Академический Документы
Профессиональный Документы
Культура Документы
julian R eade
LITERA S C RIPTA MANET
MESOPOTAMIA.
Contents I
1991 The Tru stees of the British
Museum
Introd uctio n 6
Towards civilization 28
Epilogue 84
WCIB3QQ
fir st published 1991
Second edition 2000
Reprinted 2005
Julian Reade has asserted his right
to be identified as the author of this
work.
A catalogue record for this book is
available from the British Library
ISBN 0 7141 2181 9
ISBN 9 780714 121819
Further reading 88
Chronology 89
List of ill ustrations with
dimensions 93
Index 95
.-
Towards agricultu re
Our information therefore derives main ly from small village se ttlements, which arc easy to find in the north Mesopotamian steppe, and
from a handfu l of sites e lsewhere. T hough hardly represen ta tive, these
partial r ema ins ill ustrate t he fu ndamen t a l subsis tence act iv ities of prehistoric people. T heir beliefs and methods of social organi7.ation are less
accessible.
The first few thousand years (say, 10,000-6000 Be, but dates at th is
remote period can easily be out by a t housand years or more) cover
what is often called the Neo lith ic revolut ion. T his t erm oversimplifies a
complica ted process t hat began earlier and is st ill incomplete today, but
essentially it describes t he crit ical phase duri ng wh ich man ceased to rely
on hunting wild animals and collecting wi ld p lants to eat, and instead
carne to re ly mai n ly on herded ani mals and de liber ately p lanted food
crops.
The t ran sition from hunting to herd ing is an obvious one, as
people followed or waylaid anima ls on t he ir seasona l migra tions, and
method ical exploitation became deliberate management. Often t hese
activities involved movement over long distances, as an imals needed
c.. _ _, _