Editing Sumer (section)

===Agriculture and hunting===
{{further|Agriculture in Mesopotamia}}
The Sumerians adopted an agricultural lifestyle perhaps as early as {{Circa|5000}}–4500 BC. The region demonstrated a number of core agricultural techniques, including organized [[irrigation]], large-scale intensive cultivation of land, [[monocropping]] involving the use of [[plough]] agriculture, and the use of an agricultural [[Division of labour|specialized labour force]] under bureaucratic control. The necessity to manage temple accounts with this organization led to the development of [[history of writing|writing]] (c. 3500 BC).

[[File:Ur mosaic.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|From the royal tombs of [[Ur]], made of [[lapis lazuli]] and shell, shows peacetime]]

In the early Sumerian Uruk period, the primitive pictograms suggest that [[sheep]], [[goat]]s, [[cattle]], and [[pig]]s were domesticated. They used [[ox]]en as their primary beasts of burden and [[donkey]]s or [[equids]] as their primary transport animal and "woollen clothing as well as rugs were made from the wool or hair of the animals. ... By the side of the house was an enclosed garden planted with trees and other plants; wheat and probably other [[cereal]]s were sown in the fields, and the ''[[shaduf]]'' was already employed for the purpose of irrigation. Plants were also grown in pots or vases."<ref name="Sayce"/>

[[File:Issue of barley rations.JPG|thumb|An account of barley rations issued monthly to adults and children written in [[cuneiform script]] on a clay tablet, written in year 4 of King [[Urukagina]], {{circa|2350 BC}}]]

The Sumerians were one of the first known [[beer]]-drinking societies. Cereals were plentiful and were the key ingredient in their early brew. They brewed multiple kinds of beer consisting of wheat, barley, and mixed grain beers. Beer brewing was very important to the Sumerians. It was referenced in the Epic of Gilgamesh when Enkidu was introduced to the food and beer of Gilgamesh's people: "Drink the beer, as is the custom of the land... He drank the beer-seven jugs! and became expansive and sang with joy!"<ref>{{cite book|last1=Gately|first1=Iain|title=Drink: A Cultural History of Alcohol|publisher=Gotham Books|isbn=978-1-59240-303-5|page=[https://archive.org/details/drinkculturalhis00gate_0/page/5 5]|year=2008|url=https://archive.org/details/drinkculturalhis00gate_0/page/5}}</ref>

The Sumerians practiced similar irrigation techniques as those used in Egypt.<ref>{{cite book| last = Mackenzie| first = Donald Alexander| year = 1927 | title = Footprints of Early Man| publisher = Blackie & Son Limited}}</ref> American anthropologist [[Robert McCormick Adams]] says that irrigation development was associated with urbanization,<ref>{{cite book| last = Adams| first = R. McC.| year = 1981 | title = Heartland of Cities| publisher = University of Chicago Press}}</ref> and that 89% of the population lived in the cities.

They grew barley, [[chickpea]]s, [[lentil]]s, wheat, [[Date (fruit)|dates]], [[onion]]s, [[garlic]], [[lettuce]], [[leek]]s and [[Mustard plant|mustard]]. Sumerians caught many fish and hunted [[fowl]] and [[gazelle]].<ref>{{cite book|title=The fine art of food | first=Reay |last=Tannahill | publisher=Folio Society| year=1968|location=London|isbn=0850670063}}{{Page needed|date=March 2012}}</ref>

Sumerian agriculture depended heavily on [[irrigation]]. The irrigation was accomplished by the use of ''[[shaduf]]'', [[canal]]s, [[Channel (geography)|channels]], [[dyke (construction)|dykes]], [[weir]]s, and [[reservoirs]]. The frequent violent floods of the [[Tigris]], and less so, of the [[Euphrates]], meant that canals required frequent repair and continual removal of [[silt]], and survey markers and boundary stones needed to be continually replaced. The government required individuals to work on the canals in a [[corvée]], although the rich were able to exempt themselves.

As is known from the "''[[Sumerian Farmer's Almanac]]''", after the flood season and after the [[Spring equinox (northern hemisphere)|Spring equinox]] and the ''[[Akitu]]'' or New Year Festival, using the canals, farmers would flood their fields and then drain the water. Next they made oxen stomp the ground and kill weeds. They then dragged the fields with [[pickaxe]]s. After drying, they plowed, [[harrow (tool)|harrowed]], and [[rake (tool)|raked]] the ground three times, and pulverized it with a [[mattock]], before planting seed. Unfortunately, the high evaporation rate resulted in a gradual increase in the salinity of the fields. By the Ur III period, farmers had switched from wheat to the more salt-tolerant barley as their principal crop.

Sumerians harvested during the [[spring (season)|spring]] in three-person teams consisting of a [[reaper]], a [[Reaper-binder|binder]], and a sheaf handler.<ref>Melvin Kranzberg, Joseph Gies. By the sweat of thy brow: Work in the Western world. Putnam, 1975.</ref> The farmers would use [[threshing]] wagons, driven by oxen, to separate the cereal heads from the [[stalk (botany)|stalks]] and then use threshing sleds to disengage the grain. They then [[winnowing|winnowed]] the grain/chaff mixture.