Looking at properly aligned buildings I realized school never prepared me into thinking city planner might have been a bronze age job. How come we call mobile phones progress?
[delayed]
The ancient Sumerians, in Mesopotamia during the Bronze age, didn't write dictionaries quite like how we do; they tended to make thematic word-lists. Lists of animals. Lists of metals. Lists of professions:
* boatman
* sailor
* captain
* barge operator
* ferryman
* boat-builder
* shipper/handler
* orchard worker
* orchard foreman
* forester
* leatherworker
* reed worker
* potter
* street sweeper
* brick maker
* carpenter
* interior carpenter
* chief carpenter
* builder
* smith (of tin, copper)
* silversmith
* chief priest
* vice-priest
* diviners
* cantors
* temple-offering preparer
* attendant of the sacred drums
* cultic statue attendant
* lawyer
* surveyor
* land record scribe
* witness
* creditor
* tax collector
* inspector of wool grading
* granary inspector
* pots supervisor
* record-keeper
* chief oil-maker
* courier
* army summoner/musterer
* cupbearer
* chief cupbearer
* minister
* high minister
* chief minister
* "one who seals up the oil vessels"
* head of personnel - female workers
* head of personnel - slaves in the inner palace
* head of personnel - the inspectors
* head of personnel - porters
* head of personnel - sailors
* head of personnel - fishing
* undertaker
* funereal priest
* musician
* hymn vocalist
* instrumentalist
* musical scribe
* physician
* chief physician
* barber
* chief barber
* hairdresser
* woman's hairdresser
* head brewer
* malt-crusher in the brewery
* malt-grower
* merchant
* chief merchant
* chief merchant to the ruler
* chief of the college of long-distance slave merchants
* chief of the college of long-distance aromatic oils merchants
Not at all exhaustive and just a selection. Now some of these entries are ritualistic, or archaic hold-overs, and not all were necessarily actually present in any particular Sumerian city five thousand years ago. And we're not exactly sure how to translate so many of the titles. But it does reflect the degree of economic specialization already seen in the early cities.
[dead]
Is this the culture referred to as BMAC? I've recently heard that both them and the Indus Valley Civilization remain fairly unresearched, which was surprising to me.
https://web.archive.org/web/20251119171014/https://archaeolo...
Looking at properly aligned buildings I realized school never prepared me into thinking city planner might have been a bronze age job. How come we call mobile phones progress?
[delayed]
The ancient Sumerians, in Mesopotamia during the Bronze age, didn't write dictionaries quite like how we do; they tended to make thematic word-lists. Lists of animals. Lists of metals. Lists of professions:
Not at all exhaustive and just a selection. Now some of these entries are ritualistic, or archaic hold-overs, and not all were necessarily actually present in any particular Sumerian city five thousand years ago. And we're not exactly sure how to translate so many of the titles. But it does reflect the degree of economic specialization already seen in the early cities.[dead]
Is this the culture referred to as BMAC? I've recently heard that both them and the Indus Valley Civilization remain fairly unresearched, which was surprising to me.
Wow their art was fantastic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bactria%E2%80%93Margiana_Archa...