How did technological advancements enable Mesopotamia to meet the challenges of their physical environment?
What will be an ideal response?
ANSWER:
Students should be able to bring in elements from Chapter 1 to differentiate between Paleolithic and Neolithic eras and historical progress, but they should also be able to discuss the manner in which technology subsequently evolves while a civilization becomes more complex. In the case of Mesopotamia, wheeled carts and sledlike platforms dragged by cattle were used to transport goods in some locations. In the south, where numerous water channels cut up the landscape, boats and barges predominated. In northern Mesopotamia, donkeys were the chief pack animals for overland caravans before the advent of the camel around 1200 b.c.e. The Mesopotamians had to import metals, but they became skilled in metallurgy, refining ores containing copper and alloying them with arsenic or tin to make bronze. Craftsmen poured molten bronze into molds to produce tools and weapons. The cooled and hardened bronze took a sharper edge than stone, was less likely to break, and was more easily repaired. Stone implements remained in use among poor people, who could not afford bronze.
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