Mesopotamia:A Dificult Environment & Intro
What are the earliest datings of cities in the southern region of Mesopotamia?
3500 B.C.E
What was one of the areas that had good conditions for growing crops in northern Mesopotamia?
The rolling foothills of the Zagros mountains
In spring the rain and melted snow caused what
Floods in the plains
What could one clogged canal do?
Disturb the whole system
When did our small Sumarien villages turn into large walled cities?
Around 3500 B.C.E
What were the city walls made
Sun-baked bricks
The wooded hills provided what for the neolithic people?
Timber for building shelters and stones for tools
What did Sumerian farmers make to keep the water supply controlled
They created an irrigation system
What did farmers have to do for the common good?
All work together
What were some of the problems farmers had between living in the foothills and the river valley?
Food shortages and uncontrolled water
Small Neolithic villages grew into what?
Large complex cities
Zagros foothills running out of land to grow crops caused what?
Food shortages
What did the farmers build to keep the river from flooding?
Levees
Having to constantly keep up with the canals what happened between villages?
they worked together and made big groups and turning into cities
What did the Sumerians do when they were in a food shortage and had uncontrollable water?
They built irrigation systems to control the water and help their crops that connected from village to village
In the plains _______ _________ where hard to find
building materials
What season did the rivers flood bringing water to the land?
Spring
What did they do to the levees and what did it do for the crops?
They pocked hols in them allowing it to flow to the crops
What did some people in the cities upriver do to the canals?
They built new canals and sometimes blocked other downriver city's canals
Why did the villages fight with each other?
Other villages wouldn't clean out their canals blocking water for villages downriver
The northern part of Mesopotamia was ____ and received ______
hilly and rain
What made people move to the foothills?
The need for food
Over time what else did the farmers add to the irrigation system?
Canals/ditches dams making the water collect in a big puddle for storing
What did the Sumerian city-states start doing to protect themselves from the fighting?
They built walls and moats around their cities
What did villages do when fights broke out?
They decided to join together making walled cities with their own canals