UNDERSTANDING THE RISE OF CIVILIZATION
Reed Culture, Reed Technology, and the Reed industry together created the foundation for the establishment and growth of Mesopotamian cities.
I am perhaps the first researcher to tie all three of these together as all three were essential.
Moreover the combination of these three also created a powerful innovative force that allowed the machinery (so to speak) to advance. Reeds were not only practical but had a mythic aspect.
However, for a variety of reasons, the importance of reed crafts have not been given the full consideration that it deserved by modern researchers. This has been overlooked because the development of writing, the rise of brick central cities, large temples, and a central administration were felt to be much more important.
They all were, of course, very important. The huge buildings, granaries, temples, and central administration defined what a city was. However, the reed industry was perhaps the 2nd largest industry after agriculture. Port receipts for delivered cargo point in this direction. As I said, reed technology laid the foundation for these cities and needs to be included in any definition of a Mesopotamian city.
I wrote this article because I realized that the story of these three parts of Mesopotamian cities had not been told. Reeds were absolutely crucial from the beginning and continued to be central. If we want to understand how civilization began and how it took hold in Mesopotamia, we need to have accurate information. We need to see the whole picture.
This article is very short and references early articles that go into much greater detail. Please read them if you are interested
Overview
Mesopotamia had access to a virtually endless supply of high-quality wild reeds that grew in the marshes, but at the same time it had very little wood, or stone, or metal. So they learned to make the most of what they had, which included naturally occurring bitumen (asphalt) that could work as a glue or for waterproofing.
The Culture
Working with reeds, and making baskets in particular, had a very practical purpose along with a deeply mythic aspect. Baskets provided a way to create and dredge canals that became the heart of Mesopotamian cities. These canals provided a way to get water from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, to create flood control when the rivers overflowed, and to create an intricate highway system for goods and communication. From earliest times, these canals, made with baskets, created and shaped the terrain that Mesopotamia became.
Woven reed items were seen as beginning in mythic time. In one creation story, the god Marduk made land by weaving a mat he placed upon the waters and then adding dirt on top of that to make land.
In another myth, the principal god Enlil, god of the wind, air, earth, and storms, declared, "The pickax and the basket build cities," And all through Mesopotamian history, in virtually all cities, the ruler of a city performed a basket ritual to consecrate the building of a ziggurat, a principal large sacred monument.
Early on, this reed culture, inherited from the previous Neolithic cultures, could make a wide range of baskets for dredging canals and carrying grain. A diverse early technology allowed the Mesopotamians to weave reeds in a variety of ways; for example, some baskets were open, and some closed, some soft and others hard. Each weave and construction had a specific purpose, which led to the creation of the vast network of canals. Also agriculture in particular needed a wide variety of reed tools to plant, grow, and harvest. Because baskets had shaped the land that became Mesopotamia, they were held in high regard.
LEFT: Detail of a statue of an Assyrian king performing
the basket-bearing ritual circa 700 BCE.
the basket-bearing ritual circa 700 BCE.
RIGHT: One of many Foundation figures
showing the king with a basket on his head
that was buried in the construction when a ziggurat was built.
showing the king with a basket on his head
that was buried in the construction when a ziggurat was built.
Reed Technology
Before the rise of the central cities, farm towns and villages were in place. The later technology built on the skills of these earlier towns. Large mudhifs, cathedral-like reed buildings made entirely of reeds, were constructed. Large seafaring boats made of reeds plied the waters of the Persian Gulf, intricate canals made with baskets served as virtual highways, and fleets of small reed boats served these rising cities to bring grain and to facilitate communication. Sacks of grain based on fiber weaving skills were used to transport grain. Advanced reed technology was used throughout the Mesopotamian system of grain storage. The importance of grain storage has often been often been overlooked, but effective storage was key to the survival of a city. Insect infestations and mold were a regular problem.
There are over 100 words related to reed work and fabrication that have been identified from the Mesopotamian period. As anthropologists know, a word and a name usually indicate something of importance.
The Reed Industry
When reeds were handled as material it was usually in the form of reed bundles. Several port receipts show that reed bundles were the largest part of a shipment.
One of the mistaken ideas about Mesopotamia is that the cities were at the core of urban development. While beautiful buildings and cities built of brick were central to a city's existence and identity, only about 20%-30% lived in these areas, while another 70%- 80% lived outside in the farms and villages. And it was they who supplied the essential grain and the food for the central cities. In the terminology of today, these outlying towns would be part of an urban complex known today as MSAs (Metropolitan Statistical Areas). In other words, the magnificent central cities were dependent on the farming areas, because they required their grain to survive. These farms, villages, and towns were often built with extensive reed technology.
