Why did the civilisation that invented writing, cities, and law destroy the very soil that made it possible — and why are sixty to seventy percent of those same fields still poisoned by salt today? How did two scholars at the University of Chicago, reading cuneiform grain records from 2400 BC, discover that the fall of Sumer was not caused by war or plague but by a slow, invisible chemical process that no amount of ingenuity could stop? And what does it mean that the Sumerians could see it happening, recorded it meticulously on clay tablets, and kept irrigating anyway?
John tells the story of Iraq and the land between the rivers — the white crust on the fields of Uruk, the dying date palms of Basra, and the most quietly devastating title in the history of academic writing…
———-
In Sponsorship with Cornell University: Dyson Cornell SC Johnson College of Business
———–
Join the History of Fresh Produce Club for ad-free listening, bonus episodes, book discounts and access to an exclusive chatroom community.
Support us!
- Share this episode with your friends
- Give a 5-star rating
- Write a review
———–
Subscribe to our biweekly newsletter here for extra stories related to recent episodes, book recommendations, a sneak peek of upcoming episodes and more.
———–
Instagram, TikTok, Threads:
@historyoffreshproduce