Download B. Hrozn , Inscriptions Cunיiformes du Kultיpי (Praha

Dogs That Changed the World
What caused the domestication of wolves?
Traditionally, the experts studying the evolution of modern dogs believed that domestication was a conscious effort of
humans. The theory was that ancient people took wolf pups from their dens, adopted them, fed them, trained and tamed
them.
Biologist Raymond Coppinger, who has spent over 45 years working with and studying dogs, says that this story is
nothing more than a romantic fairy tale. “I call it a ‘just so’ story. Nobody who has ever trained a wolf had any success if
they started after 19 days,” says Coppinger, a professor of biology and animal behavior at Hampshire College in
Massachusetts.
“We’ve got a graduate student doing it now. You take them out of the den when they are 13 days old and their eyes aren’t
open, and you spend 24 hours a day with them, socializing them with people, bottle feeding them. You have to have a
time surplus society like mine, where you have graduate students with nothing else to do. Mesolithic people would have
been struggling for life. They wouldn’t have had time.” In addition, Coppinger says, even tamed wolves aren’t likely to be
docile when it comes to food-or breeding. “I work with tamed wolves all the time. I don’t care how tame they are, try to
take their bone away. It’s even worse when it comes to breeding. You start to fool around with wolves when they’re in a
courtship performance, you could die right there on the spot.”
Biologist Raymond Coppinger Coppinger has another idea: the wolves domesticated themselves. He suspects that the
process would have begun at the end of the last Ice-Age approximately 15,000 years ago when people began to gather
and live in one place for the first time. The appearance of these villages was fairly rapid and coincidental with the fossil
evidence of dogs as we know them.
“People are organized into continuous settlements — villages where they remain for a long period of time, whether there
were sitting on the edge of a shell fishery or on the edge of a coral reef. When humans live in the same spot for a long
period of time, they create waste, including both sewage and, more importantly for the dog, leftovers. There are things
people can’t eat, seeds that fall on the ground, things that have gone bad,” Coppinger says, “The garbage, which might be
found in dumps, or just scattered near houses, attracts scavengers: cockroaches, pigeons, rats, jackals — and wolves.”
Coppinger believes that a behavioral characteristic called “flight distance” was crucial to the transformation from wild wolf
to the ancestors of the modern dog. It represents how close an animal will allow humans (or anything else it perceives as
dangerous) to get before it runs away. Animals with shorter flight distances will linger, and feed, when humans are close
by; this behavioral trait would have been passed on to successive generations, and amplified, creating animals that are
increasingly more comfortable around humans. “My argument is that what domesticated — or tame — means is to be
able to eat in the presence of human beings. That is the thing that wild wolves can’t do.”
Put the following dates in chronological order on the timelime provided. Summarize each event and draw at least 2
pictures.
Creation of metal work such as bronze, tin, copper-Approx 3300 BC
Agriculture-Farming and domestication of plants and animals-Approx. 10,000 BCE
The Invention of the Wheel-Advancement of transportation, Assisting in agriculture, and used for the creation of
pottery-Approx. 3500 BCE.
Animal Domestication-Horse, cattle, pigs, sheep, goats-Approx. 4,000 B.C.
Written and Visual Language-development of communication, use of visual aid in communication, syllabic letters and
pictures-Approx 3500 BCE.
Put the following dates in chronological order on the timelime provided. Summarize each event and draw at least 2
pictures.
Creation of metal work such as bronze, tin, copper-Approx 3300 BC
Agriculture-Farming and domestication of plants and animals-Approx. 10,000 BCE
The Invention of the Wheel-Advancement of transportation, Assisting in agriculture, and used for the creation of
pottery-Approx. 3500 BCE.
Animal Domestication-Horse, cattle, pigs, sheep, goats-Approx. 4,000 B.C.
Written and Visual Language-development of communication, use of visual aid in communication, syllabic letters and
pictures-Approx 3500 BCE.
Put the following dates in chronological order on the timelime provided. Summarize each event and draw at least 2
pictures.
Creation of metal work such as bronze, tin, copper-Approx 3300 BC
Agriculture-Farming and domestication of plants and animals-Approx. 10,000 BCE
The Invention of the Wheel-Advancement of transportation, Assisting in agriculture, and used for the creation of
pottery-Approx. 3500 BCE.
Animal Domestication-Horse, cattle, pigs, sheep, goats-Approx. 4,000 B.C.
Written and Visual Language-development of communication, use of visual aid in communication, syllabic letters and
pictures-Approx 3500 BCE.
Mesopotamian Marriage Contract
(Translator: J.J. Finkelstein)
Old Assyrian, 19th century B.C. Text: B. Hrozn, Inscriptions Cun‫י‬iformes du Kult‫י‬p‫( י‬Praha, 1952). Transliteration and
translation, Hrozn, in Symbolae Koschaker (Studia et Documenta II, 1939), 108ff. For bibliography of discussions cf. H.
Hirsch, Orientalia, xxxv (1966), 259f[a]
Laqipum has married Hatala, daughter of Enishru. In the country (i.e., Central Anatolia)
Laqipum (5) may not marry another (woman)—(but) in the City (i.e., Ashur) he may marry a
hierodule.[1] If within two years she (i.e., Hatala) does not provide him with offspring, (10)
she herself will purchase a slavewoman, and later on, after she[2] will have produced a child
by him, (15) he may then dispose of her by sale wheresoever he pleases. [3] Should Laqipum
choose to divorce her (text: "him"), he must pay (her) five minas of silver- (20) and should
Hatala choose to divorce him, she must pay (him) five minas of silver. Witnesses: Masa,
Ashurishtikal, (25) Talia, Shupianika.
