Mesopotamia

The Start of Agrarian Societies

The advent of agriculture changed how people lived. It is widely believed that this change started in Mesopotamia, the site of modern day Iraq, and is often called the Cradle of Civilization and the Fertile Crescent. Look at the map of the Fertile Crescent. Many parts of the world, such as where we live, is good farming land. The huge advantage that Mesopotamia had was access to crops and animals that can be easily farmed and domesticated.

Consider some of the crops and animals that they had access to and what this meant to changing their lifestyle from a hunter and gatherer to a farmer.   

Like where we live, ancient farmers in Mesopotamia had to deal with flooding and drought. They came up with an interesting solution. Click here and try your hand at being a Mesopotamia farmer. 

Sadly the above game is currently not working. In the meantime, here is a video we will discuss in class about a student in Mesopotamia and how farming was done.

Farming and Society

Civilization-as in the movie above, can be defined as a culture that meets all its food needs from farming. Below are some other definitions from a dictionary.  

 "the act or process of civilizing, as by bringing out of a savage, uneducated, or unrefined state, or of being civilized"

"the stage of human social development and organization that is considered most advanced"

1. How might the above common two definitions from a dictionary civilization be ethnocentric? 

2. What is the general difference in opinion in the 2 movie clips about how agriculture changed society?