Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia has given the world with the first Bronze Age civilization. The
evolution of this society from an early food producing society to metal
producing society can be clearly seen with the archaeological remains that
have been found in the region.

Before we begin with the history of the region it is necessary to look into the
geographical features of the Mesopotamia. Mesopotamia is situated roughly
in the area of the present day Iran. The history of the civilization can be said
be defined by the two major rivers that flow through this country-Tigris and
the Euphrates. These rivers flow frm North to South and flow into the Persian
Gulf. Mesopotamia has two distinct regions: north and the south. The
Northern region extends from the Zagros Mountains in the north to the
middle Tigris. On the west this region is bound by the Syrian Desert. During
ancient times this region was often called Assyria.

The Southern region is the region lying roughly between the middle Tigris and
the Persian Gulf. This region is around 400 km long and 100 km across. In the
east it is bordered by Iran. In the west there is an unending stretch of desert
which merges with the Arabian Desert. This part of the land was flat with no
stones or rocks. It is arid with scanty rainfall. Itis with the help of Euphrates
and Tigris that cultivation became possible in the region and so did habitation
also.

At the beginning of the historical period the southern most part of the
Mesopotamia was known as Sumer and the area in between Sumer and the
Northern Mesopotamia was known as Akkad In fact Sumer and Akkad
together can be said to have constituted the Mesopotamian civilization.
From around 2000 BC Sumer and Akkad are together sometimes referred to
as Babylonia.

Some of the earliest Neolithic settlements are located in northern

Mesopotamia. The Zagros mountain foothills have been identified as the part
of the West Asian in which evidence of the beginning of food production
have been found. This goes back to around 10000 BP. Later the important
settlement of Jarmo came up in the area. One of the reasons for the beginning
of food production in the region was due to the availability of adequate
rainfall which sustained crops without irrigation. Winter rainfall sustained
crops like wheat and Barley.

Between 8000 BC and 6000 BC many Neolithic villages came up in Northern

Mesopotamia. One among which was Jarmo. The village of Jarmo had multi-
roomed houses. The houses had mud walls and contained two or more
rooms. They also had ovens and storage basins. Food production was a
major activity. The people of Jarmo cultivated Wheat and Barley.

By 6000 BC food production had become widespread leading to the

emergence of three successive Neolithic cultures: Hassuna (6000-5500 BC);
Samarra (5500-5000 BC); and Halaf (5500-4500 BC). All three were
products of the Northern Mesopotamian environment. With the
development of these cultures, food production replaces food gathering
and hunting in Mesopotamia. Another feature of this culture was the
manufacture of beautiful handmade pottery.

The Hassuna culture was spread over the Northern region of Mesopotamia.
The Hassuna Neolithic villages had structures for storing grain. Sickles with
stone blades were widely used. Other types of stone tools discovered include
javelins. Hassuna pottery was painted and decorated with geometric
designs. This is evidence of hunting but this was now a secondary activity.

The Hassuna culture was followed by the Samarra culture. By this time
people were settling along the middle Tigris also. Winter rainfall was scare
in these areas which were on the margins of the southern Mesopotamian
region. Therefore Samarrans had to rely on irrigation on a small scale to
cultivate the land. At Choga Mami the village was also protected by a ditch.
All these point towards a more complex social organization.

The Halafian culture represents the most advanced stage of the

development of the Neolithic in Northern Mesopotamia. This culture lasted for
nearly thousand years. Tiny beads of copper have been found at some
Halafian sites. These were made of copper which was found on the surface
rather than which was mined. However stones also continued as materials
for tool making. The Halafians produced pottery of outstanding quality. The
pottery was painted and slightly glazed. It was fired at a very high
temperature which gave it a characteristic shine.

The process of settlement in Southern Mesopotamia began a little before

5000 BC. The settlement of Southern Mesopotamia could have taken place
also with the help of artificial irrigation. Although there was hardly any
rainfall in the region, the soil was really fertile, provided that it was
irrigated. The earliest settlements were on the banks of Tigris and
Euphrates. Subsequently canals were dug to carry water to the areas of
cultivation.

With the settlement of Southern Mesopotamia three new Neolithic cultures

developed in the region. The earliest one was the al-Ubaid culture (5000-
4000 BC). This was followed by the Uruk Culture (4000-3200 BC) and finally
the Jemdet Naser period (3200-3000 BC) which ended with the emergence
of Sumerian civilization.

