· Among the preconditions of technology are geographic considerations such as the availability of natural resources.
- It was not just the fact that both Egypt and Mesopotamia were river valley civilizations; the agricultural life of both regions depended upon the fact that these rivers besides providing water for irrigation, periodically overflowed their banks and provided the rich silt which fertilized the land and helped to produce abundant crops, and the floodings were so important that both areas had to develop hydraulic-engineering techniques in order to control the waters, since either too much or too little water could be disastrous; irrigation techniques had to be highly developed.
· The technological character of irrigation works - the dikes, reservoirs, irrigation canals, and ditches - in turn affected the social and political development of both lands.
· Technology was one of a number of factors which combined to produce certain political conditions, because when political conditions deteriorated in both these regions to the point where there was no longer any effective supervisory or enforcing agent to maintain the irrigation works, both the Tigris-Euphrates and Nile valleys declined in productivity and have never since fully recovered economically, and the deterioration of public works followed closely the breakdown of public order.
· The presence of absence of certain raw materials also had a profound effect upon the development of technologies in both Egypt and Mesopotamia.
- Although Mesopotamia had little natural stone and few timber resources, it did have ample supplies of clay; hence, the common building material became brick, and clay tablets became their chief writing instruments.
- In Egypt, natural stone was available in large quantities, so the Egyptians developed the use of stone for building monumental structures; a multitude of associated technologies and techniques were dependent upon the use of these basic raw materials.
· As men learned to make and use items of metal, the absence, in certain areas, of tin ores for making alloys of bronze required the development of trading techniques, just as the development of metallurgy itself required the evolution of mining, smelting, and working techniques. (Trade and commerce were dependent in great measure upon the evolving technology)
· Another important factor affecting the development of was religion.
- It was the religious beliefs of the Egyptians regarding the after-life which caused them to erect the monumental pyramids.
- The fact that the common people had to sacrifice their energies and labors for this kind of work tells us much about the role and position of the Pharaohs as god-king and also indicates the great social gulf which existed between the rulers and the ruled.
- Throughout much of history man’s religious beliefs have provided an important stimulus to his technology.
- The building of the pyramids also demonstrates another element within technology itself, namely, the importance of the organization of work as well as the techniques and tools employed.
- For these great edifices, like the irrigation works upon which the Pharaohs' wealth was based, represent a triumph of human and social organization more than they do the application of developed tools and machines.
· The high development of the various crafts in both Egypt and Mesopotamia also manifests another characteristic of technology during most of human history, namely, its separation from science.
- Both technology and science were related to religion, but in quite different ways.
- Science and religion were the property of a highly educated caste which had little to do with the work of the craftsman.
- The crafts followed an empirical tradition, based on experience passed down by oral rather than written means.
- Few craftsmen could read or write, while the priestly caste alone possessed the esoteric scientific and religious knowledge.
- Not until much later in human history, as we shall see, did science and technology work together to reinforce one another and increase man's control over his environment.
· Nevertheless, both the Egyptians and Mesopotamians could point to significant accomplishments in technological development; however, technology had not yet developed to the point where man had sufficient control over his environment to provide more than the bare essentials of life for the majority of the population.
· Yet, in these early river-civilizations man had already learned to use some elements of nature for his own purposes.
- Wild animals had been domesticated to serve as carriers for man, to help take some of the burden off men's backs; similarly, the force of the wind had been harnessed by sails, thereby releasing human muscle power.
- In addition, the great advances in agriculture through the use of irrigation techniques meant that men could work with nature instead of struggling against her in order to provide him with subsistence.
- Life was still harsh and work was still overburdening for the vast majority of human beings, yet the beginnings of civilized life in urban communities were to be found, along with the development of writing to extend human powers of memory and speech.
- Thus, in the very beginning of civilization, technology played an important role and was advanced by the very civilization which it had helped to create.
