains
saluted him like tiny mice*. Five mountain ranges, six mountain *The poet means
ranges, seven mountain ranges he crossed...’ that once the
messenger had
The messenger could not get the chief of Aratta to part with lapis
climbed to a great
lazuli or silver, and he had to make the long journey back and forth, height, everything
again and again, carrying threats and promises from the king of Uruk. appeared small in
Ultimately, the messenger ‘grew weary of mouth’. He got all the messages the valley far below.
mixed up. Then, ‘Enmerkar formed a clay tablet in his hand, and he
wrote the words down. In those days, there had been no writing down
of words on clay.’
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Given the written tablet, ‘the ruler of Aratta examined the clay. The
*Cuneiform letters spoken words were nails*. His face was frowning. He kept looking at
were wedge shaped, the tablet.’
hence, like nails.
This should not be taken as the literal truth, but it can be inferred
that in Mesopotamian understanding it was kingship that organised
trade and writing. This poem also tells us that, besides being a means
of storing information and of sending messages afar, writing was seen
as a sign of the superiority of Mesopotamian urban culture.
Urbanisation in Southern Mesopotamia:

Temples and Kings
From 5000 BCE, settlements had begun to develop in southern
Mesopotamia. The earliest cities emerged from some of these settlements.
These were of various kinds: those that gradually developed around
temples; those that developed as centres of trade; and imperial cities.
It is cities of the first two kinds that will be discussed here.
Early settlers (their origins are unknown) began to build and rebuild
temples at selected spots in their villages. The earliest known temple
was a small shrine made of unbaked bricks. Temples were the residences
of various gods: of the Moon God of Ur, or of Inanna the Goddess of Love
and War. Constructed in brick, temples became larger over time, with
several rooms around open courtyards. Some of the
early ones were possibly not unlike the ordinary house
– for the temple was the house of a god. But temples
always had their outer walls going in and out at regular
intervals, which no ordinary building ever had.
The god was the focus of worship: to him or her
people brought grain, curd and fish (the floors of some
early temples had thick layers of fish bones). The god
was also the theoretical owner of the agricultural fields,
the fisheries, and the herds of the local community. In
time, the processing of produce (for example, oil
pressing, grain grinding, spinning, and the weaving of
woollen cloth) was also done in the temple. Organiser
of production at a level above the household, employer
of merchants and keeper of written records of
distributions and allotments of grain, plough animals,
bread, beer, fish, etc., the temple gradually developed
its activities and became the main urban institution.
But there was also another factor on the scene.
In spite of natural fertility, agriculture was subject
The earliest known to hazards. The natural outlet channels of the Euphrates would have
temple of the south,
too much water one year and flood the crops, and sometimes they
c.5000 BCE (plan).
would change course altogether. As the archaeological record shows,
villages were periodically relocated in Mesopotamian history. There
were man-made problems as well. Those who lived on the upstream
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A temple of a later
period, c.3000 BCE,
with an open
courtyard and in-and-
out façade (as
excavated).
stretches of a channel could divert so much water into their fields

that villages downstream were left without water. Or they could neglect
to clean out the silt from their stretch of the channel, blocking the
flow of water further down. So the early Mesopotamian countryside
saw repeated conflict over land and water.
When there was continuous warfare in a region, those chiefs who
had been successful in war could oblige their followers by distributing
the loot, and could take prisoners from the defeated groups to employ
as their guards or servants. So they could increase their influence and
clout. Such war leaders, however, would be here today and gone
tomorrow – until a time came when such leadership came to increase
the well-being of the community with the creation of new institutions
or practices. In time, victorious chiefs began to offer precious booty to
the gods and thus beautify the community’s temples. They would send
men out to fetch fine stones and metal for the benefit of the god and
community and organise the distribution of temple wealth in an efficient
way by accounting for things that came in and went out. As the poem
about Enmerkar shows, this gave the king high status and the authority
to command the community.
We can imagine a mutually reinforcing cycle of development in
which leaders encouraged the settlement of villagers close to
themselves, to be able to rapidly get an army together. Besides,
people would be safe living in close proximity to one another. At
Uruk, one of the earliest temple towns, we find depictions of armed
heroes and their victims, and careful archaeological surveys have
shown that around 3000 BCE, when Uruk grew to the enormous
extent of 250 hectares – twice as large as Mohenjo-daro would be in
later centuries – dozens of small villages were deserted. There had
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been a major population shift. Significantly, Uruk also came to