The al-Ubaid culture was the first attempt to adapt to the environment of
southern Mesopotamia. Wheat and barley was grown with irrigation, goat
and sheep were reared and fish procured from the Euphrates and the Tigris.
The date palms in the area would have also supplemented the diet of the
people. There was also evidence of the use of metal although on a small scale,
which was mainly copper. Metallurgy is a complex process and the first
steps might have been taken by the potters who were acquainted with
furnaces that would generate temperatures of up to 1200 degree Celsius
which was used for firing the pottery. This technical know how could not
have been too hard to be transferred to copper. However copper was soft
metal and was not much effective in making tools and implements until
Bronze was made from alloying tin and copper by the end of the Neolithic.

Although the Halafians had initiated the use of clay for making bricks, it
was during the Ubaid period that bricks were used extensively for
constructing dwelling places. This was due to the fact that hardly any
stones were available for construction in Southern Mesopotamia. The
bricks were initially sun dried and not baked. The pottery was made by hand
and not by wheel.

The development of Southern Mesopotamia was entirely dependent on

the system of irrigation. However small or crude the irrigation system was,
it requires that a group of people should pool together their resources and
planning and coordination is also necessary. People have to coordinate with
each other over a long period of time and for all of this their needs to be a
social organization which would govern this cooperation between
individuals. It is now recognized that temples played the role of this social
organization. From small shrines at the beginning of the Ubaid period the
temples grew into massive structures. The religious, social, cultural,
economic and political life of the settlements of southern Mesopotamia
revolved around them. Excavations held at Eridu have brought to light a huge
temple built with mud bricks.

From the time of the al-Ubaid period onwards, temples were the mechanism
for upkeep of canals and supervision was done by the temple priests and
personnel, who soon accumulated expertise in the matter. This was used for
evolving more efficient techniques and as well as for asserting the
authority of the temple. Gradually temples were transformed into centres of
political control. This process was spread over several centuries.

The next culture in line was the Uruk culture. This culture has yielded us the
earliest evidence of wheel, writing and plough. With the Uruk culture we
move from prehistory to protohistory. Uruk was Sumerian settlement
near the river Euphrates. Uruk period also saw the development of wheel
turned pottery which was initially slow wheel turned pottery followed by
the fast wheeled turned pottery. Wheels could be made only with metal
tools. Metal axes and saws made it easier shape wood into round shapes.
In other words, the progress of metallurgy and wheel making was closely
interlinked. Wheels were subsequently adapted for use in transportation.
Carts were later fitted with a wheel which involved a lot of craftsmanship
and explains that there were specialist carpenters in Uruk. Pottery making
and metallurgy too became specialized.
In agriculture the introduction of the plough was the main breakthrough.
Ploughs required much less labour than digging sticks which was so far
being used for the purpose.

A large number of seals have been found in the region. There are mainly two
types: stamp seals and cylindrical seals. The seals were most probably used
to indicate the ownership of the goods. Stamp seals often depicted animals
or plants.

The most outstanding achievement of the Uruk period was the development
of writing. There were a lot of transactions which were taking place in
Sumeria and people found it difficult to keep track of all stocks and exchanges.
So the use of written script was pioneered to maintain durable record of
transactions rather than rely on memory alone. Clay tablets were used for
writing. Impressions were made on these clay tablets with a hard pointed
device. These clay tablets were then dried in sun or baked in an oven to
preserve it. The earliest such tablets were the temple accounts and ration lists.
They were crude pictures of objects like fish, sheep, goat, ears of barley etc.
called Pictograms. This later got simplified and led to the development of the
Sumerian cuneiform script.

Towards the end of the Uruk period several settlements in Sumeria had grown
into cities and this transition continued into the Jemdet Naser period. Gordon
childe calls this phenomenon as ‘urban revolution’.

Division of periods from 4500 BC-2000 BC into different stages or phases

I Sumerian

2 Akkadian

3 Babylonian

Or

1 pre literate

2 proto literate

3 Literate

Or

1 pre dynastic

2 early dynastic 1

3 “ 2

4 early dynastic 3

Early dynastic period starts after the proto literate period

-Al Ubaid

-Al uruk

-Jemdet naser these are the periods of the first stage of the rise and growth of
civilization.

The proto literate period finishes at 2750 (will also cover the Jemdet Naser
period)

Relationship between environment and origin of sites

a)art and architecture

b)society and economy

c)political structure

d)writing

e)religion rights and rituals

(evolution of this over the last 2000 years)

-Status of women

-punishments and

-division

C)emergence and growth of state

()lugal/king/ his position in the course of time an dthe functions of the state)

e)gods and goddesses