MESOPOTAMIAN MISCONCEPTIONS:
Incorrect Assumptions and
Misinterpretations of Sumerian Technology
This article is a follow-up to my previous article
and repeats some of that information.
For more detail please read this earlier article:
and repeats some of that information.
For more detail please read this earlier article:
ABSTRACT
In my previous article
and in this one, I set out to examine different stages of technology in the development of the world's first civilizations in Mesopotamia. In each case, I offer evidence to support my conclusions.
#1. Neolithic technology, especially technology involving the use of reeds and weaving, was highly advanced long before the beginning of Sumerian civilizations. Many of these technologies were based on 'basket weaving technology' and were involved in the creation of a wide variety of products from bitumen treated basket-buckets used in irrigation to large reed ships.
#2. These advanced Neolithic technologies formed the bedrock, the foundation, for the emergence of these civilizations. These technologies were crucial, for example, to the development of irrigation and dredging the canals.
#3. When more advanced technologies appeared such as copper, bronze, and fired bricks (many treated with bitumen), the earlier technologies played a supporting role and were involved in their development and their production.
#4. Although new technologies emerged, they did not entirely replace the older technology which continued to be used in a variety of roles both traditional and in support of the new technologies.
#5. There have been many misconceptions about the rise of civilization in Mesopotamia which has made it hard to grasp the 'big picture'. Housing made of reeds, for example, may have been much more widespread than previously thought and a huge fleet of reed boats and coracles made with reeds may have been as important, if not more important, than the large wooden ships that were developed to haul heavy cargoes and to import goods from distant ports. In addition there was an extensive reed industry that existed from Neolithic times and continued with the Sumerian civilizations but this industry has not been properly identified.
INTRODUCTION
After I finished writing my previous article about Mesopotamia, I found several statements from noted authorities that questioned assumptions many scholars had made. In particular, housing, shipping, irrigation, and the use of reeds may have been misunderstood or misinterpreted. But many other important parts of Sumerian technology may have been glossed over as well. So in addition to the particular misconceptions just listed, there may have been a general misunderstanding of Sumerian technology.
Modern assumptions about Mesopotamian cultures and the birth of civilization may have clouded the view of their development. As anthropologists know all too well researchers can unknowingly impose contemporary thinking onto ancient societies and as a result, misinterpret their way of life and their history.
For example, in our modern era technology changes and their acceptance have become the norm. Just in my lifetime, recording formats have gone from 78 records to 45s to 33 10" monaural records, to 33 12" (Long Play) stereo records to cassette tape cartridges to CDs, to music in the cloud. Each one of these formats was accepted and the standard for a decade or so until the next format unseated it and then the new format became the standard. Cars replaced horses and computers replaced typewriters. This list could go on and on.
So, I believe, this modern assumption about the acceptance of more 'advanced' technologies and the dominance of the latest advance has led people to believe that this must have happened in ancient societies as well. While this may have been true in some instances, it may not have been true in others.
There were a number of new developing technologies in Mesopotamia that became integral parts of their cultures. These newer technologies included irrigation, the mass production of sun-baked bricks and fired bricks, the smelting of copper and bronze, the availability of a variety of imported wood, the mass production of pottery, the invention of writing and writing on clay tablets, and the invention of the wheel and wheeled carts. However, in many cases, the older technology continued to be used as well. And in many cases, the older technology provided critical support for the new technology.
In this article, I will also make a larger point. I believe that 'basket weaving technology' or 'woven-fiber technology' as I have suggested it be called, was a very old technology that began in the Paleolithic era and became quite sophisticated by the Neolithic era.
The term 'basket weaving technology' needs to be understood as a general term that applies to hats, baskets, boats, and large houses. This technology was well established in early Mesopotamia and was crucial for the initial development of the Sumerian cities. Later this technology provided critical support for the newer technologies. It is also important to recognize that it continued to play a major role in the culture and everyday life of these societies.
Basket weaving technology and the associated reed industry underpinned Sumerian cultures and technologies from the earliest days and continued in this role all through the time that these cities existed.
For example, 'basket weaving technology' provided skills that were needed to help engineer irrigation, i.e., to dredge and manage the intricate canals and levees and to water the fields. Without basket weaving technology this would have been impossible. And without irrigation, the first Sumerian civilizations could not have happened.
'Basket weaving technology' was also used with the developing copper and bronze technologies and provided support for many other Sumerian inventions and innovations as well. I will go into more detail later in this article about each new technology and how it was supported and affected by basket weaving technology.
So to sum it up, the earliest civilizations in Sumer were based on a 'reed industry' and a 'basket weaving technology'. And these earlier technologies were as important as the later remarkable inventions and innovations and remained important all during the time that these cities existed.
ABOUT THE EARLIEST TECHNOLOGY IN MESOPOTAMIA
LEFT: 9,000-Year-Old Jordian Neolithic StatueIt utilized a "Woven Reed Core Wrapped Tightly With Twine"
RIGHT: Neolithic reed basket from Fayum Egypt
It has been established that sophisticated large reed ships (Carter, "Boat remains and maritime trade in the Persian Gulf during sixth and fifth millennia BC") and also houses made of reeds had been developed in the Neolithic era before the beginning of Sumerian cities and the world's first civilization arose. Basket weaving technology and reed technology were equally well developed in the Neolithic time period as shown by sculptures based on a reed core and findings of Neolithic baskets.
Please read my previous article about
the Neolithic technology that preceded
the development of civilization in Mesopotamia.
This is a model of Thor Heyerdahl's recreation of a reed ship, named the Tigris, which he built and sailed successfully in 1978. It covered 6800 kilometers during a voyage of 143 days, proving that large reed ships could have been constructed and were capable of carrying more than 25 tons. ("The Tigris expedition: a National Geographic special")
So the question I ask is this: How big a role did basket weaving technology play in the development of Sumerian cities which led to the world's first civilization? I maintain that the role was not only fundamental but critical. Civilization could not have occurred without these well-developed technologies that were available from the start. They formed the bedrock, the underpinning for all that came afterward, and furthermore, they continued to play an important role in the ongoing life of the world's first cities.
REED HOUSING: MUDHIFS & RABAS
Long before the rise of civilization in Sumer, reed houses were being built in the Neolithic era.
