local kin-based or tribal communities could have organised much of the remainder.
Because cuneiform tablets only provide a record of the state-controlled system, it is
evident that irrigation, although perhaps providing the backbone of state production,
may only have provided an unknown proportion of total production.ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Particular thanks go to the University of Chicago MASS project and colleagues for
discussions that contributed to this article: specific thanks go to Mac Gibson, Magnus
Widell, Carrie Hritz, Jonathan Tenney, Stephanie Rost, Benjamin Studevent-Hickman,
Jason Ur and Tate Paulette. I am especially grateful to the editor, Harriet Crawford, for
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–– Hydraulic landscapes and irrigation systems ––