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The
Development of Mesopotamia Page 3
Irrigation
As presented in the Fagan text, "we do not know anything
about how the first inhabitants of the Mesopotamian floodplain
acquired or developed the skills needed to survive in their harsh
environment", but there is no doubt that irrigation was a
very important one of these skills (Fagan 2001: 395). Irrigation
is simply a way to intensify the agricultural capability of land
and support, "far higher population densities" (Fagan
2001: 373). So then how would irrigation further develop civilization?
For one, we know that irrigation was a reality in Mesopotamia
around this time. As Robert Adams found, "early Mesopotamian
irrigation consisted of cleaning natural river channels and building
only a few smaller feeder canals" (Fagan 2001: 374). While
the original canal systems were relatively simple compared to
what would come, Fagan notes that, "digging even the smallest
canal required at least a little political and social leadership"
(Fagan 2001: 395). Thus due to a large core population this is
likely the first time in Mesopotamia when we would see a social
stratification outside of one's kin group.
Another,
way that civilization would be effected from irrigation would
be from its agricultural success. With irrigation and a centralized
population and workforce, Mesopotamia would see surpluses for
the first time. Specialized economies such as that of the 'Ubaid
village would have more of a good than they could deal with, and
as both Adams and Flannery point out, "the relationship between
developing a stratified society and creating food surpluses is
close" (Fagan 2001: 395). Surpluses were also stored and
redistributed at temples in cities such as Uruk, which would require
full cooperation of the entire community to keep functioning (Fagan
2001: 397). For reasons such as this, temples became a backbone
of the developing Mesopotamian civilization. As surpluses would
further stratify society, they would also be redistributed through
another one of the forces in the development system, the expanded
trade networks.
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