There is no evidence on the number and positions of field threshing floors, halfway
storage facilities and transport areas. The ‘Farmer’s Instructions’ emphasize the need
to trace out access space for the storage of grain and to clean the threshing-floor
bottom thoroughly prior to the beginning of the harvest in areas lying fallow over
shorter annual period.^29 The threshing floor, prepared beforehand by levelling using
heavy timber, was to remain untouched for five days, perhaps with the intention of
letting the threshing surface dry sufficiently.
NOTES
1 Archaeological finds relating directly to field systems – agricultural implements, remains of
cultural plants or bones of domesticated animals – are very rare.
2 The agricultural production of pastoral nomads, active in the dry-farming zone remains outside
the scope of this study.
3 Eyre ( 1995 : 176 ); Hrusˇka ( 1990 : 31 – 33 , 401 – 403 ); Hopkins ( 1997 : 22 – 25 ).
4 Pettinato ( 1967 : I/ 116 – 37 ; 1969 : 32 – 38 ).
5 a-de 2 ‘pouring out of water’, ki-duru 5 ‘wet place’; Civil ( 1994 : 1 – 2 , 28 – 29 , 67 – 70 ; verses 2 – 7 ).
6 Civil ( 1994 : 30 – 31 , 88 – 89 ; verses 67 – 73 ).
7 eden, meaning also ‘steppe’.
8 tir ‘orchard, wood’.
9 asˇa 5 -sˇuku(KUR 6 ).
10 (asˇa 5 -sˇe-mu 2 -a).
11 (asˇa 5 -sˇe).
12 Main individual cereal types: sˇe, gig, ziz 2 ; see Powell 1984.
13 Common expression ansˇe, kunga = BAR.AN, perhaps for E. asinus, E. caballusand E. hemionus.
14 itu-amar-a-a-si-ga
15 Verses 83 – 86 , in contrast to ‘Farmer’s Instructions’, verses 3 – 12 ; Civil ( 1994 : 28 – 29 , 68 – 72 ).
16 Verses 95 – 101 , Hrusˇka ( 1985 , 57 – 59 ).
17 Hrusˇka 1985 , 1988 ; 1990 , I 110 – 115 , II 443 – 445 , 456 – 465.
18 ‘Farmer’s Instructions’, verses 30 – 34 , 54 – 59 ; Hrusˇka ( 1990 : 453 – 455 ); Civil ( 1994 : 28 – 31 ,
76 – 78 , 84 – 86 ).
19 Verses 32 – 37 ; Civil ( 1994 : 77 – 79 ).
20 lu-gu 2 ; ‘Farmer’s Instructions’, verses 12 , 58 ; Civil ( 1976 : 89 ; 1994 : 28 – 31 , 86 ).
21 Hrusˇka ( 1990 : I 117 – 118 , II 313 , 471 – 472 ).
22 Verses 46 – 47 , 60 – 62 ; Civil ( 1994 : 30 – 31 , 81 – 82 , 86 – 87 ).
23 In verses 13 – 21.
24 Verses 26 – 27.
25 Hrusˇka ( 1988 : 142 – 144 ; 1990 : 112 – 114 , 449 – 452 ).
26 ‘Farmer’s Instructions’: verses 41 – 45 ; Civil ( 1994 : 30 – 31 , 79 – 8 ).
27 Verses 46 , 50 – 51 ; see Powell ( 1984 a: 53 – 54 , 57 , 62 ).
28 Butz and Schröder ( 1985 : 172 – 174 ); Postgate ( 1984 ).
29 Verses 90 – 95 : Civil ( 1994 : 32 – 33 , 93 – 94 ).
REFERENCESAdams, R. McC. 1982 ‘Die Rolle des Bewässerungsbodenbau bei der Entwicklung von Institutionen
in der altmesopotamischen Gesellschaft’. In: Produktivkräfte und Gesellschaftsformationen in
vorkapitalistischer Zeit. Joachim Hermann, ed., pp. 131 – 148. Berlin: Akademie–Verlag.
Butz, K. 1980 – 1983 ‘Landwirtschaft’. Reallexikon der Assyriologie, Vol. 6 , pp. 470 – 486. Berlin and
New York: W. de Gruyter.
–––– and Schröder, P. 1985 ‘Zu den Getreideerträgen in Mesopotamien und in dem Mittel-
meergebiet’. Baghdader Mitteilungen 16 : 165 – 209.
— Agricultural techniques —