Учебное пособие для студентов, обучающихся по специальности «История», «Музеология»

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Study the pronunciation of the following proper names:
Cyprus ['saiprəs] - Кипр

Zagros Mountains ['zægrɑs] – Загрос (горная система в Иране)

Jericho ['dʒerɪkəu] – Иерихон (город в Палестине, на Западном берегу реки Иордан)

Tassili-n-Ajjer ['tæslin ə'dʒɜ:] - Тассилин Аджер

Tigris [′taigris] – р. Тигр

Euphrates [ju:′freiti:z] – р. Евфрат
Guess the meaning of the following words:
domestication, [də‚mesti′kei∫(ə)n], n

era, [′iərə], n

exploit, [ik′splɔit], [ek′splɔit], v

fresco, [′freskəu], n

infanticide, [in′fæntisaid], n

resident, [′rezid(ə)nt], n

Study the following words and expressions:
ancestor, n [′ænsəstə] - прародитель, предок

barley, n [′bɑ:li] – ячмень

chariot, n [′t∫æriət] - колесница

clay, n [klei] – глина

game, n [geim] – дичь

grain, n [grein] - зерно; хлебные злаки

harvester, n [′hɑ:vistə] - жнец

herd, n [hɜ:d] – стадо, гурт; v - пасти стадо

hut, n [hʌt] – хижина, шалаш, барак

inhabit, v [in′hæbit] – жить, обитать; населять, заселять

inhabitable, adj [in′hæbitəbl] – пригодный для жилья

inhabitant, n [in′hæbit(ə)nt] – житель, обитатель (syn. – resident)

lentil, n [′lent(ə)l] - чечевица

rudimentary, adj [‚ru:di′mentari] - элементарный

sanctuary, n [′sæŋ(k)t∫uəri]- святилище, алтарь

skull, n [skʌl] - череп

warfare, n [′wɔ:fεə] – война, военный действия

worship, n [′wɜ:∫ip] – поклонение, почитание; v – поклоняться, почитать, боготворить
ancestor worship – культ предков

bonds of kinship [′bɔndz əf ′kin∫ip] – узы родства

horse-drawn chariot [′hɔ:sˏdrɔ:n] – колесница запряженная лошадью

infant mortality [′infənt mɔ:′tæləti] – детская смертность

life expectancy [lɑif ik′spekt(ə)n(t)si] – средняя продолжительность жизни

permanent settlement [′pə:m(ə)nənt ′setlmənt] – постоянное поселение, колония

religious rites [ri′lidʒəs raits] – религиозные обряды, ритуалы, церемонии

to spell disaster [spel di′zɑ:stə] – сулить несчастье, беду

tool kit [′tu:l kit] – набор инструментов, орудий труда

trade patterns [′treid ′pæt(ə)nz] – торговые модели

Read and translate the text using a dictionary if necessary:

Between 9000 B.C. and the beginning of the Christian era, western civilization came into being in Egypt and in what historians call Ancient Western Asia (modern-day Cyprus, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Turkey, southwestern Russia, Iraq and Iran). The earliest permanent settlements occurred between 9000-6000 B.C. and were accompanied by the domestication of plants and animals. Between 4000-3000 B.C., the first cities appeared in response to the pressures of population growth, the organizational requirements of irrigation and the demands of more complex trade patterns. According to our previous definitions, these societies of Egypt and Ancient Western Asia correspond to what we would call civilization.

Around 10,000 B.C., many hunter-gatherers living along the coastal plains of modern Syria and Israel and in the valleys and hills near the Zagros Mountains between Iran and Iraq began to develop special strategies that led to a transformation in the human community. Rather than constantly traveling in search of food, people stayed in one region and exploited the seasonal sources of food, including fish, grain, fruits and game. At a community such as Jericho, people built and rebuilt their mud brick and stone huts rather than moving on as had their ancestors. In general, these communities began to focus on seasonal food sources and so were less likely to leave in search of new sources.

