HST 101 Lecture : 01b - First River-Valley Civilizations, 3500 - 1500 B.C.E..doc
Document Summary
00chapter 2 (second part of chapter 1 in textbook) - the first river-valley. Settled agriculture in an unstable landscape: mesopotamia is the alluvial plain area alongside and between the tigris and. The area is a difficult environment for agriculture because there is little rainfall, the rivers flood at the wrong time for grain agriculture, and the rivers change course unpredictably: mesopotamia does have a warm climate and good soil. By 4000 b. c. e. farmers were using cattle-pulled plows and a sort of planter to cultivate barley. Draft animals included cattle and donkeys and, later (second millennium b. c. e. The area has no significant wood, stone, or metal resources: the earliest people of mesopotamia and the initial creators of mesopotamian culture were the sumerians, who were present at least as early as 5000 b. c. e. 2000 b. c. e. the sumerians were supplanted by semitic-speaking peoples who dominated and intermarried with the sumerians but preserved many elements of.
