Corporate Land-Holding and Agricultural Extensification in Early Mesopotamia

Abstract

Cuneiform texts from the early historic period in
Mesopotamia document the existence of corporate groups,
including large corporate families, temples, and the crown
(e.g. Diakonoff 1969; Gelb 1979; Yoffee 1977). Such
corporate groups have a long history in this region, and
continue to exist in various forms today (Fernea 1970). It
has been suggested (Adams 1974a; Fernea 1970) that corporate
landholding is the most efficient means of controlling
resources in this region; a large group can effectively
control more land than can be worked by a nuclear family.
Using both archaeological and historical data, this paper
will demonstrate that there is evidence for corporate
family groups in the archaeological record of agricultural
populations in western Asia. Such household groups
developed within an intensive agricultural system that
expanded and "extensified" with time. Political efforts to
intensify the system were made long after the establishment
of complex states in Mesopotamia (Adams 1974a).