"Reed buildings were constructed from as early as the preceding Ubaid Period." [ED: Neolithic Period]
(Perkins, The Comparative Archaeology of Early Mesopotamia, p. 88)
3 views of mudhifs.
Modern researchers have assumed that once bricks and brick houses became widely available they almost completely replaced earlier housing made of reeds, known as grass houses or rabas, and large community buildings known as mudhifs. But this did not happen to the extent most researchers have maintained.
It is true that most agree early housing was based on reed structures since quality reeds were plentiful and Mesopotamians were skilled at making reed structures.
"The predominance of reeds, reed bundles, and reed structures points to their significance to early Sumerian economies."
(Pournelle, The Sumerian World Edition, pp. 28-29)
"The creative genius of these people emerged early - about 4500 B.C. - as they adapted to their harsh marshy environment. In a land barren of trees and without any stone quarries, they built astounding shelters of the only material available: fragile marsh reeds - bundling the reeds together with bulrush fiber, constructing frameworks of reed columns, roofing the structure with reed matting..."
(Bilkadi, "Bitumen - A History")
(Bilkadi, "Bitumen - A History")
But later when brick had become common, reed houses were still built for a large number of the population so the general assumption by scholars that everyone lived in brick buildings was incorrect.
"Reed houses undoubtedly formed a more important part of the urban and rural landscape than has generally been recognized by scholars, who have tended to assume that all of the population in Mesopotamia lived in mudbrick dwellings."
(Potts, Mesopotamian Civilization, p. 117)
Basic mudhif construction
Bertman, author of the Handbook to Life in Ancient Mesopotamia, had this to say about reed homes:
"The homes of the affluent were built of sun-dried bricks while those of people of lesser means would have been constructed from reeds. It should be noted, however, that these buildings were still considered houses and were not the `huts' so often imagined."
(Bertman, Handbook to Life in Ancient Mesopotamia, p.285)
And this to say about brick construction:
"Sun-dried brick was notoriously impermanent, especially as a consequence of yearly downpours. The alternative, oven-baked brick, was expensive, however, because of the fuel and skilled labor required for its manufacture. As a result, it tended to be used for the houses of kings and gods rather than the homes of ordinary people."
(Bertman, Handbook to Life in Ancient Mesopotamia, pp. 285-286)
Rabas or homes for the average person.
These 'grass houses', made entirely from reeds, continued to be built right up to today where they are still being constructed in Iraq.
(Ochsenschlager, "Life on the Edge of the Marshes")
(Ochsenschlager, "Life on the Edge of the Marshes")
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 buildings were being constructed of brick.
(The British Museum, WA 120000, neg. 252077)
REED TECHNOLOGY AND INDUSTRY
2 people in a mashoof (Arab canoe) surrounded by reeds.
The reed industry in Mesopotamia was critical for the emergence of the world's first civilizations. Nevertheless, few scholars have recognized the extent of this industry and culture and how it formed one of the primary foundations for the rise of civilizations in Sumer. It is an incorrect modern assumption that the harvesting and processing of reeds and the use of basket weaving technology should be regarded as secondary and not particularly important.
Mashoofs coming back to shore loaded with reeds.
"Microwear studies of Ubaid period [Neolithic] clay sickles from Tell Oueili have suggested that these common tools could have been used for cutting reeds, and a new study of their distribution in southern Mesopotamia suggests that this may indeed have been their primary function, rather than having been used to harvest cereals as was long assumed."
(Potts, Mesopotamian Civilization, p. 115)
LEFT: A Neolithic stone sickle.
MIDDLE: A Sumerian clay sickle
RIGHT: How reeds would be cut with a sickle.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stone_Sickles_from_Prehistoric_Mesopotamia_(27673887604).jpg
"As H.St.J.B. Philby wrote of his sojourn amongst the marsh Arabs in southern Mesopotamia in 1917, 'their staple product was, however, the reeds of the marshes, always in great demand among the tribes themselves... an easy crop requiring no more than the cutting and bundling, and renewing itself each year without human attention' (Philby 1959:66-7)."
(Potts, Mesopotamian Civilization, p. 115)
A Marsh Arab in a narrow canal surrounded by reeds.
There is clear evidence of the importance and continuing use of reeds even at the height of Sumerian civilization.
In the Cuneiform Tablet Collection of Syracuse University Libraries, there are 489 clay tablets from the Ur III period (circa 2100 BCE) with cuneiform script. These tablets are "of economic content," such as receipts for work or products delivered, from the cities of Umma, Drehem, and Lagash. And while this is not enough of a sample to make a definitive statement, it does suggest what I have written here, i.e., that there was a robust reed industry that continued even as these cities became more technologically advanced.
These receipts cover a time 500 years after bronze had become established as part of Sumerian technology and the bronze age had begun.
(Copper.org, The Beginnings of Bronze)
More importantly, this occurred when a substantial amount of wood was being imported indicating that reed bundles were still widely used even though wood was available.
Here are some numbers to back up my claim based on the 489 tablets at Syracuse University.
I searched for the following terms and this is how often they appeared:
Reed = 63 or about 13% of these tablet receipts contained a reference to reeds, the largest single category
Reed bundles = 14 (included in the above number but interesting by itself)
Wood = 15 times
Leather = 19
Hide = 14
Basket = 12
Mats = 10
(Cuneiform Tablet Collection, Syracuse University Libraries)
In another university collection of Mesopotamian Tablets, the University of Illinois had this to say:
"Third Dynasty of Ur: About 1,100 of the tablets date from the period of the Third Dynasty of Ur, (ca. 2112–2004 BCE). They were discovered in the administrative archives of 2 towns in southern Mesopotamia, Umma and Puzrish-Dagan. Many of the tablets detail...the transfer of large numbers of reed bundles..."
(Spurlock.illinois.edu, Mesopotamian Tablet Collection)
Reed bundles, as mentioned in this article,
were widely used to build houses and ships.
were widely used to build houses and ships.
As I pointed out in my last article, more than 100 words about reed work and basket weaving existed in the Mesopotamian languages -- indicating their importance.
Please see the Appendix in my earlier article.
