land. The Sumerian and Akkadian language also lacks a word for the overall designation
of ‘plants’. The realms of vegetation are represented by particular kinds of green
undergrowth (u 2 -sˇim), of herbs (u 2 ) grazed upon by livestock. Higher green plants
are represented by reeds (gi), the stalks of which acquire a wood-like structure in the
autumn (gisˇ-gi). Denizens of the animal world were the ‘quadrupeds’ (nig 2 -ur 2 -
limmu 2 ), especially ‘small livestock’ (udu, masˇ 2 ‘sheep, goat’), ‘cattle’ (gu 4 ) and ‘donkey’
(ansˇe) in the stock phrase masˇ 2 -ansˇe (‘domesticated animals’).
ARTIFICIAL IRRIGATIONAt the end of the prehistoric age, water and soil conditions of Mesopotamia underwent
a series of changes not exactly favourable for the development of traditional hoe
agriculture. The average annual temperatures increased while precipitation figures fell
from the optimum of 600 mm per annum down to the tricky isohyet 250 mm per
annum, all of which resulted in the emergence of extensive steppe areas. The Euphrates,
Tigris, and other watercourses relocated their riverbeds. The Persian Gulf coastal
seascape changed as well. In the age of the Ubaid- and Uruk cultures, agricultural
production shifted southwards into the alluvial sector of the Mesopotamian basin
(Nützel 2004 : 85 – 124 ). Even there, however, natural precipitation was insufficient
(Nissen 1988 : 43 , 141 – 145 ) and this triggered the development of artificial irrigation
systems. The South Mesopotamian arable consisted of artificially irrigated field systems
complemented by garden areas for growing onion-type plants (ki-sum, ‘onion fields’),
pulses and oil plants (LaPlaca and Powell 1990 : 84 – 104 ). To maintain productivity
it was necessary to put into operation complex and sophisticated water-management
facilities, such as systems of channels, retention tanks and reservoirs, as well as the
conveying of water towards individual cereal-field tracts, divided into ‘ridge-and-
furrow’ (the furrows were water trenches).^4 The building and maintenance of artificial
water-supply lines, sluices, reservoirs and water-conveying facilities (Pemberton et al.
1988 ), were all a protracted and demanding affair (Hrusˇka 1995 : 46 – 57 ). Beyond the
capacities of individual families and clans, it evolved into collective ventures of major
communities (Adams 1982 : 131 – 135 ). The construction of complex water-manage-
ment systems (Steinkeller 1988 ; Renger 1990 ) could last for generations. A new
type of work organization was needed to deal with the planning, direction and the
employment of a labour force en masse, as well as the formation of both seasonal and
permanent work gangs with foremen and labour hands, the logistics of their food and
drink supplies, etc. Economic texts contain data on labour expenditure during excava-
tion work and during the sinking and building of channels and conduit trenches by
means of simple manual tools such as hoes, spades and shovels (Renger 1990 : 35 – 36 ).
In minor channels and trenches the calculated ‘daily norm’ could rise to 6 m^3 (Powell
1988 : 163 , 165 – 166 ). A literary text, known as the Lagash King List, illustrates the
crucial importance of irrigation. It tells us that after a ‘deluge’, which swept off entire
landscapes, the gods An and Enlil restored the ‘seed of mankind’, as well as principalities
and kingdoms. But since human beings did not manage to bring water toward their
fields, Girsu of Lagash was stricken with a famine (Selz 2002 : 27 – 29 ).
The water carried by the rivers decreases steadily from July to November. They
rise between January and March, and reach peak flow between April and June when
the maxima per day differ as much as 6 m from the minima. The irrigation season
— Blahoslav Hrusˇka —