have a defensive wall at a very early date. The site was
continuously occupied from about 4200 BCE to about 400 CE,
and by about 2800 BCE it had expanded to 400 hectares.
War captives and local people were put to work for the
temple, or directly for the ruler. This, rather than
agricultural tax, was compulsory. Those who were put to
work were paid rations. Hundreds of ration lists have
been found, which give, against people’s names, the
quantities of grain, cloth or oil allotted to them. It has
been estimated that one of the temples took 1,500 men
working 10 hours a day, five years to build.
With rulers commanding people to fetch stones or metal
ores, to come and make bricks or lay the bricks for a
temple, or else to go to a distant country to fetch suitable
materials, there were also technical advances at Uruk around
3000 BCE. Bronze tools came into use for various crafts.
Architects learnt to construct brick columns, there being no
Top: Basalt suitable wood to bear the weight of the roof of large halls.
stele* showing a Hundreds of people were put to work at making and baking clay
bearded man twice.
Note his headband cones that could be pushed into temple walls, painted in different
and hair, waistband colours, creating a colourful mosaic. In sculpture, there were superb
and long skirt. In the achievements, not in easily available clay but in imported stone.
lower scene he attacks And then there was a technological landmark that we can say is
a lion with a huge bow
appropriate to an urban economy: the potter’s wheel. In the long
and arrow. In the
scene above, the hero run, the wheel enables a potter’s workshop to ‘mass produce’ dozens
finally kills the of similar pots at a time.
rampant lion with a
spear (c.3200 BCE).
*Steles Impression of a cylinder seal, c.3200 BCE. The bearded and armed standing figure
are stone slabs with is similar in dress and hairstyle to the hero in the stele* shown above.
inscriptions or Note three prisoners of war, their arms bound, and a fourth man beseeching the
carvings. war leader.
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The Seal – An Urban Artefact

In India, early stone seals were stamped. In Mesopotamia until the
end of the first millennium BCE, cylindrical stone seals, pierced down
the centre, were fitted with a stick and rolled over wet clay so that a
continuous picture was created. They were carved by very skilled
craftsmen, and sometimes carry writing: the name of the owner, his
god, his official position, etc. A seal could be rolled on clay covering
the string knot of a cloth package or the mouth of a pot, keeping
the contents safe. When rolled on a letter written on a clay tablet, it
became a mark of authenticity. So the seal was the mark of a city
dweller’s role in public life.
Five early cylinder seals and their impressions.

Describe what you see in each of the impressions. Is the cuneiform
script shown on them?
Life in the City

What we have seen is that a ruling elite had emerged: a small section
of society had a major share of the wealth. Nothing makes this fact as
clear as the enormous riches (jewellery, gold vessels, wooden musical
instruments inlaid with white shell and lapis lazuli, ceremonial daggers
of gold, etc.) buried with some kings and queens at Ur. But what of the
ordinary people?
We know from the legal texts (disputes, inheritance matters, etc.)
that in Mesopotamian society the nuclear family* was the norm, *A nuclear family
although a married son and his family often resided with his parents. comprises a man,
his wife and
The father was the head of the family. We know a little about the
children.
procedures for marriage. A declaration was made about the
willingness to marry, the bride’s parents giving their consent to the
marriage. Then a gift was given by the groom’s people to the bride’s
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people. When the wedding took place, gifts were exchanged by both
parties, who ate together and made offerings in a temple. When her
mother-in-law came to fetch her, the bride was given her share of
the inheritance by her father. The father’s house, herds, fields, etc.,
were inherited by the sons.
Let us look at Ur, one of the earliest cities to have been excavated.
Ur was a town whose ordinary houses were systematically excavated
in the 1930s. Narrow winding streets indicate that wheeled carts
could not have reached many of the houses. Sacks of grain and
firewood would have arrived on donkey-back. Narrow winding
streets and the irregular shapes of house plots also indicate an
absence of town planning. There were no street drains of the kind
we find in contemporary Mohenjo-daro. Drains and clay pipes were
*A sump is a covered
basin in the ground
instead found in the inner courtyards of the Ur houses and it is
into which water thought that house roofs sloped inwards and rainwater was
and sewage flow. channelled via the drainpipes into sumps* in the inner courtyards.
This would have been a way of
preventing the unpaved streets
A residential area
at Ur, c. 2000 BCE. from becoming excessively slushy
Can you locate, after a downpour.
besides the Yet people seem to have swept
winding streets, all their household refuse into the
two or three blind
streets, to be trodden underfoot!
alleys?
This made street levels rise, and
over time the thresholds of houses
had also to be raised so that no
mud would flow inside after the
rains. Light came into the rooms
not from windows but from
doorways opening into the
courtyards: this would also have
given families their privacy. There
were superstitions about houses,
recorded in omen tablets at Ur: a
raised threshold brought wealth;
a front door that did not open
towards another house was lucky;
but if the main wooden door of a
house opened outwards (instead of
inwards), the wife would be a
torment to her husband!
There was a town cemetery at
Ur in which the graves of royalty
and commoners have been
found, but a few individuals were
found buried under the floors of
ordinary houses.
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A Trading Town in a Pastoral Zone MAP 3: The Location