Basket weaving and working with reeds were also understood to be related. The word for basket weaver also meant a reed worker.
ad.KID [WEAVER] N (864x) Early Dynastic IIIa, Early Dynastic IIIb, Ebla, Old Akkadian, Lagash II, Ur III, Old Babylonian, Middle Babylonian, Neo-Assyrian, Neo-Babylonian wr. ad-KID; ad-KIDzabar "basket weaver; reed worker"
Potts summed up the role of reeds in this way:
"Reed was used extensively for ... the manufacture of baskets and mats, in house, canal and boat construction."
(Potts, Mesopotamian Civilization, p. 115)
BITUMEN AND BASKETRY
An example of a sophisticated use of bitumen.
"This bowl fragment...is made of bitumen, an asphalt-like substance that occurs naturally in the Near East. Mixed with ground calcite and quartz it forms a hard, gray substance which can be shaped like clay."
Bowl fragment with the head of a ram ca.
early 2nd millennium B.C. Elamite.
early 2nd millennium B.C. Elamite.
Metropolitan Museum, NYC.
The 'reed industry' was so advanced in Mesopotamia because it was often used in combination with locally available high-quality bitumen. This substance could waterproof a basket-type bucket used with a shaduf for irrigation, for example, and it could also be used as a binder.
This ability to treat fiber constructions with bitumen added another dimension. Bitumen combined with fibers (reeds or date palm leaves) was utilized in a variety of ways. It could be used to caulk reed boats, to make levee foundations, and to make waterproof roofing and siding for grass houses, for example. Bitumen had been known in the Neolithic and even the Paleolithic eras so it too was an older and well-understood technology.
BASKETRY AND IRRIGATION
There was one overriding factor that fostered a strong spirit of cooperation among individuals and communities alike: the complete dependence of Sumer on irrigation for its well-being – indeed, for its very existence.
(Kramer, The Sumerians, p. 5)
The agricultural productivity on which Mesopotamia's inhabitants depended for their livelihood must rank as the foundation of Mesopotamian civilization.
(Potts, Mesopotamian Civilization, p. 89)
LEFT: A basic map of Mesopotamian irrigation. (Postgate, Early Mesopotamia)
RIGHT: A shaduf with a possible basket bucket
It is estimated that one or two men can irrigate a quarter of an acre in 12 hours, for example, "a single shaduf could thus irrigate 0.1 ha of land in 12 hours."
(Stavros et al., "Evolution of Water Lifting Devices (Pumps) over the Centuries Worldwide")
The critical irrigation system was a combination of new and old technology. The levee system was constructed with the old technology based on a foundation of reeds that was impregnated with bitumen along with the new technology of baked bricks coated with bitumen that were placed on top of the reeds. Irrigation was achieved with the newly invented highly efficient shaduf which initially used the old technology of a basket coated with bitumen to scoop up the water (see next).
"Sumerians built up the levees by making foundations of reeds impregnated with bitumen...Baked mud bricks, also bonded with bitumen, were placed on top of the foundations."
(Kielmas, "Ancient Sumerian Levees & Canals")
"The first successful efforts to control the flow of water were made in Mesopotamia and Egypt, where the remains of the prehistoric irrigation works still exist.
"In many places where fields were too high to receive water from the canals, water was drawn from the canals...by a shaduf. These consisted of a bucket on the end of a cord that hung from the long end of a pivoted boom, counterweighted at the short end."
(Water Encyclopedia, "Irrigation Systems, Ancient")
While not incorrect, the word 'bucket' above is a general term that implies what we are familiar with -- a metal bucket which was certainly available after the smelting of copper and bronze was achieved. Yet most people would not think of a basket when the term bucket is used. But prior to vessels of copper or bronze was the well-established practice of treating baskets with bitumen making them waterproof although animal skin bags were also used. Such a basket would be light and easy to handle and perhaps perform better than metal. Treating a basket with bitumen was a sophisticated process and is not something most modern researchers are familiar with. So again, the unrecognized old technology of basket weaving proved crucial to the establishment of Mesopotamian civilizations and I suspect continued to be used long after the introduction of metal.
Dredging, shaping, and maintaining the canals and waterways was done with work baskets, baskets that were so important they were central to a myth about the creation of humankind which is quoted at the end of this article. And, of course, reed boats (described later) were used to move through the elaborate irrigation system.
BASKETRY FOR AGRICULTURE
The transition from hunter-gatherer to Neolithic farming which in turn led to the rise of civilizations required much more than the well-known domestication of plants and animals. As Svizzero points out next, this has not really been considered by researchers. In the quote below Svizzero outlines a general guide to a complete set of technologies that was required to make the transition from hunter-gatherer to farming. Many of these items would have been created with basket weaving technology.
"The domestication of plants and animals is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for the transition from foraging to an economy fully-based on agriculture to occur. Indeed, domestication can be seen as an innovation but many other innovations are required for the whole human population to be fed from agropastoralism activities.
"These additional innovations are respectively related to the production of food resources, their processing, storage and consumption. Even if we consider agriculture in its first stage, specific tools and techniques are required, for instance, a digging stick to sow grains, an irrigation system, even if it is very basic or a sickle to harvest cereals. Once they have been harvested, domestic cereals require human activity, in the form of threshing and winnowing, to separate and disperse seeds. Once the seeds were obtained, they had to be stored in order to reduce the seasonal food risks. This requires some storage systems.
"Even though the innovations listed above seem us to be very basic they were all necessary for a complete transition to agriculture."
(Svizzero, "Persistent Controversies About The Neolithic Revolution")
Egyptian baskets have been found from the Neolithic period that were used for storage (see next). And in pictures from later periods in Egypt, it is clear that baskets were often used for all the things mentioned above; they were necessary to aid in the production of food resources, their processing, storage, and consumption.
Please look at my previous article
for a full set of Egyptian pictures
for a full set of Egyptian pictures
dealing with the use of baskets.
A Neolithic Egyptian reed basket from the Fayum area.
"The oldest basketry found in Egypt dates to the Neolithic period (ca. 7900–6000 BP). In the Fayum Oasis, about 100 km (60 miles) southwest of Cairo, grain storage pits were excavated in the desert floor, lined with coarse straw basketry."
"Both the coarse basketry pit-lining and the very fine, decorated baskets found near or inside some of the pits demonstrate that there was a basketry tradition, with objects made from readily available local materials."
(Wendrich, "Basketry in Ancient Egypt")
It is likely that baskets were also used in the planting and sowing process. And they were used to gather harvested crops.
