CLASS110 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Absolute Dating, Enkidu, Shulgi

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Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia = “the Land Between the Rivers”
Located in modern day Iraq and Syria
Rivers make the low lying land fertile leading to settlement in early times
(very fertile compared to surrounding lands)
Tigris River (Baghdad, Iraq) and Euphrates River (Northern Iraq)
Provides water for irrigation and agriculture
Ancient “tell”
Ancient site located on higher ground (strategic location
Today is in ruin with accumulation of debris
A mound or hill where an ancient site is located
Chronology
Pre-Dynastic (protoliterate - period of first writing
) 3500-2800 BCE
Early Dynastic (old Summerian
) 2800-2350 BCE
Dynastic (first ‘empires’
) 2350-1600 BCE
Pre-Dynastic Period (protoliterate)
First urban settlements (previous people had been nomadic)
People produce their own resources in their own location
Settled agricultures
Stone and metal artifacts
Beginnings of early metal work
Previously tools had been made of stone
Wheel-made pottery
Invention of mechanism to turn wheel
Ceramics were “universal material” used for food storage, cooking, eating
e.t.c
First written script (cuneiform)
Hardened (fired) clay
An instrument (usually a reed) can be used to write or sketch in clay while
it is still wet
Pictograms= picture writings
Triangle is the symbol for a woman
When writing begins it is focused on creating images
Early Dynastic Period (Old Sumerian)
Developed cities
Sumerians were first developed culture to inhabit Mesopotamia
Kings and palaces
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Royals leave a “rich” legacy because they have control of resources
King Gudea- King of Ladash
Ur - one of the best Mesopotamian archaeological sites
Royal Cemetery
Metal artifacts
Royal Palace
“Royal Standard” of Ur
Wooden figures telling a story
Unknown what object was
Written Records
Writing is needed for record keeping (i.e laws and trade contracts)
Map of Nippur (ca. 2500 BCE) - one of the earliest maps
Cuneiform (NOT a LANGUAGE)
Script, not language
Pictograms → Ideograms (using picture symbols combined to
create “words” or new meanings” i.e mountain + woman= slave) →
Phonetic script
Reed was cut to create triangular shapes
Mathematics
Beginnings of accounting
Administrative and Legal records
Social Stratification
Presences of a ruling class (kings, noblemen) and a warrior class
Artifacts from royal tombs reveal an upper class with control over
production and use of metal
Religion and Gods
Polytheistic Religions
Cult statues
Names of gods and goddesses
Unu (sun)
Entil (sky)
Ziggurats (Sumerian temples)
Bricks were often inscribed
Stairs would be climbed to upmost shrine
Priests
Temples
Irrigation
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