ABSTRACT
The irrigation systems were of great importance in drawing together the communities situated on a river, of whom the greater part may well have consisted of the same social elements and have had to reckon with the same economic conditions of existence. The high degree to which economic methods had been developed is surprising, especially in view of the comparative shortage of technical tools and expedients. There is evidence that, along with a widely prevalent belief in magic, their economic proceedings were very rational. In ancient Sumeria the plough was drawn by oxen, donkeys, or mules guided by the ploughman. The number of cattle was not very great in relation to the land farmed by the temple itself.