WATERCRAFT
Watercraft was much more important to the rise of civilization in Mesopotamia than has been previously recognized.
"Southern Mesopotamia was a land dominated not only by the Euphrates and its branches but by a substantial number of artificial canals as well, many of which were navigable. Not surprisingly, therefore, a great deal of travel, transport, and communication was waterborne, and indeed some scholars consider the facilitation of trade and transport by Mesopotamia's canals (whether so intended or not) to have been as important a role as irrigation."
(Potts, Mesopotamian Civilization, p. 122)
These are cylinder seal impressions on clay from ancient Sumer showing the use of reed boats. Cylinder seals were decorative and made unique clay impressions on clay that were attached to items and used to signify their authenticity, much like a signature today.
"Mesopotamian watercraft on cylinder seals generally suggest craft used on rivers and canals, whereas vessels for open-water sailing must have been quite different."
(Potts, Mesopotamian Civilization, p. 135)
With wide rivers, narrow canals, and access to the Persian Gulf, a variety of reed boats of all types and sizes was essential and a major reason that civilization managed to gain a foothold.
However, the task of bringing tons of metal ore and other such cargo was taken over by wooden boats by the 3rd Millennium.
"Heavy cargo such as copper from Oman, "could only have been carried by ocean-going ships with strong wooden hulls...Numerous clay tablets describe the building of wooden ships in detail..."
Nevertheless, while large wooden ships did eventually take over the job of hauling heavy cargo from distant lands, it is likely that reed-based boat construction still made up the majority of watercraft.
"Reed boats are well suited for local use on rivers and are still used in Iraq.
"Reed boats were unquestionably built and used in third-millennium B.C. Mesopotamia and the Arabian Gulf and their role and importance in relation to vessels of wooden construction is a crucial question."
(Makela, Ships and Shipbuilding in Mesopotamia (Ca. 3000-2000 B.C.), p. 38-40)
This means that the bulk of the fleet may have continued to be reed-based watercraft. And even big reed ships had a number of advantages over wooden boats:
Writing about his reconstructed large Mesopotamian reed sea-going ship, the Tigris, Thor Heyerdahl wrote about the advantages of such a vessel. "With its double hull and extraordinary buoyancy a reed ship could sail right up into the shallows .. . where no keeled vessel could get in, and remain standing dry on the bottom without capsizing when the tide went out, ready for loading and departure with the next high tide".
(Potts, Mesopotamian Civilization, p. 122)
Model of Thor Heyerdahl's recreation of a reed ship named the Tigris,
Around the late third Millennium, large wooden boats began to replace large reed boats. However, a reed boat could carry 25-50 tons of material according to Thor Heyerdahl who built the Tigris to prove his point. So reed boats probably continued to be used. And almost certainly smaller reed boats continued to be used in the many canals.
There were three different kinds of boats in Mesopotamia, all of which could be made with reeds. Two of these boats could be constructed in a wide range of sizes, from a single-person craft to large vessels. The reed boat, in particular, could be as large as 18 meters as shown by Thor Heyerdahl's reconstruction, the Tigris. Round coracles boats, also known as basket boats, could be made large and carry more than 10 tons. All three could be made entirely with reeds
The large reed boat displayed at the beginning of this article also showed the three different kinds of reed crafts on the shore: Marsh Arab canoes, reed boats, and coracles
REED BOATS
Reed boats can be made in many sizes,
the largest can carry up to 50 tons according to Thor Heyerdahl.
the largest can carry up to 50 tons according to Thor Heyerdahl.
CORACLES OR CALLED GUFFAS IN MESOPOTAMIA
Guffas can be made in any size. The largest can carry up to 10 tons.
https://www.loc.gov/item/2019706896/ (Library of Congress)
https://www.loc.gov/resource/stereo.1s27150/ (Library of Congress)
MARSH ARAB CANOE OR CALLED MASHOOF IN MESOPOTAMIA
TOP: The mashoof is always about this size as it is/was designed to navigate the narrow channels full of reeds.
BOTTOM: "Silver model of a boat, tomb PG 789, Royal Cemetery of UR, 2600-2500 BCE."
"Quantity has a quality all its own."
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
"Guffas at the shore of the Tigris, Baghdad, 1920".
In other words, although the technology might be older, the fact that it was easily available, less expensive, and allowed a large fleet to be built, meant that probably all but the largest boats were based on reed basket weaving technology and were an important factor for the rise of civilization and for its continuance.
It has been well documented that sturdy reed boats were still in use during the 1st Millennium, for example. Pictures of these boats (next) provide that evidence.
LEFT: 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."
RIGHT: Drawing made from that same bas-relief. (King, Leonard. A History of Babylon. London, Chatto and Windus, 1915, p. 201.)
WORK BASKETS
Sturdy, durable, work baskets helped dredge and manage the canals and fields. They were used to gather clay and to carry it to where bricks were molded. And they were used to carry finished bricks for the construction of buildings. These work baskets must have been quite remarkable to handle constant heavy-duty use. There even was a specific name for them.
dupsik [BASKET] N (307x) Early Dynastic IIIb, Old Akkadian, Lagash II, Ur III, Old Babylonian, Middle Babylonian, Neo-Assyrian, Neo-Babylonian wr. dupsik; ešdupsik; gidupsik; zub-sig3; tu-up-ši-ikdupsik; gidupsikdu-su; gidupsikdu-us2-su "a basket (for carrying earth and bricks)"
as no examples of Mesopotamian work baskets have been found.
HOUSEHOLD AND OTHER EVERYDAY BASKET TECHNOLOGY-RELATED ITEMS
Basket weaving technology permeated the culture. Basketry was used every day by just about everyone. It was the "plastic" of the ancient world. The following list of common items is what can be documented, but there were probably many more that have been lost to us.
There were 29 words about baskets for everyday use including special baskets for bread, flour, and dates plus a word for a basket cover, a travel basket, and a basket stand.
A variety of baskets were used in the home for storing food and kitchen use. In the kitchen "were homemade baskets (either plaited or coiled) with staples such as wheat, rice, or dried fish, and perhaps a narrow-necked basket (sabat)..." Reed bundles were also used as benches.