[1] Akk. qadi$tum, who, according to Middle Assyrian Laws § 40, may be married to a free citizen, but her status
would probably have been inferior to that of a "first" wife under the circumstances envisaged in this contract.
[2] The translation assumes that the subject is the slavewoman, but it is equally possible that Hatala is the subject, if
the verb is rendered "provided" rather than "produced," but the sense is not materially affected either way.
[3] The rendering is based on the fact that the pronoun and the verb are masculine, but considering that the
masculine is also used throughout in the following two clauses, even when Hatala is clearly the object of the first and
the second, it might be presumed that she is the subject here also, which would configure better with the fact that it is
she who was to provide the slavewoman to begin with, and presumably would also retain the right to sell her.
Mesopotamia
A cradle of human civilization, Mesopotamia was a birthplace of urban society, as well as writing,
agriculture, irrigation, and wheeled transportation. Located in the Tigris-Euphrates river valley in what
is now modern Iraq, Mesopotamia stands as one of the most important regions of human
development and history in the world.
The word "Mesopotamia" is Greek for "between the rivers," and that name well describes the region.
The bounty of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers allowed for human habitation of Mesopotamia
beginning at least 12,000 years ago. Those reliable sources of irrigation, coupled with favorable
weather patterns and fertile soil, allowed the earliest inhabitants of Mesopotamia to create successful
agricultural settlements, domesticate animals, and eventually establish village social structures.
Without those elements, the civilizations of Mesopotamia could not have been created.
Expanding trade networks—both by land and by river routes, as well as sea trade via the Persian
Gulf—and successful agricultural surpluses allowed Mesopotamians to establish the world's firstknown cities by the dawn of the fourth millennium BCE. Such wide-scale urban living required strong
legal authorities, usually represented in the form of a king who claimed divine authorization.
Mesopotamian cities, such as Babylon, Ur, and Larsa, were also important religious centers. Indeed,
spiritual beliefs were another unifying force in Mesopotamia. Based in animist ideas, Mesopotamian
religion included patron deities for the cities of the region, as well as natural forces and geological
landmarks.
Another factor that assisted the development of urban life in Mesopotamia was the invention of
abstract writing. With the creation and implementation of cuneiform, Mesopotamians were able to
codify key aspects of their social mores, like legal codes, religious beliefs, and historical narratives.
Writing allowed for vast bureaucracies to evolve and made it possible for governments to collect
regular taxes, as well as hold citizens accountable for the laws of the land. Indeed, one of the most
influential legal codes in world history emerged from ancient Mesopotamia. The Code of Hammurabi
was published on a massive stone stela in the cuneiform script. Babylonian king Hammurabi was able
to expect obedience to his laws from the populace because of its codification.
The creation of bureaucratic documents was not the only use for codification, however. Millions of
cuneiform sources reveal rich literary, theological, scientific, and cultural traditions in Mesopotamian
society. Literacy also allowed for the exchange of personal and business correspondence. Everyday
items, like grocery lists and shopping receipts, have also been uncovered, shedding light on the
everyday experiences of Mesopotamians, as well as their formal and official lives.
Several important civilizations ruled over Mesopotamia, including the Sumerians, the Akkadians,
Babylonians, Hurrians, Kassites, Assyrians, Chaldeans, Persians, and Mitannis. Each group brought
its own distinct cultural elements to the region, but all were equally influenced by the environment of
Mesopotamia and the societies that came before them.
MLA Citation
Stockdale, Nancy. "Mesopotamia." World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras. ABC-CLIO, 2014.
Web. 4 Sept. 2014.
Ziggurat
Ziggurats were massive structures built in the ancient Mesopotamian valley and western Iranian plateau, having the form
of a terraced step pyramid of successively receding stories or levels. Wikipedia
Code of Hammurabi
The world's earliest known legal code, the Code of Hammurabi dates from the 18th century BCE and
is engraved in cuneiform on a black rock that was excavated by French archaeologists in 1901. The
laws were codified during the reign of Hammurabi, a Babylonian king who ruled from 1792 to 1750
BCE. On the stone, Hammurabi is pictured receiving the laws from the Babylonian sun god,
Shamash. Remarkable for the humane nature of its laws, the Code of Hammurabi's deals with many
of the same issues that would later appear in another Semitic code of laws, that of the Israelites. The
Code of Hammurabi includes laws regarding property, family, and morality and also states the
punishments to be inflicted on lawbreakers. From these laws much can be learned about social
status, economic concerns, and family relationships in ancient Babylonia. The code's prologue
proclaims Hammurabi's authority and accomplishments as king, as well as his intention to preserve
the "rule of righteousness"—including preventing the oppression of the weak and providing justice to
the disadvantaged—with his law code. The epilogue warns that the gods will punish future rulers who
choose not to retain and enforce Hammurabi's laws.
Standard of Ur – Primary Source Analysis
This object was found in one of the largest graves in the Royal
Cemetery at Ur, lying in the corner of a chamber above the right
shoulder of a man. Its original function is not yet understood.
The main panels are known as 'War' and 'Peace'.