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By Root 1406 0

of their neighbors was a good thing—especially if they had a larger army. Villages or clans with small armies faced critical problems if a large army appeared; consequently, very early on, communities built protective enclosures such as stone walls or wooden stockades. Good walls can even the odds against a larger army. The city of Jericho near the Dead Sea was founded by 8500 BC, and its construction included a surrounding stone wall over twelve feet high with towers thirty feet tall. In front of the wall the inhabitants constructed a ditch cut out of solid rock. Whoever erected this citadel spent a lot of time, labor, and resources protecting themselves. Throughout history we will find that walls define good times or bad times. Many sturdy walls around every town in a region shouts danger, but open cities without walls whisper safety. Today we find people putting iron bars on the doors and windows of their homes. These are essentially walls, and tell us life is dangerous. Others have gone so far as to live in so-called gated (read walled) communities within our great modern cities. The walled communities are constructed because security is failing, and people feel a need for additional protection. Just like people ten thousand years ago, people today build walls when security is uncertain.

Of course, security needs go far beyond walls, and these needs consume countless resources. Good protection requires an army; thus, men of military age must be trained and be equipped for war. Walls, ditches, armaments, and time for the men to train are all necessary for resisting outside conquest—or internal trouble. Towns fearing a siege would allocate additional resources for the storage of extra food and water so the city could withstand these attacks. A considerable effort had to go into protection for an urban area to survive 8,500 years ago. Another form of protection is the gods. If the gods (or the god—singular) were on your side then your army would succeed. If the gods were against you then all your armies, weapons, walls, and storehouses would be useless; therefore, appeasing the gods and shamans was a major concern. During pre-history some of this is guesswork, but after writing allowed us to read the ancient’s thoughts we know security concerns were high.

Sumer and UR

The first civilization of note was located at the outlet to the sea of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers near the Persian Gulf. A group of folks started to farm the very fertile land eventually establishing several large and well maintained cities on the alluvial plain by about 5000 BC. These cities came together to form the civilization of Sumer about 3500 BC. The city-states of Sumer, twelve in number, were involved in irrigating their abundant crops and needed a way to record the yields of the land. Thus, about 3300 BC, Sumer developed what were probably the first written records, and they are (drum roll)—receipts and tallies of crops. (Huh?) In Cuneiform writing the records were wedged shaped marks pressed into wet clay which became permanent upon drying. Why were records of grain deposits or land yields so important? Crops were the foundation of Sumer’s economy; accordingly, they probably decided to record the data because memories have a way of differing from year to year, or hour to hour for that matter. It is also probable that it had something to do with taxation (where there is government there is taxation). The why is lost to us but the records are there—warehouses full of them. From such monotonous undertakings our written language (and history) was inaugurated. Peculiarly, the language of Sumer was confined to the small area of the twelve cities, never expanding beyond them; however, the idea of writing spread swiftly throughout the world.

The Sumerians also made a beverage that is still popular today, beer. Moreover, they had many varieties of beer, most of them made from barley. The beer trade was important to the ancient Middle East, and went as far east as India. Egypt appears to be the ancient capital of beer brewing. The Egyptians processed