(Ochsenschlager, "Life on the Edge of the Marshes")
There were 15 words about mats. Mats were an all-purpose product that was widely used on floors, on walls, to divide space in a home, as doormats, and more. For example:
Archeologists discovered terracotta bed models from the ancient city of Ur. "Hundreds of these bed models have been found in ancient strata and some of them may well have been children's toys. The top surfaces of the models have been sculpted to represent woven reed mats."
The implication is that people slept on mats on the bed frame.
The implication is that people slept on mats on the bed frame.
(Ochsenschlager, "Life on the Edge of the Marshes")
and Round Fort on Lower Euphrates, Mesopotamia."
Open weave constructions were also widely used such as fishing nets, and nets for catching small birds. There were also 2 words for a "reed sieve."
There were 7 words meaning a reed fence.
There were 7 words for a "reed object."
See a list of more than 100 words relating to reed work and basket weaving technology, words that were used for thousands of years in Mesopotamia, indicating the importance of this technology.
Including: Basket weaving, baskets, woven mats, reed craftmanship, reed constructions, and weaving with palm leaves.
Including: Basket weaving, baskets, woven mats, reed craftmanship, reed constructions, and weaving with palm leaves.
See the Appendix in the previous blog.
SUMMARY
The above descriptions of reed houses, the reed industry, irrigation, shipping, agriculture, work baskets, and everyday items show that basket weaving technology was essential. But in the next two sections, I will also show that it was critical for the new developing technologies of brick making, copper and bronze smelting, and even writing, plus basketry was a major symbol in Mesopotamian mythology.
BRICKS
One of the hallmarks of Sumerian civilization was their use of brick, especially for their magnificent huge religious temples, called ziggurats, which were erected at the center of the major cities. These cities were able to mass-produce bricks, both sun-baked and fired bricks, because of basketry. Clay from the canals was carried by rugged work baskets to be put into molds which were then made into bricks. Once made, these bricks were hauled via work baskets to building construction sites or to make levees.
This is a good example of the point that Svizzero made earlier. Clay was a useful and important material for Sumerians, but it required the support of basket technology to handle it.
2 donkeys with side-saddle baskets
bring bricks to a Mesopotamian building site.
bring bricks to a Mesopotamian building site.
THE SMELTING OF COPPER AND BRONZE
Svizzero made the point earlier that the invention of a new technology or the switch to a new technology required support technologies and skills that made the new technology possible. And these skills were often derived from an earlier technology.
The ability to smelt copper and then bronze in Sumeria, for example, required clay furnaces, clay molds for casting, and a method for increasing the temperature -- all of which relied on older reed technology (see next).
"The rising civilizations of Mesopotamia set off a revolution in metallurgy when they learned to combine tin with copper -- in proportions of about 5 to 10 percent tin and the rest copper -- to produce bronze."
(Wilford, "Enduring Mystery Solved As Tin Is Found In Turkey")
"Since their homeland was largely devoid of timber, stone, and minerals, the Sumerians were forced to create one of history’s earliest trade networks over both land and sea. Their most important commercial partner may have been the Island Of Dilmun (present-day Bahrain), which held a monopoly on the copper trade."
(Andrews, "9 Things You May Not Know About the Ancient Sumerians")
Copper was delivered by boat as Mesopotamia had no copper of its own. Initially, before wooden boats, this was delivered by large reed ships that picked up copper ore from the Island of Dilmun (now Bahrain) and Oman -- a journey that Thor Heyerdahl proved was possible because he made that same journey on his large reed ship, the Tigris, capable of carrying 50 tons.
The Sumerians were the first to smelt copper and later bronze. But smelting copper required clay furnaces and clay molds -- clay that had been gathered and transported via work baskets. And the furnace was able to achieve a high temperature by blowing air through reed tubes, a tubular property of reeds that had been used in shipbuilding.
"Then [clay] crucibles, set in pits, were filled with alternating layers of hot charcoal and cassiterite powder. Instead of using bellows, workers blew air through reed pipes to increase the heat of the burning charcoal. Tests indicated that this technique could have produced temperatures of 950 degrees Celsius and perhaps as high as 1,100 degrees (1,740 to 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit), sufficient to separate the tin from surrounding ore. [ED: tin was required to make bronze]"
(Wilford, "Enduring Mystery Solved As Tin Is Found In Turkey")
Bronze could not have been made without reaching these high temperatures. The Sumerians were able to do this because of their skill in using reed tubes.
Bronze was cast and "clay molds were probably employed for the earliest metal castings."
(Copper.org, "Ancient Casting Practice")
OTHER NEW TECHNOLOGIES
Importing goods via land trade routes employed the newly invented wheeled carts which carried woven sacks and baskets to hold their goods. The mass production of pottery required work baskets to deliver the clay.
TOP LEFT: Picture from the Sumerian Standard of Ur
of a person carrying a sack, circa 2600 BCE.
of a person carrying a sack, circa 2600 BCE.
TOP RIGHT: Picture of an Egyptian carrying a sack
from Tombe_d'Oumsou, circa 1450 BCE.
from Tombe_d'Oumsou, circa 1450 BCE.
BOTTOM: Contemporary donkey with basket (pannier).
THE INVENTION OF WRITING
Detail from the: "Ritual for the Observances of Eclipses, Babylonian, Mesopotamia, Seleucid period, c. 3rd-1st century BC, baked clay."
Morgan Library & Museum, New York City.
Morgan Library & Museum, New York City.
The world's first writing was written on clay tablets which again required work baskets to bring the clay. Then the writing was inscribed with a reed stylus (sometimes called a reed pen). It took great skill to make one of these. A carefully selected reed had to be cut to make a point but cut in such a way that the stylus retained its sharp edge and that the impression it made in the clay was consistent with cuneiform writing. The reed pen is what a highly educated scribe used to write on soft clay.
Today an "estimated half-million cuneiform objects that have been excavated" indicating that there were probably tens of millions of tablets when the Sumerian cities existed. So writing on tablets was important and widespread and was another essential skill that used the Sumerian knowledge of reeds and clay.
(Archaeology Magazine, "The World's Oldest Writing")
Examples of ancient reed pens. Reed pens from the Roman Era.
The Sumerian invention of the reed pen was used
for thousands of years up to the present day.
The Sumerian invention of the reed pen was used
for thousands of years up to the present day.
