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Early Mesopotamia

Early Mesopotamia. Geography and Resources Pre-historic Cultures The Beginning of Civilization. Mesopotamia: The Land Between Rivers. Mesopotamia. Tigris River (1150 miles) and Euphrates (1780 miles) Boundaries: Arabian Desert, Armenian and Zagros Mountains, Persian Gulf

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Early Mesopotamia

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  1. Early Mesopotamia Geography and Resources Pre-historic Cultures The Beginning of Civilization

  2. Mesopotamia: The Land Between Rivers

  3. Mesopotamia • Tigris River (1150 miles) and Euphrates (1780 miles) • Boundaries: Arabian Desert, Armenian and Zagros Mountains, Persian Gulf • Resources: Water and Mud: No trees for building, metals, or stone • Climate: Hot and dry with almost no rain • Rivers flooded unpredictably

  4. The Fertile Crescent

  5. Early Villages • Earliest village appears to be Jarmo • First of numerous Neolithic Farming villages • Sheep and Cattle domesticated shortly afterward • Imported obsidian from Anatolia and Armenia • First specialized technology: Ceramics

  6. Jarmo from the Air

  7. JarmoHomes

  8. Mesopotamian Proto-History • Haussuna Period 5800-5500 BCE • Samarra Period 5600-5000 BCE • Halaf Period 5500-4500 BCE • Ubiad Period 5000-3750 BCE • Uruk Period 3750-3150 BCE • Jemdat Nasr Period 3150-2900 BCE

  9. Halaf Period • Lived in Tholoi: round beehive houses • Appear to have developed government • Known for statues and figurines • Remarkable pottery, made by specialized experts only in several locations • Possibly newcomer to Mesopotamia • Limited to upper Tigris-Euphrates

  10. StereomorphicHalaf Venus

  11. Halaf Geometric Pottery

  12. The Ubiad Period • Originates near Ur, but soon very wide spread. Early Sumerians? • New people that came in after long peaceful infiltration of Halaf Culture • More numerous in South. Halaf in north • Pottery less sophisticated • Started the tradition of centering a city around a well built temple

  13. UbiadPottery

  14. Ubiad Geometric

  15. 3500 BCE: The Birth of a Civilization • Climate changes from hot and humid to cooler and drier • Population of S. Mesopotamia expands dramatically • Extensive irrigation already developed • New population clustered around Ubiad cities. Architecture developed rapidly • Social Stratification followed • 2 Centers: Uruk and Jemdat Nasr

  16. Uruk (Erech) • Between Baghdad and Basrah • Important site with continuous occupation • Originally two towns: Kullab and E-Anna • Temples similar to Ubiad architecture • Development of cylinder seals • 3300 BCE: Pictograms developed • This culture seems to have spread throughout Mesopotamia

  17. Economic Tablet from Uruk: Long Necked Jars and Numbers Only. 3000 BCE

  18. Ziggurat of Ur Nammu at Uruk

  19. Cylinder Seal Impression

  20. JemdetNasr • Town between Babylon and Baghdad • Pottery has unique features: black or red paint on red clay • Possible Iranian influence • Key contribution: revival of sculpture • Many votive dedications • Very much related to Uruk culture • Can also be considered early Sumerian

  21. Jemdet (Jemdat) Nasr Pottery

  22. The Growth of Cities • As urban cities grew, administrations became more complex • Kings eventually controlled the military, economic and religious functions • Kings controlled a royal monopoly that resulted in heavy taxation and royal codification of law • Writing slowly developed for economic records

  23. Beveled rim Bowls fromHacinebi Turkey

  24. Bulla, tokens, cylinder seal-impressed tablet, jar stoppers, and sealing.

  25. Uruk Kitchen Assemblage

  26. Bitumen in Beveled Rim Bowl

  27. Trash Heap of BRB’s

  28. Jemdat Nasr Pottery

  29. Votive Statues (Sumerian)

  30. The Growth of Cities • As urban cities grew, administrations became more complex • Kings eventually controlled the military, economic and religious functions • Kings controlled a royal monopoly that resulted in heavy taxation and royal codification of law • Writing slowly developed for economic records

  31. The Sumerian Problem • Suddenly, it seems, Sumerian writing appears • Share the culture all around them, but have unique agglutinative language • The rest are primarily Semites (Akkadians) and a few Elamites • Had same religion with other names for Gods and Goddesses

  32. A Series of Kingdoms and Empires • Mesopotamia lacked natural boundaries • The desert and mountains were the home of many different nomadic tribes • Tribes would trade and later raid, then settle and adopt the culture of their subjects • Mesopotamia was real estate that changed hands often, with cultures often dividing the territory among themselves • S. Mesopotamia: Sumeria, N: Akkad

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