They farmed and worked that b***h RAW for fricking millennia. No crop rotation, no fertilizer, no nothing, soil management techniques hadn't been invented yet. And they were growing cereal crops no less which are particularly hard on the soil.
If I 'member correctly it just got to a point where the soil was so dried out and leeched of nutrients that it turned to fricking salt and it was just permanently gone now. Forever.
>No crop rotation
false >no fertilizer
false >soil management techniques hadn't been invented yet
literally >4000 years of agriculture, they definitely knew what they were doing >And they were growing cereal crops no less which are particularly hard on the soil.
true, add to this they relied on canals and waterworks to irrigate, which further depleted nutrients
but it's the m*ngols who ended it all for good
A lot of it was natural desertification that had little or nothing to do with human activity. It was always semi-arid to begin with. But with the Tigris and Euphrates there were a lot of issues with soil salinization. All river water has small amounts of salts in it, and when this is used for irrigation some will be left behind. In a temperate region where it regularly rains this isn't an issue because the rain will wash it away. But in ancient Iraq you were almost completely reliant on irrigation ditches to divert river water. So over the centuries this caused previously workable land to become too salted for plants to grow. Soil salinization is still a big issue for agriculture in Iraq today, even with modern irrigation techniques.
In Egypt this wasn't an issue because the annual Nile flood would so completely inundate the farmland.
>There must be another factor
Egyptian civilisation was based on cycles and these cycles were RELIGIOUSLY followed. I mena literally, this farming cycle was also calendar for specific worship times and religious events. Similar to the Canaanite "baal cycle".
This cycle somewhat survived, surviving the Akhenaten and then emergence of Habiru and then invasion of Hyksos (who are probably related to Habiru), until Islamic invasion which destroyed any ancient social structure in the area. Caliph Omar is reported to burn books from Alexandria day and night until all of them got eradicated. Greek and Coptic languages eradicated beyond repair, which were essential part of the society. With that, farming cycle of nile got abandoned so the nile river lost the farmer community it once had since from ancient times.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_calendar
>so completely inundate the farmland.
Yea and so completely ruin them and cause famine
And yet, Egypt is also now bafflingly a food IMPORTER
There must be another factor
Desertification/climate change. Has been steadily increasing ever since and proposed as one of the reasons of the collapse alongside diseases that might have struck the land
A civilized Sumerian professor was teaching a class on all of history.
”Before the class begins, you must get on your knees and worship Inanna and accept that beer was the greatest form of food in the world, even greater than bread!”
At this moment, a brave, independent, hunter-gatherer from the forest who had walked 1500 miles and understood the necessity of a small society of free people living in harmony with nature and fully supported all decisions made by himself stood up.
”Who's the greatest ruler in history, drunkard?”
The arrogant professor smirked quite urbanely and smugly replied “Gilgamesh, you stupid savage.”
”Wrong. It’s nobody. If it was Gilgamesh as you say... then wouldn't his deed of killing Humbaba and chopping down cedars made the world a better place rather than driving lions locally extinct, so no future king could wrestle them like my uncivilized brothers still do?”
The professor was visibly shaken, and dropped his stylus and copy of the King List, which shattered into 3600 shards of clay. He stormed out of the room crying those Sumerian crocodile tears, the same tears Gilgamesh cried when his savage best friend Enkidu died cursing Shamhat the foul temptress who seduced him into civilization. There is no doubt that at this point our professor wished he had pulled himself up by his sandalstraps and run away until he saw no more fields of unhealthy gluten and become a tall, healthy savage.
The students applauded and became sober hunter-gatherers that day and accepted animals as their gods and saviors. A divine bird named “Anzu” flew into the room and perched atop the Battle Standard of Ur and shed feces on it. No tablet was read several times, and Enkidu himself popped back to life and planted many cedars that would support monkeys and elephants.
The professor lost his priesthood and was fired upon by archers the next day. He tried to flee east but was killed by the King of Elam for failing to support civilization.
The Levant was originally inhabited by Shemites carrying haplogroup E but it was later invaded by Hamites carrying haplogroup J therefore God cursed the land as a punishment.
Habirus were pastoral nomad outcastes who probably, like similar nomads called Amurru, worshipped One God. Habiru and Hebrew have same root not only their name but also sociology, probably they were same people. Emergence of Habiru/Hebrew changed religion, politics, morals and every social contruction in the region.
>Habiru and Hebrew have same root not only their name but also sociology, probably they were same people
wasn't this disproved on the grounds that it's a blanket term? Sure the root is the same, but "habiru" just means "raider, outcast", and was widely applied to various gangs in the open steppe, be they rebels, criminals, or nomads, not just to one particular culture
Drought
Sea peoples
Collapse of silk road
M*ngols
River systems and their fertile regions are not fixed. See Indus River, Yellow River, etc... The Nile is oddly consistent, it is not normal.
>What went wrong?
They farmed and worked that b***h RAW for fricking millennia. No crop rotation, no fertilizer, no nothing, soil management techniques hadn't been invented yet. And they were growing cereal crops no less which are particularly hard on the soil.