Tablet-Baskets
The Sumerians invented a cataloging system, along with writing. They put related tablets in baskets called 'tablet-baskets' and then created a 'label tablet' that was attached to the outside that gave a general listing of what was contained in the particular tablet-basket. "By means of [a] reed-strand the small tablet was fastened to a container of tablets." As one researcher pointed out, they created a metadata system or a cataloging system more than 4000 years ago. And, of course, (I can't resist saying this) it involved baskets!
(DuCharme, "Ancient Mesopotamian Metadata")
Read a detailed account of this:
This is a cuneiform label which was a "label for a tablet-basket,"
baskets that contained multiple tablets relating to the economy.
This was the first filing and metadata system.
baskets that contained multiple tablets relating to the economy.
This was the first filing and metadata system.
From: Girsu, city of ancient Sumer. Date: circa 2380 BC
NEW TECHNOLOGIES REQUIRE SUPPORT TECHNOLOGIES
There has been little recognition by researchers for these vital support technologies even though these innovations could not have occurred without them. And many of these support skills came from knowledge based on thousands of years of basket weaving and reed know-how.
The misconception in these examples above is the notion that new technologies simply sprang up by themselves and that they did not require additional support. So in this article, I make the point that in many cases these additional skills were essential and related to an earlier well-developed traditional technology, that of basket weaving and the use of reeds.
SUMERIAN MYTHOLOGY
The Power And Importance Of Basketry To Sumerians
Basket weaving technology held a practical, religious, mythical, and mystical significance for Sumerians. Baskets were central to two Sumerian creation myths, for example, and a reference to reed huts, made with basket technology skills, was in the first eight lines of the principle Babylonian creation myth celebrated every New Year. In another Babylonian creation myth, the God Marduk created the world with the help of a reed mat (see next).
While this mythology cannot, of course, help historians establish a specific early date for basketry, it may be useful in other ways. The myths indicate that working with baskets was primal and fundamental and that baskets had deep roots in the birth of Sumerian culture. These roots were so deep they held a mythical power, indicating that they were important for Sumerian survival.
In addition to mythology, baskets played a key role in religious rituals. Before building a massive ten-story high ziggurat, the king performed a basket-bearing ceremony during which he carried a basket on his head. Furthermore, when the temple was being built, metal figures of the king with a basket on his head, called Foundation figures, were buried at key places during the construction of the ziggurat.
LEFT: A drawing of a Sumerian ziggurat
RIGHT: A central ziggurat in Babylon.
In the distance can be seen two other ziggurats as well.
Entitled "Babylon and its three towers."
In the distance can be seen two other ziggurats as well.
Entitled "Babylon and its three towers."
I believe this all pointed to a reverence for the art and craft of basket making, a primordial skill that Sumerians believed had been passed down to them by the gods (see the myths next).
Ziggurats were central to Sumerian cultures, not just figuratively but literally. They stood in the middle of each city and because they were so tall, they dominated the cityscape and could be seen from just about any vantage point. The Sumerians believed each temple to be a place where their patron god dwelled.
Not unlike the gift of fire by Prometheus in Greek mythology, Sumerians believed that baskets had been given to humans by the gods. Baskets had existed before humans were created (see the third myth below) and humans were specifically created to "Bear the yoke. Let man carry the labor-basket of the gods.” Sumerians, therefore, saw basket-making as both a gift and a burden, but in any case, it was a sacred duty that had been ordained by the gods.
In practical terms, the basket had been pivotal for the growth, survival, and evolution of Sumerian life. The unpredictable, but seasonal flooding of their fields every year, brought a huge amount of silt which had to be dredged and managed with work baskets. The mostly clay silt was then hauled away to make bricks.
Early in the history of Sumer basic basket weaving technology was employed alongside the heavy task of dredging and managing the fields with work baskets. This included making levee foundations with reeds and bitumen, watering the fields with their newly invented shadufs and baskets coated with bitumen, transporting the harvested crops from the fields in baskets, and creating a fleet of reed boats of different sizes to work and navigate the intricate canals. I mentioned all of these earlier in this article, but this list, in particular, applies to the early basic tasks that were needed.
From the beginning, these basket weaving skills were necessary to engineer the dry and unpredictable landscape between the Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers. These skills provided a technological floor, a set of tools, that allowed the Sumerians to deal with most problems and to slowly invent a more developed culture.
This reverence for the basket and basket weaving skills was present at the earliest stages of Sumerian culture and was also essential for its continuance. The fact that the symbol of the basket was used to dedicate and consecrate the construction of each ziggurat was an indication of the special role that baskets played.
However, I have not seen an academic paper on Mesopotamia that has focused on this aspect of their culture. As a result, it has been ignored.
The God Enki
MYTH #1
"The Babylonian God Marduk “plaited a wicker hurdle on the surface of the waters. He created dust and spread it on the hurdle.” Thus ancient Mesopotamian myth describes the creation of the Earth using a woven reed mat."
(Britannica.com, Basketry)
MYTH #2
When on high the heaven had not been named,
Firm ground below had not been called by name,
Firm ground below had not been called by name,
Naught but primordial Apsu, their begetter,
(And) Mummu*–Tiamat, she who bore them all,
Their waters commingling as a single body;
Their waters commingling as a single body;
no reed hut had been matted, no marsh land had appeared,
When no gods whatever had been brought into being,
Uncalled by name, their destinies undetermined—
Then it was that the gods were formed within them.
(Pritchard, Ancient Near Eastern Texts)
MYTH #3
THE WORKER GODS REBEL AGAINST THEIR TOIL
WITH THE LABOR-BASKET
(Frymer-Kensky, translator, "The Epic of Atra-Hasis Version 2")
edited for brevity by Rick Doble
They called the goddess and asked [her], the midwife of the gods, wise Namma: ”You are the birth-goddess, creatress of man. Create lullu-man [ED: Primitive Man], let him bear the yoke. Let him bear the yoke...; let man carry the labor-basket of the gods.”
[ED: The God Enki does what the worker gods ask and says]
I have removed your heavy labor, have placed your labor-basket on man.
MYTH #4
THE CREATION OF THE PICKAX
also known as:
THE SONG OF THE HOE
Upon his black-headed people
[ED: the Sumerians he created]
He looked steadfastly.
