Mesopotamia

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Mesopotamia Land between the Rivers
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HOW? WHY? the lives of people changed in
3000 BCE
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Problem 1
Food Shortage WHY? Solution?
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Hunter/gatherers
Population increase
Migrate to Zagros foothills
Food surplus
Farming/domestication
Population increase
Village settlements
Food shortage
Why?
Food surplus
Solutions?
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1. Increase the number of times each year that
   farmers plant their crops.
2. Move down to the river plains and try to grow
   crops there.
3. Abandon farming and return to hunting and
   gathering.
4. Attack neighboring villages and steal their food.

Move down to the river plains and try to grow
crops there.
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Migrate to the river valley
Start a farming village
Problem 2
How are you going to control the rivers to
provide water for the village and for farming?
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WATER CONTROL SYSTEM ELEMENTS

1. levee natural earth walls that prevent flooding
2. canals manmade waterways to control the
   direction in which water flows
3. dams manmade barriers
4. reservoirs water collection pools

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Problem 3
All parts of the water control system involve
canals
DIRT
Silt fine mud particles carried in or deposited
by water.
levees
dams
reservoirs
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1. Maintain only the canals around your own
   villages fields.
2. Force members of another village to maintain the
   entire irrigation system.
3. Cooperate with other villages to regularly
   maintain the entire irrigation system.
4. Abandon irrigation and return to collecting and
   carrying water from the river to the fields.

Cooperate with other villages to regularly
maintain the entire irrigation system.
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Problem 4
Problems over water between the villages
force you to protect your village with a defense
plan.
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gates
walls
moat
towers