If I 'member correctly it just got to a point where the soil was so dried out and leeched of nutrients that it turned to fricking salt and it was just permanently gone now. Forever.
thats not how soil works anon
That absolutely is how it works, it's called salination and soil depletion.
soilanon is right, Uruk had its first soil salinization crisis around 5000 years ago and slowed its expansion into surrounding areas
>No crop rotation
false
>no fertilizer
false
>soil management techniques hadn't been invented yet
literally >4000 years of agriculture, they definitely knew what they were doing
>And they were growing cereal crops no less which are particularly hard on the soil.
true, add to this they relied on canals and waterworks to irrigate, which further depleted nutrients
but it's the m*ngols who ended it all for good
A lot of it was natural desertification that had little or nothing to do with human activity. It was always semi-arid to begin with. But with the Tigris and Euphrates there were a lot of issues with soil salinization. All river water has small amounts of salts in it, and when this is used for irrigation some will be left behind. In a temperate region where it regularly rains this isn't an issue because the rain will wash it away. But in ancient Iraq you were almost completely reliant on irrigation ditches to divert river water. So over the centuries this caused previously workable land to become too salted for plants to grow. Soil salinization is still a big issue for agriculture in Iraq today, even with modern irrigation techniques.
In Egypt this wasn't an issue because the annual Nile flood would so completely inundate the farmland.
And yet, Egypt is also now bafflingly a food IMPORTER
There must be another factor
SAND Black folk.
>And yet, Egypt is also now bafflingly a food IMPORTER
its called population growth moron
Look up the population growth of Egypt over the past 100 years.
China and india have had a bigger population
>There must be another factor
Egyptian civilisation was based on cycles and these cycles were RELIGIOUSLY followed. I mena literally, this farming cycle was also calendar for specific worship times and religious events. Similar to the Canaanite "baal cycle".
This cycle somewhat survived, surviving the Akhenaten and then emergence of Habiru and then invasion of Hyksos (who are probably related to Habiru), until Islamic invasion which destroyed any ancient social structure in the area. Caliph Omar is reported to burn books from Alexandria day and night until all of them got eradicated. Greek and Coptic languages eradicated beyond repair, which were essential part of the society. With that, farming cycle of nile got abandoned so the nile river lost the farmer community it once had since from ancient times.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_calendar
>so completely inundate the farmland.
Yea and so completely ruin them and cause famine
Desertification/climate change. Has been steadily increasing ever since and proposed as one of the reasons of the collapse alongside diseases that might have struck the land
mogged by superior hunter-gatherers
A civilized Sumerian professor was teaching a class on all of history.
”Before the class begins, you must get on your knees and worship Inanna and accept that beer was the greatest form of food in the world, even greater than bread!”
At this moment, a brave, independent, hunter-gatherer from the forest who had walked 1500 miles and understood the necessity of a small society of free people living in harmony with nature and fully supported all decisions made by himself stood up.
”Who's the greatest ruler in history, drunkard?”
The arrogant professor smirked quite urbanely and smugly replied “Gilgamesh, you stupid savage.”
”Wrong. It’s nobody. If it was Gilgamesh as you say... then wouldn't his deed of killing Humbaba and chopping down cedars made the world a better place rather than driving lions locally extinct, so no future king could wrestle them like my uncivilized brothers still do?”
The professor was visibly shaken, and dropped his stylus and copy of the King List, which shattered into 3600 shards of clay. He stormed out of the room crying those Sumerian crocodile tears, the same tears Gilgamesh cried when his savage best friend Enkidu died cursing Shamhat the foul temptress who seduced him into civilization. There is no doubt that at this point our professor wished he had pulled himself up by his sandalstraps and run away until he saw no more fields of unhealthy gluten and become a tall, healthy savage.
The students applauded and became sober hunter-gatherers that day and accepted animals as their gods and saviors. A divine bird named “Anzu” flew into the room and perched atop the Battle Standard of Ur and shed feces on it. No tablet was read several times, and Enkidu himself popped back to life and planted many cedars that would support monkeys and elephants.
The professor lost his priesthood and was fired upon by archers the next day. He tried to flee east but was killed by the King of Elam for failing to support civilization.
>What went wrong?
Waves of migrants from sub Sahara Africa seeking a better life invite civilizations. The collapse was inevitable.
>invite
*in white*
The Levant was originally inhabited by Shemites carrying haplogroup E but it was later invaded by Hamites carrying haplogroup J therefore God cursed the land as a punishment.
Black folk.
Build for big venetian wiener
>What went wrong?
Habiru nonsense
Habirus were pastoral nomad outcastes who probably, like similar nomads called Amurru, worshipped One God. Habiru and Hebrew have same root not only their name but also sociology, probably they were same people. Emergence of Habiru/Hebrew changed religion, politics, morals and every social contruction in the region.
>Habiru and Hebrew have same root not only their name but also sociology, probably they were same people
wasn't this disproved on the grounds that it's a blanket term? Sure the root is the same, but "habiru" just means "raider, outcast", and was widely applied to various gangs in the open steppe, be they rebels, criminals, or nomads, not just to one particular culture
Constant invasions by others.