of Mari
After 2000 BCE the royal capital of Mari
flourished. You will have noticed (see Map 2)
that Mari stands not on the southern plain
with its highly productive agriculture but
much further upstream on the Euphrates.
Map 3 with its colour coding shows that
agriculture and animal rearing were carried
out close to each other in this region. Some
communities in the kingdom of Mari had
both farmers and pastoralists, but most of
its territory was used for pasturing sheep
and goats.
Herders need to exchange young animals,
cheese, leather and meat in return for grain,
metal tools, etc., and the manure of a penned
flock is also of great use to a farmer. Yet, at
the same time, there may be conflict. A
shepherd may take his flock to water across
a sown field, to the ruin of the crop.
Herdsmen being mobile can raid
agricultural villages and seize their stored
goods. For their part, settled groups may
deny pastoralists access to river and
canal water along a certain set of paths.
Through Mesopotamian history,
nomadic communities of the western desert filtered
into the prosperous agricultural heartland. Shepherds
would bring their flocks into the sown area in the
summer. Such groups would come in as herders,
harvest labourers or hired soldiers, occasionally
become prosperous, and settle down. A few gained
the power to establish their own rule. These included
the Akkadians, Amorites, Assyrians and Aramaeans.
(You will read more about rulers from pastoral societies
in Theme 5.) The kings of Mari were Amorites whose
dress differed from that of the original inhabitants
and who respected not only the gods of Mesopotamia
but also raised a temple at Mari for Dagan, god of the
steppe. Mesopotamian society and culture were thus
open to different people and cultures, and the vitality
of the civilisation was perhaps due to this intermixture.
A warrior holding a long spear and a wicker shield.

Note the dress, typical of Amorites, and different from
that of the Sumerian warrior shown on p. 38. This
picture was incised on shell, c.2600 BCE.
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The Palace at Mari of King Zimrilim (1810-1760 BCE)
Throne room
Audience hall (132)

Inner court
(106)
Outer court (131)
Entrance gate
Well
Scribes’ office with benches and clay bins for

Courtyard 131 storing tablets
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The Palace at Mari of King

Zimrilim (1810-1760 BCE)
The great palace of Mari was
the residence of the royal
family, the hub of
administration, and a place
of production, especially of
Workshops and precious metal ornaments.
kitchen It was so famous in its time
that a minor king came
from north Syria just to see
Kitchen it, carrying with him a letter
of introduction from a royal
friend of the king of Mari,
Zimrilim. Daily lists reveal
that huge quantities of food
were presented each day for
the king’s table: flour,
Royal bread, meat, fish, fruit, beer
suite and wine. He probably ate
in the company of many
others, in or around
courtyard 106, paved white.
You will notice from the
Lavatory
plan that the palace had
and
bath
only one entrance, on the
north. The large, open
courtyards such as 131 were
beautifully paved. The king
would have received foreign
dignitaries and his own
people in 132, a room with
wall paintings that would
have awed the visitors. The
palace was a sprawling
structure, with 260 rooms
and covered an area of 2.4
hectares.
ACTIVITY 3
Trace the route from the

entrance to the inner court.
What do you think would
have been kept in the
Painting on wall of 132 storerooms?
How has the kitchen been
identified?
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The kings of Mari, however, had to be vigilant; herders of