The Anunnaki
[ED: the greater gods]
who stood about Him,
He placed the pickax as a gift in their hands,
They soothe Enlil with prayer,
They give the pickax to the black-headed people to hold...
The pickax and the basket build cities.
(Kramer, Sumerian Mythology, pp. 51-53)
THE KING'S BASKET BEARING-RITUAL
"In southern Mesopotamia, the basket-bearing ritual was one of great antiquity. The earliest evidence suggesting it was being performed is a plaque that shows the Sumerian king Ur-Nanshe, ruler of the city-state of Lagash about 2500 B.C., Temple-building inscriptions ...about 2130 B.C., describe that ruler's ... carrying of a laborer's basket to initiate temple building [which] was understood as an act of religious piety that represented the ruler as temple builder and pious and humble servant of the gods."
The inscription concluded with, "Gudea,[the king] the builder of the temple, in the temple put the basket on his head like a holy crown; he laid the foundation, erecting the walls on the ground."
So the basket was seen as a symbol like a crown that empowered the king, a symbol that had been handed down to him from the gods.
(Porter, Trees, Kings, and Politics Studies in Assyrian Iconography)
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.
THE SUMERIAN MEs
The "Craft of the basket weaver" is specifically mentioned in the list of Sumerian MEs, a basic list of essential cultural elements that make up civilization and were decreed by the gods.
(Kramer, The Sumerians, p. 116)
The Sumerian word ME denotes a key concept of Mesopotamian religion. It is often translated as "divine ordinances" or "divine powers"...
In Akkadian, the term is translated as 'rites', which may suggest that the gods derive their powers from rituals, which make up the fabric of the cosmic order in Mesopotamian culture.
(Oracc.museum.upenn.edu, "Ancient Mesopotamian Gods And Goddesses")
CONCLUSION: BASKET WEAVING AND SUMERIAN MYTHOLOGY
It is very clear that basket weaving was revered in Sumer. However, this has not been mentioned, except in passing, by most scholars.
The large number of myths, the importance of those myths (such as creation myths), the essential basket-bearing ritual by a king to dedicate the building of a ziggurat plus inclusion of the "Craft of the basket weaver" in the basic "divine ordinances" of the MEs of the gods, are conclusive evidence that basket weaving was considered fundamental and foundational, its technology underpinning the rise of Sumerian civilization. Nevertheless, I have yet to find a scholarly paper that comes to this conclusion other than my own work.
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER:
The Reed Industry & Basket Weaving Technology
The Reed Industry & Basket Weaving Technology
While researchers may have had misconceptions about particular aspects of Mesopotamian cultures as described above, they also missed a major theme and failed to see the 'big picture'. Each woven fiber technology was often seen as separate and not part of the same set of skills. Nevertheless, all of these basket weaving skills and products taken together meant that there was an integrated wide-ranging technology. The ability to weave fibers and to create products from simple mats to huge boats was one of the key factors that allowed the world's first civilizations to emerge. These skills also gave them the expertise to solve unique problems such as making levee foundations from reeds and bitumen.
From my research, reeds composed the greatest part of boat and grass house construction (a mudhif was built entirely of reeds, including the rope) and they were a major part of levee construction. Plus work baskets made from reeds were essential for transporting harvested crops and for dredging the canals and carrying clay and bricks to build cities. And the abundance of high-quality reeds that grew naturally made the inexpensive manufacture of these items widely available.
In an article about a contemporary reed culture in South America, the Naval-Encyclopedia wrote the following emphasizing the power of basket-weaving technology in a wide variety of applications: from baskets to huts to boats.
Contemporary reed culture and basket weaving technology.
The houses and boats are made of reeds
and even the island itself is made of reeds in Lake Titicaca in Bolivia.
The houses and boats are made of reeds
and even the island itself is made of reeds in Lake Titicaca in Bolivia.
"Reeds of Lake Titicaca in Bolivia, as well as those bordering many of the great rivers,[ED: such as the Tigris & Euphrates] have been, for want of large trees, the material of choice for construction, from baskets to huts to boats...Reed boats like the Peruvian Totora [a Peruvian boat] are constructed much like braided baskets, with both ends curved upward. Their manufacture seems quick and easy, but it requires prerequisites and experience."
(Naval-Encyclopedia.Com, "Prehistoric-Boats")
Peruvian Totoras [Peruvian reed boats]
CONCLUSION
From the archeological finds of Neolithic baskets and remains of reed ships, it is clear that basket weaving technology was well developed long before the emergence of the Sumerian civilizations.
Basket weaving technology appears to have begun as small carry baskets in the Neolithic and Paleolithic eras and developed into the making of large homes, boats, and levee foundations along with a wide range of other products such as waterproof buckets for shadufs. In short, basketry gave people a basic tool to handle and solve many problems and was a fundamental technology.
This advanced technology was later applied as needed to solve a variety of unique Sumerian problems. These skills along with the Sumerian inventive and innovative nature were sufficient to bring their civilizations into being.
The remarkable rise of civilization in Mesopotamia was due to a combination of technologies: the older well-proven traditional basket weaving technology and the new innovations of smelting copper and bronze, along with the invention of writing, the wheel, irrigation, and more.
However, the newer technologies could not have succeeded without the assistance of the older technology. So civilization was not so much a great leap forward that left the older technologies behind, as it was instead an integration of the older technologies with the new.
And even with the widespread use of new technology, basket weaving technology continued to be employed throughout Sumeria. It touched everyone's lives and was familiar to all. It had a deep past, contributed to the new technology, and continued to be used in traditional ways even as Sumerian civilizations developed and flourished.
As a result, the mystique of the basket continued to be part of the Sumerian culture, and basketry was revered as one of the key technologies, if not the key technology, that led to the rise of civilization.
AFTERWORD
SARGON, THE KING OF AKKAD
This is an artist's conception of Sargon as a young man
who was beloved by the goddess Ishtar (right).
Notice that Sargon is carrying a basket.
who was beloved by the goddess Ishtar (right).
Notice that Sargon is carrying a basket.