Just why hunters and gatherers in this region of the ancient world turned to agriculture is difficult to say. And there are a variety of problems associated with this transformation. For one thing, specialization in a relatively small number of plants or animals could spell disaster during times of famine. Some scholars have argued that agriculture developed out of an increased population and the development of a political hierarchy. In settled communities, infant mortality decreased and life expectancy rose. This change may have occurred since life in a fixed community was less demanding. The practice of infanticide decreased since children could now be used in rudimentary agricultural tasks. And as population growth put pressure on the local food supply, gathering activities required more coordination and organization and led eventually to the development of political leadership. Settlements began to encourage the growth of plants such as barley and lentils and the domestication of pigs, sheep and goats. People no longer looked for their favorite food sources where they occurred naturally. Now they introduced them into other locations. An agricultural revolution had begun.

The ability to domesticate goats, pigs, sheep and cattle and to cultivate grains and vegetables changed human communities from passive harvesters of nature to active partners with it. The ability to expand the food supply in one area allowed the development of permanent settlements of greater size and complexity. The people of the Neolithic or New Stone Age (8000-5000 B.C.) organized fairly large villages. Jericho grew into a fortified town complete with ditches, stone walls, and towers and contained perhaps 2000 residents.

Although agriculture resulted in a stable food supply for permanent communities, the revolutionary aspect of this development was that the community could bring what they needed (natural resources plus their tool kit) to make a new site inhabitable. This development made it possible to create larger communities and also helped to spread the practice of agriculture to a wider area. Farmers in Turkey cultivated plants that came from hundreds of miles away. The presence of tools and statues made of stone not available locally indicates that there was also some trading with distant regions. Agricultural society brought changes in the organization of religious practices as well. Sanctuary rooms decorated with frescoes and sculptures of the heads of bulls and bears shows us that structured religious rites were important to the inhabitants of these early communities. At Jericho, human skulls were covered with clay in an attempt to make them look as they had in life suggesting that they practiced a form of ancestor worship. Bonds of kinship that had united hunters and gatherers were being supplemented by religious organization, which helped to regulate the social behavior of the community.

Around 1500 B.C., a new theme appears on the cliff walls at Tassili-n-Ajjer. We see men herding horses and driving horse-drawn chariots. These practices had emerged more than fifteen hundred years earlier in Mesopotamia, a desert plain stretching to the marshes near the mouths of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Chariots symbolized a dynamic and expansive phase in western culture. Constructed of wood and bronze and used for transport as well as for warfare, the chariot is symbolic of the culture of early river civilizations, the first civilizations in Ancient Western Asia.
Ex.1. Answer the following questions:

1. 
   What caused the appearance of the first civilizations? When and where did it happen?
   
2. 
   How did the settled communities differ from the communities of hunter – gatherers?
   
3. 
   What problems could the settled way of life bring to people?
   
4. 
   What positive sides did the life in a settled community have?
   
5. 
   What results did the agricultural revolution bring?
   
6. 
   How did the changes in agriculture influence economy and religious life?
   
7. 
   What new image appeared among the rock paintings around 1500 BC? What does it symbolize?
   

Ex. 2. a) Give English equivalents to the following expressions and explain what spheres of life in the first civilizations they referred to:

b) Tell your partner about the life in the early communities using these expressions.
Ex. 3. Explain the difference in meaning between the following expressions:
Permanent settlement / settled community

Life expectancy / population growth

To domesticate plants and animals / to exploit seasonal food sources

Wheeled cart / horse-drawn chariot
Ex. 4. Complete the table with the forms of the words given. Use a dictionary if necessary:

Verb	Noun	Adjective
To inhabit
		settled
	domestication
	symbol
to trade
		growing
	cultivation	--------

Ex. 5. Insert the words and phrases given into the sentences. Translate the sentences into Russian:
seasonal food sources population growth frescoes trade patterns game warfare settled communities spell disaster life expectancy chariot mortality sanctuary rooms ancestor worship

1. 
   ______________ and the demand for more complex _____________ were the reason for the appearance of the first cities.
   
2. 
   Instead of moving from one place to another, people stayed at the same location and used ___________________, including grain and ________.
   
3. 
   During the famine in ________________ a relatively small specialization on plants and animals could ____________.
   
4. 
   In settled communities ______________ rose and _______________ decreased.
   
5. 
   ________________ were decorated by __________ and sculptures, which suggests a form of ________________.
   
6. 
   The images of a ___________ - the symbol of ___________ - were found in the region of the Tigris and Euphrates.
   

Ex. 6. Translate from Russian into English:

1. 
   Самые ранние постоянные поселения появились примерно в 9 тысячелетии до н. э. и были связаны с одомашниванием растений и животных.
   