various tribes were allowed to move in the kingdom, but they
were watched. The camps of herders are mentioned frequently
in letters between kings and officials. In one letter, an officer
writes to the king that he has been seeing frequent fire signals
at night – sent by one camp to another – and he suspects
that a raid or an attack is being planned.
Located on the Euphrates in a prime position for trade – in
wood, copper, tin, oil, wine, and various other goods that were
carried in boats along the Euphrates – between the south and
the mineral-rich uplands of Turkey, Syria and Lebanon, Mari is
a good example of an urban centre prospering on trade. Boats
carrying grinding stones, wood, and wine and oil jars, would stop
at Mari on their way to the southern cities. Officers of this town
would go aboard, inspect the cargo (a single river boat could hold
300 wine jars), and levy a charge of about one-tenth the value of
the goods before allowing the boat to continue downstream. Barley
came in special grain boats. Most important, tablets refer to
copper from ‘Alashiya’, the island of Cyprus, known for its copper,
and tin was also an item of trade. As bronze was the main
industrial material for tools and weapons, this trade was of great
importance. Thus, although the kingdom of Mari was not militarily
strong, it was exceptionally prosperous.
Excavating Mesopotamian Towns

Today, Mesopotamian excavators have much higher standards of accuracy and care in
recording than in the old days, so that few dig huge areas the way Ur was excavated.
Moreover, few archaeologists have the funds to employ large teams of excavators.
Thus, the mode of obtaining data has changed.
Take the small town at Abu Salabikh, about 10 hectares in area in 2500 BCE with a
population less than 10,000. The outlines of walls were at first traced by scraping
surfaces. This involves scraping off the top few millimetres of the mound with the
sharp and wide end of a shovel or other tool. While the soil underneath was still slightly
moist, the archaeologist could make out different colours, textures and lines of brick
walls or pits or other features. A few houses that were discovered were excavated. The
archaeologists also sieved through tons of earth to recover plant and animal remains,
and in the process identified many species of plants and animals and found large
quantities of charred fish bones that had been swept out on to the streets. Plant seeds
and fibre remained after dung cakes had been burned as fuel and thus kitchens were
identified. Living rooms were those with fewer traces. Because they found the teeth of
very young pigs on the streets, archaeologists concluded that pigs must have roamed
freely here as in any other Mesopotamian town. In fact, one house burial contained
some pig bones – the dead person must have been given some pork for his nourishment
in the afterlife! The archaeologists also made microscopic studies of room floors to
decide which rooms in a house were roofed (with poplar logs, palm leaves, straw, etc.)
and which were open to the sky.
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Cities in Mesopotamian Culture

Mesopotamians valued city life in which people of many
communities and cultures lived side by side. After cities were
destroyed in war, they recalled them in poetry.
The most poignant reminder to us of the pride Mesopotamians
took in their cities comes at the end of the Gilgamesh Epic, which
was written on twelve tablets. Gilgamesh is said to have ruled the
city of Uruk some time after Enmerkar. A great hero who subdued
people far and wide, he got a shock when his heroic friend died. He
then set out to find the secret of immortality, crossing the waters
that surround the world. After a heroic attempt, Gilgamesh failed,
and returned to Uruk. There, he consoled himself by walking along
the city wall, back and forth. He admired the foundations made of
fired bricks that he had put into place. It is on the city wall of Uruk
that the long tale of heroism and endeavour fizzles out. Gilgamesh
does not say that even though he will die his sons will outlive him,
as a tribal hero would have done. He takes consolation in the city
that his people had built.
The Legacy of Writing

While moving narratives can be transmitted orally, science requires
written texts that generations of scholars can read and build upon.
Perhaps the greatest legacy of Mesopotamia to the world is its scholarly
tradition of time reckoning and mathematics.
Dating around 1800 BCE are tablets with multiplication and division
tables, square- and square-root tables, and tables of compound interest.
The square root of 2 was given as:
1 + 24/60 + 51/60 2 + 10/603
If you work this out, you will find that the answer is 1.41421296, only
slightly different from the correct answer, 1.41421356. Students had
to solve problems such as the following: a field of area such and such
is covered one finger deep in water; find out the volume of water.
The division of the year into 12 months according to the revolution
of the moon around the earth, the division of the month into four
weeks, the day into 24 hours, and the hour into 60 minutes – all that
we take for granted in our daily lives – has come to us from the
Mesopotamians. These time divisions were adopted by the successors
of Alexander and from there transmitted to the Roman world, then to
the world of Islam, and then to medieval Europe (see Theme 7 for
how this happened).
Whenever solar and lunar eclipses were observed, their
occurrence was noted according to year, month and day. So
too there were records about the observed positions of stars
and constellations in the night sky.
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None of these momentous Mesopotamian achievements would

