Page:A Short History of the World.djvu/98

 78 A Short History of The World A king or a nobleman or a merchant would have his seal often very artistically carved, and would impress it on any clay document he wished to authorize. So close had civihzation got to printmg six thousand years ago. Then the clay was dried hard and became permanent. For the reader must remember that in the land of Meso- potamia for countless years, letters, records and accounts were all written on comparatively indestructible tiles. To that fact we owe a great wealth of recovered knowledge. '* Photo ; y, Boyer, THE SAKKARA PYRAMIDS The Pyramid to right, the step Pyramid, is the oldest stone building in the world Bronze, copper, gold, silver and, as a precious rarity, mieteoric iron were known in both Sumeria and Egypt at a very early stage. Daily life in those first city lands of the old world must have been very similar in both Egypt and Sumeria. And except for the asses and cattle in the streets it must have been not unlike the life in the Maya cities of America three or four tjiousand years later. Most of the people in peace time were busy with irrigation and cultivation — except on days of religious festivity. They had no money and no need for it. They managed their small occasional trades by barter. The princes and rulers who alone had more than a few possessions used gold and silver bars and precious stones for any incidental act of trade. The temple dominated life ; in Sumeria it was a great