2. 
   Охотники и собиратели, которые жили вдоль прибрежных равнин, стали все чаще обращаться к земледелию, что привело к трансформации их образа жизни.
   
3. 
   Выполнение элементарных сельскохозяйственных заданий привело к снижению практики детоубийства.
   
4. 
   Культивирование новых злаковых культур, таких как ячмень и чечевица, а также выращивание овощей, привело к развитию постоянных поселений большего размера и сложности, что, в результате, вызвало развитие политической иерархии.
   
5. 
   Постоянные сообщества использовали местные природные ресурсы и свой набор инструментов, чтобы сделать новое место обитаемым. Со временем такие поселения перерастали в укрепленные города.
   
6. 
   При раскопках, в комнате для религиозных обрядов были найдены рисунки с изображением людей, пасущих лошадей, а также найдены покрытые глиной черепа людей.
   

Ex. 7. Choose a topic and make a brief report using the vocabulary from the text:


Text B
Who Were the Hurrians?

Before reading the text, answer the questions:

1. 
   What ancient civilizations do you remember? At what period of history did they exist?
   
2. 
   What languages did these civilizations speak?
   
3. 
   What were their earliest achievements?
   

Read the following article without a dictionary and find out if the following information is True or False:

1. 
   The Hurrians appeared in the Middle East long before the Mesopotamians.
   
2. 
   Scientists prove the fact that the Hurrians arrived and settled down about 2500 BC with the help of archaeology.
   
3. 
   The Hurrians lived in the mountains and had very primitive civilization.
   
4. 
   Nowadays the rituals, language and sculpture of the Hurrians are preserved.
   

New discoveries in Syria suggest a little-known people fueled the rise of civilization

(1) With its vast plaza and impressive stone stairway leading up to a temple complex, Urkesh was designed to last. And for well over a millennium, this city on the dusty plains of what is now northeastern Syria was a spiritual center for a puzzling people called the Hurrians. All but forgotten by history, their origin remains obscure, but excavations led by husband-and-wife UCLA archaeologists Georgio Buccellati and Marilyn Kelly-Buccellati over the past quarter century reveal that the Hurrians were far more than just another wandering tribe in the fractious Middle East. And during last year's season, they found compelling evidence that the Hurrians not only strongly influenced the language, culture, and religion of later peoples, but also may have been present 1,000 years earlier--just as nearby Mesopotamians began to create the first cities.

(2) That idea is at odds with a long-held belief among scholars that the Hurrians arrived much later from the Caucasus or some other distant region to the northeast, drawn to the fringes of civilization after the rise of the great southern Sumerian centers of Ur, Uruk, and Nippur. Scholars long assumed that the Hurrians arrived in the middle of the third millennium B.C., and eventually settled down and adopted cuneiform as a script and built their own cities. That theory is based on linguistic associations with Caucasus' languages and the fact that Hurrian names are absent from the historical record until Akkadian times.

(3) But Piotr Michaelowski, an Assyriologist at the University of Michigan, notes that Hurrian, like Sumerian, is a language unrelated to Semitic or Indo-European tongues that dominated the region during and after the third millennium B.C. Perhaps, he suggests, the Hurrians were earlier inhabitants of the region, who, like the Sumerians, had to make room for the Semitic-speaking people who created the world's first empire based at Akkad in central Mesopotamia around 2350 B.C.

(4) The discovery of a sophisticated city with monumental architecture, plumbing, stonework, and a large population contradicts the idea that Hurrians were a roving mountain people in a strange land. Far from being yet another rough nomadic tribe, such as the Amorites or Kassites who were latecomers to the Mesopotamian party, the Hurrians and their unique language, music, deities, and rituals may have played a key role in shaping the first cities, empires, and states. The language has died, the music faded, and the rituals are forgotten. But thanks to the sculptors, stone masons, and seal carvers at Urkesh, Hurrian creativity can shine once again.

by Andrew Lawler

the Archaeological Institute of America

Vol. 61 № 4, July/August 2008
Ex.1. For each part (1)-(4) choose a title A-D which best fits its meaning:
A The origins of the Hurrians

B. The mysterious civilization

C. The achievements of the Hurrians

D. The language of the Hurrians
Ex. 2. Write out the key words from each paragraph.
Ex. 3. Write down a brief summary of the text in English.

Lesson 3
Text A
Mesopotamian Civilization

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