The mystique of basketry was so powerful, that Sargon, the King of Akkad (died 2284 BCE) who conquered most of Southern Mesopotamia and is considered by many historians to be the first king to create a multi-national empire, felt the need to associate himself with the basketry mystique. He wrote that as a baby he was set adrift in a small reed boat (like a basket) coated with bitumen (not unlike Moses) only to be saved by a stranger. He wanted to present himself as a man of the people who had a humble birth but at the same time indicate that he had a mythical past.
Sargon Birth Legend
"I am Sargon, the mighty King of Akkad. ... When my mother had conceived me, she bore me in a hidden place. She laid me in a vessel of rushes [reeds], stopped the door thereof with pitch [bitumen], and cast me adrift on the river.... The river floated me to Akki, the water drawer, who, in drawing water, drew me forth. Akki, the water drawer, educated me as his son, and made me his gardener. As a gardener, I was beloved by the goddess Ishtar."
(Mackenzie, Myths of Babylonia and Assyria)
Cuneiform tablet with the text of the
"Birth Sargon of Akkad."
ENDNOTES
Andrews, Evan. "9 Things You May Not Know About the Ancient Sumerians." History.com, 2019. <https://www.history.com/news/9-things-you-may-not-know-about-the-ancient-sumerians> Accessed 4/14/2021.
Archaeology Magazine. "The World's Oldest Writing." By the Editors. May/June 2016. <https://www.archaeology.org/issues/213-1605/features/4326-cuneiform-the-world-s-oldest-writing> Accessed 6/11/2021.
Bertman, S. Handbook to Life in Ancient Mesopotamia. Oxford University Press, 2003.
Bilkadi, Zayn. "Bitumen - A History." AramcoWorld: Arab and Islamic cultures and connections, Nov./Dec. 1984, pp. 2-9. <https://archive.aramcoworld.com/issue/198406/bitumen.-.a.history.htm> Accessed 4/14/2021.
Britannica.com. "Basketry." <https://www.britannica.com/art/basketry> Accessed 6/11/2021.
Carter, R. A. "Boat remains and maritime trade in the Persian Gulf during sixth and fifth millennia BC." Antiquity, 80 (307), 2006, pp. 52-63.
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Copper.org. "Ancient Casting Practice." <https://www.copper.org/education/history/60centuries/ancient/ancient.html> Accessed 6/11/2021.
Copper.org. "The Beginnings of Bronze." <https://www.copper.org/education/history/60centuries/raw_material/thebeginnings.html> Accessed 6/11/2021.
Cuneiform Tablet Collection, Syracuse University Libraries. Special Collections Research Center. <https://library.syr.edu/digital/guides/c/cuneiform_tablets.htm> Accessed 6/11/2021.
DuCharme, Bob. "Ancient Mesopotamian Metadata." Bobdc.Com/Blog, December 29, 2019. <http://www.bobdc.com/blog/firstmetadata/> Accessed 6/11/2021.
ePSD2 sux Summaries: A dictionary of words in ancient Mesopotamian languages. Oracc Museum, University of Pennsylvania. <http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/epsd2/cbd/sux/summaries.html> Accessed 4/14/2021.
Frymer-Kensky, Tikva, translator. "The Epic of Atra-Hasis Version 2." From: In the Beginning by O’Brien, J., and Major, W. Scholars Press, 1982. <http://www.mesopotamiangods.com/tag/adapa/> Accessed 4/14/2021.
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Kramer, Samuel Noah. Sumerian Mythology. University of Pennsylvania Press; Revised edition (October 29, 1998).
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Mackenzie, Donald. Project Gutenberg's Myths of Babylonia and Assyria. Released 2005. <https://www.gutenberg.org/files/16653/16653-h/16653-h.htm> Accessed 6/11/2021.
Makela, Tommi Tapani. Ships and Shipbuilding in Mesopotamia (Ca. 3000-2000 B.C.). Thesis Office of Graduate Studies of Texas A&M University. May 2002.
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Oracc.museum.upenn.edu. "Ancient Mesopotamian Gods and Goddesses." Oracc Museum, University of Pennsylvania. Technical Terms. <http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/amgg/technicalterms/index.html> Accessed 6/11/2021.
Perkins, A.L. 1949. The comparative archaeology of early Mesopotamia. SAOC 25. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Porter, Barbara Nevling. Trees, Kings, and Politics: Studies in Assyrian Iconography. Fribourg, Switzerland / Göttingen, Germany: Academic Press / Vandenhoeck Ruprecht. 2003.
Postgate, J. Nicholas. Early Mesopotamia: Society and Economy at the dawn of history. Routledge: London and New York, 1992.
Potts, D.T. Mesopotamian Civilization, The Material Foundations. London: The Athlone Press. 1997.
Pournelle, Jennifer. "Physical Geography of the Sumerian World." The Sumerian World Edition. Editor: Crawford, Harriet. Routledge, 2013.
Pritchard, James B., ed. (1969). Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament (3rd ed.). Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-03503-2.
Spurlock.Illinois.edu. Mesopotamian Tablet Collection. Spurlock Museum of World Cultures at Illinois. <https://www.spurlock.illinois.edu/collections/notable-collections/profiles/mesopotamian-tablet.html> Accessed 6/11/2021.
Stavros, Yannopoulos et al. "Evolution of Water Lifting Devices (Pumps) over the Centuries Worldwide." Water, Volume 7, Issue 9, 10.3390/w7095031. <https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/7/9/5031/htm> Accessed 4/14/2021.
Svizzero S. "Persistent controversies about the neolithic revolution." J His Arch & Anthropol Sci. 2017;1(2):53-61 DOI: 10.15406/jhaas.2017.01.00013
"The Tigris expedition: A National Geographic Special." National Geographic Society, broadcast on PBS 04/01/1979. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7wABa6_BlQ> Accessed 4/14/2021.
Water Encyclopedia. "Irrigation Systems, Ancient." <http://www.waterencyclopedia.com/Hy-La/Irrigation-Systems-Ancient.html> Accessed 4/14/2021.
Wendrich, Willeke. "Basketry in Ancient Egypt." Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures (pp.825-828). Selin, Helaine (Ed.). Springer Netherlands. 2016.
Wilford, John Noble. "Enduring Mystery Solved As Tin Is Found In Turkey." New York Times, Jan. 4, 1994. <https://www.nytimes.com/1994/01/04/science/enduring-mystery-solved-as-tin-is-found-in-turkey.html> Accessed 6/11/2021.
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