have been possible without writing and the urban institution of
schools, where students read and copied earlier written tablets, and
where some boys were trained to become not record keepers for the
administration, but intellectuals who could build on the work of
their predecessors.
We would be mistaken if we think that the preoccupation with the
urban world of Mesopotamia is a modern phenomenon. Let us look,
finally, at two early attempts to locate and preserve the texts and
traditions of the past.
An Early Library
In the iron age, the Assyrians of the north created an empire, at its height
between 720 and 610 BCE, that stretched as far west as Egypt. The state economy
was now a predatory one, extracting labour and tribute in the form of food,
animals, metal and craft items from a vast subject population.
The great Assyrian kings, who had been immigrants, acknowledged the
southern region, Babylonia, as the centre of high culture and the last of
them, Assurbanipal (668-627 BCE), collected a library at his capital, Nineveh
in the north. He made great efforts to gather tablets on history, epics, omen
literature, astrology, hymns and poems. He sent his scribes south to find old
tablets. Because scribes in the south were trained to read and write in schools
where they all had to copy tablets by the dozen, there were towns in Babylonia
where huge collections of tablets were created and acquired fame. And
although Sumerian ceased to be spoken after about 1800 BCE, it continued to
be taught in schools, through vocabulary texts, sign lists, bilingual (Sumerian
and Akkadian) tablets, etc. So even in 650 BCE, cuneiform tablets written as
far back as 2000 BCE were intelligible – and Assurbanipal’s men knew where
to look for early tablets or their copies.
Copies were made of important texts such as the Epic of Gilgamesh, the
copier stating his name and writing the date. Some tablets ended with a
reference to Assurbanipal:
‘I, Assurbanipal, king of the universe, king of Assyria, on whom the gods
bestowed vast intelligence, who could acquire the recondite details of
scholarly erudition, I wrote down on tablets the wisdom of the gods … And
I checked and collated the tablets. I placed them for the future in the library
of the temple of my god, Nabu, at Nineveh, for my life and the well-being
of my soul, and to sustain the foundations of my royal throne…’
More important, there was cataloguing: a basket of tablets would have a clay
label that read: ‘n number of tablets about exorcism, written by X’. Assurbanipal’s
library had a total of some 1,000 texts, amounting to about 30,000 tablets, grouped
according to subject.
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And, an Early Archaeologist!

A man of the southern marshes, Nabopolassar, released Babylonia from
Assyrian domination in 625 BCE. His successors increased their territory and
organised building projects at Babylon. From that time, even after the
Achaemenids of Iran conquered Babylon in 539 BCE and until 331 BCE when
Alexander conquered Babylon, Babylon was the premier city of the world,
more than 850 hectares, with a triple wall, great palaces and temples, a
ziggurat or stepped tower, and a processional way to the ritual centre. Its
trading houses had widespread dealings and its mathematicians and
astronomers made some new discoveries.
Nabonidus was the last ruler of independent Babylon. He writes that the
god of Ur came to him in a dream and ordered him to appoint a priestess
to take charge of the cult in that ancient town in the deep south. He writes:
‘Because for a very long time the office of High Priestess had been forgotten,
her characteristic features nowhere indicated, I bethought myself day after
day …’
Then, he says, he found the stele of a very early king whom we today
date to about 1150 BCE and saw on that stele the carved image of the Priestess.
He observed the clothing and the jewellery that was depicted. This is how
he was able to dress his daughter for her consecration as Priestess.
On another occasion, Nabonidus’s men brought to him a broken statue
inscribed with the name of Sargon, king of Akkad. (We know today that
the latter ruled around 2370 BCE .) Nabonidus, and indeed many
intellectuals, had heard of this great king of remote times. Nabonidus felt
he had to repair the statue. ‘Because of my reverence for the gods and
respect for kingship,’ he writes, ‘I summoned skilled craftsmen, and replaced
the head.’
ACTIVITY 4
Why do you think

