In Sumer, however, there were no limitations. The alluvial plain was rich and fertile, water from the rivers plentiful, and the soil was easy to work because it was free of stone. The Tigris River is 1,100 miles long, flowing from the Armenian Plateau to the Persian Gulf. With four major tributaries, it is subject to significant flooding each year. At Kut, for example, the river rises from four feet to twenty-six feet.
To grow barley, one needed 40-50 days of moist soil, which naturally presented itself when the river began to recede. The Mesopotamians used a scratch plow (Ard) to create furrows in the soil for planting. It was a crude implement, incapable of turning the soil, but turning the soil was unnecessary since the land renewed its nutrients with each seasonal flood.