Agriculture: Backbone of the Economy
Egypt’s agricultural economy was built on a technique known as basin cultivation. Natural depressions (low areas) that were flooded by the inundation were surrounded with berms and dams to hold in the water. Canals let water in or out as these basins as needed. In addition, during prosperous times desert land was irrigated and marshy land was drained to make more farmland.
Egypt’s agricultural economy was built on a technique known as basin cultivation. Natural depressions (low areas) that were flooded by the inundation were surrounded with berms and dams to hold in the water. Canals let water in or out as these basins as needed. In addition, during prosperous times desert land was irrigated and marshy land was drained to make more farmland.
The inundation often destroyed or moved boundary markers and damaged or
destroyed canals, berms, ponds, and dams. Once the flood- waters were
gone, farmers helped government officials re-measure croplands. Damaged
water control systems had to be rebuilt or repaired swiftly, so
planting could begin. The recently soaked fields needed little or no
plowing.
The farmer scattered seeds and turned his animals and children loose in the fields to trample it in. A farmer’s tools were simple. They included primitive picks and hoes, baskets, and heavy pottery water jars carried across the shoulders on frames called yokes. Farmers grew two kinds of wheat, emmer (Triticum dicoccum) and spelt (Triticum spelta). They also grew several varieties of barley (Hordeum vulgare), mostly for beer.
Farmers worked together to harvest one field after another as quickly as possible, using wood sickles with flint blades. It was hot, backbreaking work. But they tried to make it easier with competitions, work songs, and many jars of beer. The stalks of grain were gathered into bundles and carried by donkeys to the threshing floor in the village.
Emmer and spelt both require vigorous threshing (beating the grains out of their husks) before they can be ground into coarse f lour. Animals and children trampled the grain to separate out the husks. The grain was tossed into the air and the lighter husks blew away. The heavier grains fell into large, f lat baskets. The grain was then put though a coarse filter to remove pebbles and insects. Husks and stems were saved for making mud-brick. The grain was measured, packed into sacks, and stored in granaries, awaiting the tax collector.
The third major crop was flax (Linum usitatissimum). Bundles of flax fibers were carried off to be prepared for spinning, weaving into cloth, and braiding into rope—after the tax collector had taken his cut.
The farmer scattered seeds and turned his animals and children loose in the fields to trample it in. A farmer’s tools were simple. They included primitive picks and hoes, baskets, and heavy pottery water jars carried across the shoulders on frames called yokes. Farmers grew two kinds of wheat, emmer (Triticum dicoccum) and spelt (Triticum spelta). They also grew several varieties of barley (Hordeum vulgare), mostly for beer.
Farmers worked together to harvest one field after another as quickly as possible, using wood sickles with flint blades. It was hot, backbreaking work. But they tried to make it easier with competitions, work songs, and many jars of beer. The stalks of grain were gathered into bundles and carried by donkeys to the threshing floor in the village.
Emmer and spelt both require vigorous threshing (beating the grains out of their husks) before they can be ground into coarse f lour. Animals and children trampled the grain to separate out the husks. The grain was tossed into the air and the lighter husks blew away. The heavier grains fell into large, f lat baskets. The grain was then put though a coarse filter to remove pebbles and insects. Husks and stems were saved for making mud-brick. The grain was measured, packed into sacks, and stored in granaries, awaiting the tax collector.
The third major crop was flax (Linum usitatissimum). Bundles of flax fibers were carried off to be prepared for spinning, weaving into cloth, and braiding into rope—after the tax collector had taken his cut.
No comments:
Post a Comment