Assurbanipal and
Nabonidus
cherished early
Mesopotamian
traditions?
2019-2020
TIMELINE
c. 7000-6000 BCE Beginning of agriculture in the northern Mesopotamian plains
c. 5000 BCE Earliest temples in southern Mesopotamia built
c. 3200 BCE First writing in Mesopotamia
c. 3000 BCE Uruk develops into a huge city, increasing use of bronze tools
c. 2700-2500 BCE Early kings, including, possibly, the legendary ruler Gilgamesh
c. 2600 BCE Development of the cuneiform script
c. 2400 BCE Replacement of Sumerian by Akkadian
2370 BCE Sargon, king of Akkad
c. 2000 BCE Spread of cuneiform writing to Syria, Turkey and Egypt;
Mari and Babylon emerge as important urban centres
c.1800 BCE Mathematical texts composed; Sumerian no longer spoken
c.1100 BCE Establishment of the Assyrian kingdom
c. 1000 BCE Use of iron
720-610 BCE Assyrian empire
668-627 BCE Rule of Assurbanipal
331 BCE Alexander conquers Bablyon
c. 1st century CE Akkadian and cuneiform remain in use
1850s Decipherment of the cuneiform script
Exercises
ANSWER IN BRIEF
1. Why do we say that it was not natural fertility and high levels of food
production that were the causes of early urbanisation?
2. Which of the following were necessary conditions and which the causes,
of early urbanisation, and which would you say were the outcome of the
growth of cities:
(a) highly productive agriculture, (b) water transport, (c) the lack of metal
and stone, (d) the division of labour, (e) the use of seals, (f) the military
power of kings that made labour compulsory?
3. Why were mobile animal herders not necessarily a threat to town life?
4. Why would the early temple have been much like a house?
ANSWER IN A SHORT ESSAY
5. Of the new institutions that came into being once city life had begun,
which would have depended on the initiative of the king?
6. What do ancient stories tell us about the civilisation of Mesopotamia?
2019-2020

Early Societies: From The Beginning of Time Writing and City Life

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1

Writing and City Life

How to Read Timelines

DATES AFRICA EUROPE

6 mya-500,000 BP Australopithecus fossils (5.6 mya)

DATES ASIA SOUTH ASIA

DATES AMERICAS AUSTRALIA / PACIFIC ISLANDS

30,000-10,000 BP Homo sapiens fossils (12,000 BP ) Paintings (20,000 BP)

4000-3000 Cultivation of cotton, bottle gourd Choose one date

1 FROM THE BEGINNING

THIS chapter traces the beginning of human existence. It was

they did not belong to a modern human. He then made a

The Story of Human Evolution

Look at these four skulls.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE HAND A

This is a view of the

The Discovery of Australopithecus, Olduvai Gorge,

The remains of early humans have been classified into different

THE POSITIVE FEEDBACK MECHANISM

The arrows pointing away from a box indicate how developments

For example, bipedalism enabled hands to be freed for carrying

Homo is a Latin word, meaning ‘man’, although there were

MAP 1(a): Africa

MAP 1(b): The East

PEOPLING OF THE WORLD

WHEN WHERE WHO

Plot the changes indicated in the chart above on an outline

The Story of Human Evolution

If you look at this chart, you will notice that

Early Humans: Ways of Obtaining Food

So far, we have been considering the evidence of skeletal remains and

(see Map 2 ). Fishing was also important, as is evident from the

From about 35,000 years ago, there is evidence of planned

We are on surer ground when we try to reconstruct the evidence

Between 400,000 and 125,000 years ago, caves and open-

As in the case of other activities, we do not know whether

THE PUNCH BLADE TECHNIQUE

(a) The top of a large pebble is removed using a hammer stone.

Modes of Communication: Language and Art

Cave Paintings at Altamira

Hundreds of paintings of animals (done between 30,000

Early Encounters with Hunter-Gatherers

Anthropology is a The Hadza

As our knowledge of present-day hunter -gatherers increased Ethnography is the

36-24 mya Primates;

TIMELINE 2 (years ago)

Earliest evidence of burials 300,000

The Rift Valley, East

ANSWER IN A SHORT ESSAY

writing and city life 2

Archaeology in Mesopotamia began in the 1840s. At one or

According to the From the mid-nineteenth century there was no stopping

MAP 1: West Asia

communication into the mountains of Iran. The south is a desert – and

The earliest cities in The Significance of Urbanism

The Warka Head

Movement of Goods into Cities

The Development of Writing

Mesopotamians wrote on tablets of clay. A scribe would wet clay