Although the people first settled in the foothills of the Taurus and Zagres mountains, they migrated south to Mesopotamia around 9000 BC. The first settlement was built around this direction. No stone or metal existed there. However, being in a river basin, the soil was unusually fertile. So the inhabitants of that time chose the southern part of Mesopotamia for agriculture. Mesopotamians around 7-6 millennium BC were involved in agriculture besides raising cattle, goats and sheep. They relied on self-made huts for shelter. The raw materials for building those huts were the plants growing next to the swamps, weeds and the fertile soil of the river.

They had to be destitute after losing their homes, domesticated animals and birds under the influence of floods again and again. Attacks by lions and wild boars also cause heavy crop damage. Yet they did not give up. