Ancient Egyptian Crops

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The Egyptians were one of the first groups on earth to begin farming, probably around 10,000 BC, but definitely by 5200 BC. At first people farmed by just digging a hole in the ground for each seed with a stick, as you do when you plant a vegetable garden in your back yard.

But that’s hard work, and slow. It is particularly hard in Egypt, because the heavy, clayey soil laid down by the Nile floods is hard to make furrows in. So by around 3000 BC people in Egypt had invented the animal-drawn plow, which made planting a lot easier.

As soon as the flood began to recede the Ancient Egyptians ploughed the soil ready for sowing. They had hand ploughs or larger ones that were pulled by oxen. Seeds were then sown into the newly ploughed soil. Goats and other animals then walked over the fields to push the seeds into the ground.

Crops grown included wheat, barley, flax, onions, leeks, garlic, beans, lettuce, lentils, cabbages, radishes, turnips, grapes, figs, plums and melons. There were two seasons that affected farming: growing season and harvest season. In the harvest season you may not have been able to harvest the wheat you wanted because your landlord may have made you cut his first.

 The tools used in ancient Egypt agriculture included: plows, sickles, hoes, forks, scoops, baskets, shaduf, skiffs, and sieves. The farmers also used cattle, oxen, donkey, and goats to aid in the cultivation of their fields. In the cultivation of grain, there were eight steps that the ancient farmer knew as well as he knew his own land.

The cultivated land was ploughed with a wooden axe. The fruit grown consisted of dates, figs, grapes, pomegranates, and melons. Due to the wonderful variety of flowers grown in ancient Egypt, bees were able to pollinate and produce honey. The pharaoh got the rich peasants to do the farm work on the rich lands. The peasants worked as either reapers or gleaners.

The reapers went through the fields first and they did work such as plowing the field to loosen the dirt for the seeds to go in or they would winnow. Winnowing means to get the debris off of grain.The ancient Egyptians were thorough in their cultivation of grain, as it was their main staple.

Barley and emmer were used to make bread and beer. Excessive grain was exported to neighboring countries. This exportation of grain allowed the Egyptian treasury to accumulate income. Some exporting of crops also took place; as far as agricultural products are concerned, mostly grains were exported.

ox, cattle, and donkeys were used to pull equipment and pigs, sheep, and goats were sometimes used cover seeds, so that the task needn’t be done by hand.

Ancient Egyptian Crops pictures :-