[Compiled
by: Kandiah Thillaivinayagalingam]
Metalworking
Three gold cups from Ur, dating to
approximately 2450 B.C.The cup on the right belonged to Queen Shubad[or Puabi]
and may once have contained the poison that killed her.Also found that She was
buried with 52 attendants — retainers who had been suspected by excavator
Leonard Woolley to have poisoned themselves (or had been poisoned by others) to
serve their mistress in the next world.Sumerians worked extensively with metals
– mainly gold, silver, tin, lead, copper, and bronze.Craft workers were usually
men who passed their skills on to their sons.
They created weapons, tools, and luxury items out of these metals. For
everyday items, the Sumerians used copper, bronze and iron. For decorative and
high-quality items such as jewellery, the Sumerians used gold and
silver.Iron-working was used to create tools to help in agriculture and other
industries. They would often trade for metals that were scarce in their region
and sent finished metal working products back in return.we learn from written
records of ships from other lands by Sargon,the of king Mesopotamia(2334 to
2279 BC) that the Mesopotamians bought gold, copper and jewellery from
'Meluhha'.[Meluhha-earlier variant Me-lah-ha/மேல் அகம்-mel akam],Which Was the Mesopotamian name for
the Indus civilisation.
Music
'A reconstruction of a lyre found at Ur. The
original lyre was made of wood and decorated with gold and lapis lazuli, and it
dates to approximately the first half of the third millenium B.C.This lyre was
fashioned into the shape of a bull.In Sumer the BULL was a symbol of fertility
and divine power. This shows that the Sumerians loved music. It seemed to be an
important part of religious and civic life in Sumer. Although we can't hear
that music, we can reconstruct the instruments and get an idea about the sounds
and the rhythms that were heard. Before playing a stringed instrument, the
musicians would wash their hands to purify them. Many of the songs were for the
Goddess Innana.
Organized Armies
Two groups of soldiers in formation behind
their leaders. They are depicted on a fragment of The Stele of Vultures, a rounded
stone slab found at Lagash in Iraq dating to the first half of the third
millennium B.C.It is the oldest known historiographic document. A long Sumerian
inscription narrates the recurrent conflict between the neighboring city-states
of Lagash and Umma, and records the victory won by Eannatum, king of Lagash,
who ruled around 2450 BC.It has two sides.The so-called "historical"
side shows Eannatum marching at the head of his troops, who advance in a tight
phalanx, trampling over the dead bodies of the enemy. The lower registers show
the victory parade, led by the ruler in his chariot, and then the funeral
ceremonies that ended the military engagement.The other,
"mythological" side is dominated by the majestic figure of Ningirsu,
the protector god of the city-state of Lagash, who has the enemy troops
entrapped in a gigantic net and strikes them with his mace. One side narrates
the actions of men and the other the intervention of the god, in a thematic
division that has symbolic importance: human determination and divine
protection come together to ensure victory.
Plow
A cylinder-seal impression of two Gods, one
with a left hand in the shape of a scorpion and the other plowing behind a
dragon and a lion. The impression was made by a seal found at Tell Asmar in
Iraq.Early Mesopotamians began changing from hunter-gatherers to farmers who
cultivated cereal crops around 6,000 B.C. Planting seeds requires scratching or
plowing a furrow in the soil to receive the seeds.Before the plow was invented
seeds were scatered by broadcasting them by hand.Once tne plow appeared the
young plants could grow in rows and develop deeper roots system.The first plow
was little more than a tree branch that as one person pulled and another
pushed,made a furrow in the ground.Both men & women shared in agricultural
work.Later sumerian farmers attached a
simple stone blade to a wooden
shaft,followed by a arrow shaped metal piece on the plow. making it go deeper
and straighter.Oxen now pulled the plow instead of human.This,however,change
the roles in the sumerian family.Now the need for men only to manage the
animals pulling plows gave women a lesser role in the family's food
production.Their lesser position increasingly relegated them to the home with
the result that patriarchal attitudes grew more prominent .Men made the
decisions on economic matters and they soon monopolized political decisions as
well because they also filled the ranks of the armies. .
PART::47 WILL FOLLOW IN NEXT WEEK..
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