Ancient Egyptian agriculture

**Ancient Egyptian agriculture** was probably the first to be practiced on a large scale. They grew staple food crops. These included grains such as emmer (a variety of wheat) and barley. The earliest evidence of irrigation in the Nile area is about 3100&nbsp;BC.

They also grew flax for clothing and oil. It gave work and food for its people. It was a source of wealth for Egypt's . Egypt was the breadbasket (main provider of food) for much of the ancient world. It was called *Sha-et* (the growing season). The rest of Egypt is desert. Workers were also used for year-round irrigation projects. Water was usually carried ly on men's shoulders using yokes.

## Crops 
To plant, they dug a hole in the ground, and put one seed in each hole. They used furrows. They grew wheat, barley, vegetables, figs, melons, pomegranates, and vines. Crops were very important to Egyptians. They grew lettuce, cucumber, wheat, barley, figs, pomegranates, and beans. Shemu was the harvesting season. Peret was the growing season. Akhet was the flooding season. In October, the river Nile left a layer of soil. Kemet is left behind from flooding. They grew their crops on the edge of the bank on the river Nile, then they waited for the Nile to flood and then all was left was soil to plant there crops.

## Harvest
The harvest season was called *Shemu*. The s cut the grain with wooden sickles that had sharp flints. The cattle trampled over the cut grain. They tossed grain into the air so the breeze blew the useless chaff away. It was hard and slow. Harvest takes place in spring but finishes in May. Families hired workers to do the job. Everyone took part in harvest. Farmers had to barter. Many of them harvested crops to trade for the things and animals they needed to plant more crops.

## Tools
Ancient Egyptians had tools like winnowing scoops, mattocks, flint bladed sickles and plows. All of the tools were simple and made by hand. The Egyptian plow had a small blade on it but did not cut the soil.

### Shadoofs
A Shadoof is an object used to collect water from the river Nile. The Shadoof works by pulling the string at the front and at the back there is a weight to stop it from falling forwards. Shadoofs are used to get the water out of the Nile to water the crops.

## Animals 
The Egyptians believed that a balanced relationship between people and animals was an essential element of the cosmic order; thus humans, animals and plants were believed to be members of a single whole.p117 Cattle were the most important livestock; livestock were taxed; the size of a herd reflected the prestige and importance of the estate or temple which owned them. In addition to cattle, the ancient Egyptians kept sheep, goats, and pigs. Poultry such as ducks, geese, and pigeons were captured in nets and bred on farms, where they were force-fed with dough to fatten them.p381 The Nile provided a plentiful source of fish. Bees were also domesticated from at least the Old Kingdom, and they provided both honey and wax.p409

The ancient Egyptians used donkeys and oxen as beasts of burden. They plowed the fields and trampled seed into the soil. The slaughter of a fattened ox was part of an offering ritual.p381 Horses were introduced by the Hyksos in the Second Intermediate Period, and the camel, although known from the New Kingdom, was not used as a beast of burden until the Late Period. There is also evidence to suggest that elephants were briefly used in the Late Period, but largely abandoned due to lack of grazing land. Dogs, cats and monkeys were common family pets, while more exotic pets imported from the heart of Africa, such as lions, were reserved for royalty. Herodotus observed that the Egyptians were the only people to keep their animals with them in their houses.p229

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