But it was not only the farms and villages that needed reeds for housing and agriculture, thousands of boats made of reeds were critical; canals continued to be dug and managed and woven sacks delivered grain. Even the bricks for the central cities relied on reeds or similar vegetable matter, as they were mixed in with the clay to bind material together.
At no point did the importance of reed work, reed technology, and the need for reed items disappear or even decline. For example, we know for certain that soldiers used reed boats as they were clearly drawn in the bas relief of a Assyrian military campaign around 700 BC, showing the use of these boats.
Even the advanced development of writing depended on reed technology, as the skill of writing needed reeds. Cuneiform developed gradually with the use of reed pens on clay tablets. The pens that were used to write on a clay cuneiform tablets were reed pens. For example, in Sumerian the word for pen was: gi-dub-ba (literally meaning "reed of the tablet" or "tablet-reed")
DIRECT EVIDENCE FROM MESOPOTAMIA
Continued use of reed boats for thousands of years
BOTTOM: Bas-relief: "The Assyrian military campaign in the marches of southern Iraq. This campaign was conducted against the Chaldeans in 700-699 BCE...Assyrian soldiers captured fled enemies on a reed boat."
TOP: Drawing made from that same bas-relief.
(King, Leonard. A History of Babylon. London, Chatto and Windus, 1915, p. 201.)
This bas-relief shows that thousands of years after the end of the Ubaid Neolithic era, reed boats were being built and used.
(King, Leonard. A History of Babylon. London, Chatto and Windus, 1915, p. 201.)
This bas-relief shows that thousands of years after the end of the Ubaid Neolithic era, reed boats were being built and used.
Image of reed building.
This image of a reed house on a Sumerian ceremonial trough from the 3rd Millennium shows that these houses were still an important part of the Mesopotamian landscape even as many buildings were being constructed of brick.
(The British Museum, WA 120000, neg. 252077)
The Crucial Importance
of Basket Weaving Technology
for the World's First Civilizations
MESOPOTAMIAN MISCONCEPTIONS:
Incorrect Assumptions and
Misinterpretations of Sumerian Technology
WHY WAS THIS NOT NOTICED BY EARLIER RESEARCHERS
Researchers were not wrong to focus on the importance of the central cities and temples made of brick, but this point of view was limited. The foundation for the cities came from the reed culture, and this needed to be understood as essential.
Understanding the reed culture was not something that modern researchers knew how to do. And this was especially true because there was almost no evidence of ancient reed work since reeds decayed and left little trace.
Furthermore, most saw each type of woven fiber item as separate. So the history of baskets, which were not well respected, and small boats, and woven fiber sealed with bitumen for levees, and small reed huts, and seafaring boats along with huge precise mudhif ceremonial buildings -- all of which were made with reeds -- were each seen as belonging to a different category. And few researchers made the connection that they all involved woven reeds or fibers.
Most were also more familiar with ancient building materials such as stone, metal, and wood that were constructed at right angles so they saw the central Mesopotamian cities made of right-angled bricks as the heart of these new civilizations.
As I have pointed out in a previous blog-article, the greatest barrier to understanding the past may be our preconceptions and an inability to see the world through the eyes of a person living in a certain time period.
====================================
Biases May Be the Main Obstacles
To Our Understanding of the Prehistoric Past
Misconceptions About The Neolithic Era
Incorrect Assumptions And
Modern Biases
Have Prevented A Full Understanding
Of The Neolithic Era
By Rick Doble
Reed and woven-fiber technology at its height.
[TOP] This large reed boat is an artist's conception of a boat docking at a Mesopotamian city around 5000 years ago. While a fanciful painting, it is probably not an inaccurate representation of the highly developed reed technology at that time.
While still in the public domain, the link to this picture is no longer available.
[BOTTOM] Like reed cathedrals, large vaulted mudhifs, as they are called, were made entirely from reeds, including the rope. The largest and best-made ones were used for ceremonial purposes and community gatherings. The interiors often displayed dazzling patterns of light as the light came through the intricate weaving work.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mudhif_Reception_Hall_(30943793762).jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mudhif_Reception_Hall_(30943793762).jpg
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