CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTORY: THE LANDS OF SUMER AND AKKAD

Trend of recent archaeological research--The study of origins--The Neolithic period in the Aegean area, in the region of the Mediterranean, and in the Nile Valley--Scarcity of Neolithic remains in Babylonia due largely to character of the country--Problems raised by excavations in Persia and Russian Turkestan--Comparison of the earliest cultural remains in Egypt and Babylonia--The earliest known inhabitants of South Babylonian sites--The "Sumerian Controversy" and a shifting of the problem at issue--Early relations of Sumerians and Semites--The lands of Sumer and Akkad--Natural boundaries--Influence of geological structure--Effect of river deposits--Euphrates and the Persian Gulf--Comparison of Tigris and Euphrates--The Shatt en-Nîl and the Shatt el-Kâr--The early course of Euphrates and a tendency of the river to break away westward--Changes in the swamps--Distribution of population and the position of early cities--Rise and fall of the rivers and the regulation of the water--Boundary between Sumer and Akkad--Early names for Babylonia--"The Land" and its significance--Terminology