Geography of Ancient Mesopotamia Ms. Berry 6th Grade Social Studies

Essential Question: How does geography of an area affect where people lived in the past and today?

Warm Up: What did early civilizations have to have in order to survive?

Let’s Pretend… You are an archeologist, a person who studies past human life based on items people leave behind. Your job is to excavate, uncover by digging a special site. If you are lucky, you will uncover artifacts, objects made by humans.

Mesopotamia: The Land between Two Rivers Fertile Crescent is shaped like a crescent moon. The land is very fertile; it has rich soil good for growing food. Two rivers that cut through this land are the Tigris and the Euphrates. The north is a plateau, a high flat area of land The south is an alluvial plain, low flat area of land formed from fine soils deposited by rivers.

Working with Water The rivers played an important role in the development of the civilizations. The climate is hot and dry and the rivers were unpredictable and flooded often. Both rivers began in the Taurus Mountains and flow into the Persian Gulf. The two rivers often flooded and left behind a layer of silt; a rich fertile mixture of rocks and soil left after flood waters go back down.

Benefits of Irrigation However, there were often droughts; long times with little or no rain. Farmers were forced to develop a system of irrigation; a system of canals, ditches, dams, and dykes to move water to dry areas. Irrigation helped farmers prevent and control flooding. Early settlers would often lose entire crops to floods.

What made early settlement possible? Fertile soil or silt near rivers Water for drinking and growing crops Farmers were able to use irrigation systems to control flooding of rivers

Geography: Map of Mesopotamia Label the following: Bodies of Water- Persian Gulf, Mediterranean Sea, Red Sea, Black Sea, Caspian Sea Mountains- Taurus Mountains, Zagros Mountains Deserts- Syrian Desert Rivers- Tigris River, Euphrates River Cities- Ur and Babylon

Geography of Mesopotamia: Once you have finished labeling, and you have had your map checked, you may color your map. Color lightly enough to read your labels and make sure your work is neat. Rivers and bodies of water should be blue Desert should be yellow Mountains should be brown Fertile Crescent should be green

Questions?