Also significant are the somewhat later Sumerian literary compositions, dating after
2000 BC. Since agricultural technology was fairly conservative and did not change
much over time, these early records are important for the understanding of the
fundamental techniques of Mesopotamian farming.^2
Although Mesopotamians obviously were in close contact with their natural
environment, it is surprising that in cuneiform texts^3 there are few assessments of
the relation between humans and water, soil and nature in general. The Sumerians
and Babylonians visualized Earth as a flat body floating on a ‘Sweet-water Sea’, the
source of rivers, wells and springs, as well as of groundwater. Like the Earth, the Sky
had also its ‘interior’, ‘height’, horizon, border and cardinal directions. The heavenly
bodies (Sun, Moon, stars) and all atmospheric phenomena such as heat, cold, rain,
wind and storm, were perceived as deities coming from Heaven and proceeding from
horizon to horizon, from the east to the west or from the north to the south.
There was no word for the overall designation of ‘soil’. The lexemes ki (place, spot)
and sah
̆
ar (clay, dust) both refer to the inhabited and exploited segments of the
landscape in contrast to the untilled ‘steppe’ in which sheep, goats and cattle grazed
seasonally. Landscapes were animated by ‘living’ people, animals and plants. All
human beings and the whole of humanity bowed to the will of gods and tilled their
— Agricultural techniques —Figure 4. 1 Archaic sign for ‘ard’, ‘farmer’ and ‘to plough’
(Green and Nissen 1987 : 176 : 33 ).