Importance Of Farming In Daily Life

Farming in Daily Life

Farming was very important in the daily lives of ancient Egyptians. In fact, farming, hunting, and gathering is the way Egyptians obtained food. Farming was a crucial process for everyone. Without farming, Egyptians would not have had as much food and success in their economy. Evidence of food production and contents comes from paintings, texts, archaeological evidence, and models of daily activities.

Agriculture was the most important part of the economy in Egypt. It is still not fully understood how farming came to ancient Egypt, but the first known farming may have came from Neolithic sites on the northern Fayum Basin. Luckily, the lands of the Nile did not require very much irrigation or preparation of the soil. The

Some livestock owned by Egyptians were cows, sheep, goats, and pigs (Redford 2001, 37). The herdsmen that would take care of animals and sell them appeared to be unshaven with little hair on their heads. They wore kilts and had a long stick. Although herdsmen bred and raised animals, every farmer owned some animals for milk, meat, and wool. There was probably some sort of cattle-census for taxes, with evidence of this from the tomb of Meketre. A more common type of animal used in ancient Egypt was the donkey. Donkeys were used for land travel, and even peasants could afford and own donkeys. Egyptians domesticated animals for farming, hunting, or household activities. Cats were domesticated by Egyptians in the New Kingdom, mainly for catching rodents in the house. Chickens were introduced and Thutmose III spoke of the chicken as “a bird that laid an egg everyday”. The Egyptians tried to attempt domesticate other animals such as antelope, gazelle, Barbary sheep, hyena, heron, and crane (Strouhal 1992, 109-110, 113-115). Raising cattle was usually done by the wealthier Egyptians, but horses were exclusively for the army in order to pull chariots. Since the land did not need much work, farmers used tools made of wood and equipment drawn by cattle (Casson 1975, 36, 40). Most techniques that helped with successful farming were probably self taught and learned overtime. Farming villages developed quickly in Egypt, which shows that farming became