Prehistory and Protohistory in India and Pakistan c4.s17.1

c4.s17.1

We are thus up against the exact role of geography and environmental factors in the development of civilization. Without going into much details, it is necessary to point out that even in the West, where formerly the "Fertile Crescent" was regarded as the cradle of civilization, now the hilly flanks characterized by the foothills and intermontane valleys at an elevation of 1250 to 3000 ft. above sea level in Iraqi Kurdistan are regarded as such. Here it appears that transition took place from the earlier food-gathering pattern of life to that of food production. For here more than anywhere else "the wild wheats and barley, the wild sheep, goats, pigs, cattle and horses were to be found in a single natural environment."