Sumer—The First Agrarian Civilization...........................................

LECTURE

And one more detail that actually strikes a very modern ring. Around

the edge of these cities, archaeologists have found evidence of sort of

shantytowns—as immigrants from the countryside tried to make a

living, often without great success, in the big cities.

H

ow did the buildup of human and material resources described in the
last lecture generate the ¿ rst tribute-taking states, the ¿ rst Agrarian
civilizations, and the ¿ rst real cities? All these developments
occurred, with surprising suddenness, just before 3000 B.C.E., in Sumer,
at the southern edge of Mesopotamia. As with earlier thresholds, many
different components were suddenly arranged into something new. Before
we go further, we need to clarify dating systems. For several lectures, I
have given dates as archaeologists do, in years “BP” or “before present.”
However, historical scholarship is dominated by a different convention,
derived ultimately from the Christian calendar, and from now on we will
shift conventions, giving dates in years “B.C.E.” (before the Common Era)
or “C.E.” (Common Era). This system is essentially identical to the older
convention of dates “B.C.” (before Christ) and “A.D.” (anno domini) but
reÀ ects a (not entirely successful) attempt to be less culturally speci¿ c. For
better or worse, the convention now dominates scholarship in world history.
To get from dates “BP” to dates “B.C.E.” or “C.E.,” you deduct 2,000 years.
So 4000 B.C.E. is the same as 6000 BP. That’s where we start, somewhere
near modern Basra.

In 4000 B.C.E., Sumer was a swampy backwater. However, lively trade
networks traversed the region, and its rich soils attracted increasing numbers
of immigrants. Between 4000 and 3000 B.C.E., climates became drier. This
made it easier to farm the land as swamps began to dry out, but eventually it
forced more and more people to settle in the region’s rapidly growing towns.
These towns controlled increasingly scarce water supplies through large
irrigation systems. In the centuries before 3000 B.C.E., 10–20 powerful cities
appeared quite suddenly. They included Ur (Abraham’s home city, according
to biblical tradition), Uruk, Nippur, Lagash, and Eridu. By 3000 B.C.E., Uruk