World History June 24, 2008 1st Qtr

Mesopotamia Civilization

cradle of Civilization - Iraq - Mesopotamia

Robert Braidwood:
> ample rain
> wild ancestors of domesticated flock
> edible plants

Importance of Settling
>aggricultural revolution
> need to have permanent settlements
> food sources shifted, scarcity of food
> child rearing
> Hassuna: houses, pots, aesthetic achievement

Mesopotamia 'between rivers'
Tigris - stronger current
Euphrates

- lands near the twin rivers are fertile-

> fish, water fowl
> swamps, marshes
> weather: summer (hot because it's a desert), winter (strong stormy south wind), spring (flooded)

Ubaidians
> 1st inhabitants of Mesopotamia
> farmers, builders
> intermarrying of nomads of Semitic nomads of Syrian Desert and Arabian Peninsula
> offspring are Sumerians

Ubaidians x Semitic Nomads = Sumerians

STATE	KING
kish -> Erech	ETANA -> Dumuzi, Gilgamesh
Elamites (nomads)
Adab	Lugallannemmundu
INTERMEDIATE - break, division, distortion
Lagash	Eannatum
Umma	Lugalzaggesi ->
	Sargon of Kish, Akkadia Era