I'm trying to find out what kinds of crops may have been grown in ancient Sumer along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. I've been unable to find details about specific crops through Google searches, so I was wondering if there was anyone here who might know better than I.
I assume that the Sumerians grew many of the same crops as the Egyptians, given the similarity of their climate: dates, cabbage, barley, flax, and wheat. Can anyone confirm any of those?
Soviet Narco State
01-05-2005, 18:27
Wikipedia says:
The Sumerians grew barley, chickpeas, lentils, millet, wheat, turnips, dates, onions, garlic, lettuce, leeks and mustard. They also farmed cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs. They used oxen as their primary beasts of burden and donkeys as their primary transport animal. Sumerians hunted fish and fowl.
Sumerian agriculture depended heavily on irrigation. The irrigation was accomplished by the use of shadufs, canals, channels, dykes, weirs, and reservoirs. The canals required frequent repair and continual removal of silt. The government required individuals to work on the canals, although the rich were able to exempt themselves.
Using the canals, farmers would flood their fields and then drain the water. Next they let oxen stomp the ground and kill weeds. They then dragged the fields with pickaxes. After drying, they plowed, harrowed, raked thrice, and pulverized with a mattock.
Sumerians harvested during the dry fall season in three-person teams consisting of a reaper, a binder, and a sheaf arranger. The farmers would use threshing wagons to separate the cereal heads from the stalks and then use threshing sleds to disengage the grain. They then winnowed the grain/chaff m
Many thanks! I should get around to bookmarking wikipedia someday.
Soviet Narco State
01-05-2005, 18:32
Many thanks! I should get around to bookmarking wikipedia someday.
If you use firefox you can just set it so there is always a wikipedia search box on your screen. It is especially useful for debates on nationstates where someone brings up an argument or fact that you know nothing about and you have to research real fast so you don't look stoopid.