Stone Bowl with Farmer and Cattle
Stone
Early Dynastic Period (ca. 2900-2400 B.C.)
Tell Agrab, Shara Temple.
Excavated by the Oriental Institute, 1935 OIM A18144

This fragment of an ancient stone bowl illustrates a theme often portrayed in early Mesopotamian art - cows, which have been out grazing all day, are shown returning to the cattle fold at night, where they are greeted by calves, eager to be fed. A herdsman, carrying an implement that may be a fly wisk or goad, stands between two cows that are facing away from him. Above the central cow's back are two birds, standing back-to-back. The head of one of the calves coming out to greet its mother is visible at the right edge of the fragment.

Domestication of animals such as cattle - as well as the domestication of plants - changed people's lives and the course of human history dramatically. The most significant change was the shift from a nomadic life-style to settled villages. In order to care for crops and herds of animals, people needed to live in one place. This change from hunting and gathering to planting and herding occurred independently in many parts of the world. In northern Mesopotamia, the process occurred over the period 10,000-6000 B.C. Here, there was enough rainfall to grow crops, and the region was also home to wheat, barley, sheep, cattle, goats, and pigs, the wild plants and animals that eventually were domesticated.

By 5800 B.C. people were living in the southern plains of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. The land in this region was exceptionally fertile, but the rainfall was insufficient to grow crops. The rivers were undependable, drying up in the searing heat of the summer. Irrigation was the solution to these problems. Over time, ditches laced the fields near the rivers, making the land a maze of artificial waterways.