The Cradle of Civilization

The area of land around the Middle East and the Levant  – also known as the Fertile Crescent - lays a precarious claim to be the 'cradle of civilization'. But is it really the birthplace of the world’s most ancient civilized societies? And what do we even mean by civilization, anyway?

What’s in a Word?

Attempting to pin down a definition of the world 'civilization' is no easy task. As it turns out, annoyingly, there are quite a few opinions on the issue. Some even argue the very definition of the word has to be intrinsically shifted as ‘civilization’ moves along, for example from writing to government (though surely those words in themselves suffice?). Still, there seem to be some running themes throughout this infinite mish-mash of musings, whereby a civilization comprises:

1. The gathering of people in populated areas, as opposed to sporadically-placed in wilderness regions.
2. The advancement of societies through record-keeping, like writing.
3. The development of social and political institutions.

In this sense, there’s more to ‘civilization’ than a few hairy men lighting fires around a cave. Indeed, civilization under these terms hadn’t even emerged by the time small bands of humans downed their spears and knives, and began cultivating permanent spots of land for agriculture during the Neolithic Revolution. Animals were also kept for domestic purposes (although there's no mention of stupid Labradoodles with tartan jackets). This monumental paradigm came around 10,000 BC. But it would not be until around 5,000 years later that the Middle East would see the first city-states emerging, with significant populations.

An Early Sumer

Let’s get things straight – settlements had already existed before those in what is now known as Sumer, the area of fertile land between and beside the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, above where they open their mouths into the Persian Gulf. Humans had already made small living quarters and agricultural settlements all over the world, from the Mediterranean to Melanesia (the specific area of Polynesia stemming from Papua) – sites such as Serbia’s Lepenski Vir and China’s Banpo testify to this.

Yet it was Mesopotamia where these settlements began to show signs of development from egalitarian farming centres to socially-structured states with some sort of hierarchical power. In short, there began to exist the first official divide between ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’ (socialists feel free to challenge the idea of civilization here). This may have taken the form of a lead chieftain or religious figure, which then developed into some sort of tent-based pre-dynastic nepotism.

The earliest such ‘cities’ in Sumerian history sprung up around 5,500 – 5,000 BC, and comprised longstanding states such as Eridu, Larsa and Sippar. Just a few hundred miles north, the Samarran culture of the same time was beginning to show signs of advancement like social structure and stylised art.

Experts believe the area became so structured due to the tempestuousness of their two mother rivers. Both the Tigris and the Euphrates, while gifting the Sumerians with water, irrigation and arable land, were able to unleash devastating floods which could wipe out entire settlements at a canter. Thus, while food and animals were plentiful, the danger of the region meant people needed rigid leadership and planning in order to survive.

The next two thousand years would see an astonishing increase in the development of Mesopotamia’s city states, twinned with surges in the Levant and Lower Egypt. The chain reaction was no accident – each prominent city evolved along an area known as the ‘Fertile Crescent’, an arc swinging round from the Nile Delta, along the elbow of modern Israel and Syria down the route of the Tigris and Euphrates to the Persian Gulf. It wasn’t even as if Sumer had a monopoly on the biggest urban areas of the Crescent, either – the Egyptian capital Memphis took that accolade around 3,100 BC with an estimated population of 30,000. Still, it would be in the southern states of Sumer that humanity would make one of its biggest moves, singling the region out as the Cradle of Civilization.

Cuneiform and its Consequences

As Sumer expanded and its people started to manipulate their environment through irrigation techniques, they began to pass on advice to their descendents in the form of pictures. These pictures became notes, idiosyncratically sealed and stylised with various symbols. By the turn of the 4th millennium BC, this series of symbols had evolved into a fully-blown alphabet, which was scribed upon triangular tablets to preserve commercial and social activity, recipes (think ‘Naked Chef’, but with loin cloths) and astronomical observations. Writing had begun, and it allowed its Mesopotamian creators the ability to record events, discoveries, social changes and inventions. It was made an easier evolution in Sumer than Egypt, for example, as their kings were much more community-based; accountable to the people rather than the self-styled god-king pharaohs of Egypt.

As Sumer spread its wings and turned into the empires you may more readily recognise today – Babylon, Assyria, Media etc – Mesopotamia became the hub of human innovation, the melting pot from which many of humanity’s earliest inspirations crept forth. In various sources, Mesopotamia is credited with discovering modern astronomy, irrigation, the wheel, law codes and mathematics. Not an inconsiderable portfolio, then.

Other Claimants

Many people might tout Mesopotamia as the Cradle of Civilization, but there are understandably some who think the assumption is a little hasty. The Chinese dynasties of the fourth and third millennia BC may not have acquired writing skills – that came around 1,500 BC with the famous ‘oracle bones’ of the Shang Dynasty – but village settlers in central China did show many of the advances in art and agriculture which marked out the Middle East at its inception. The Longshan Culture of 3,000 – 2,000 BC gave rise to the first Chinese ‘cities’, with advanced levels of pottery-making, silk production and rice harvesting.

Recent evidence has also suggested the area of the Fertile Crescent be expanded thousands of miles east, to the fertile lands of the Indus Valley, and the Balochistan region between India and Pakistan. The area is mainly separated into two separate stages – pre and post-Harappan. Around 4,000 BC a pre-Harappan society emerged which developed highly specialised farming techniques, as well as being credited with the first consistent use of the decimal point, and uniform measuring systems. Its twin cities – Harappa and Mohenjo-daro – were huge metropolises holding over 30,000 people each. A series of symbols dating to around 2,500 BC has also been found in the area, yet historians are still unable to draw any meaning from them which could be construed as symbolic of an alphabet in the area.

However recent events have seen places in Iran and between Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley brought to light as potential evidence for simultaneous interaction between the two areas. A site near Jiroft, Iran, threw up evidence for writing which throws doubt on the area, previously thought of as a cultural backwater.

Indeed, many may even argue the definition of ‘civilization’ at its foundation. If civilization is thought of as the gathering of people in any form, then any number of cultures, from Africa to China, could claim to be the Cradle of Civilization. However it was Mesopotamia which made the discoveries so integral to our modern lives, and it was the fertile land of Sumer which brought forward the complex systems of government we largely adopt today. There may have been more populous and artful nations during the time of society’s conception, but it was ancient Mesopotamia which brought it kicking and screaming into a truly modern era.

Images by Andre Nantel and Raja Islam.

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About The Author

Sean Williams

Sean is an English Literature graduate, who currently works as a writer and journalist in London. He enjoys ancient history, theatre and sport. He does not enjoy Big Brother.

Last three pieces by this author: AWiL Video Series - Queen Boudicca: Celtic Fashion and the Battle of Watling Street, Is Queen Boudicca Buried Beneath London's Kings Cross Station?, Live from Illuminating Hadrian's Wall - Latest News and Photographs

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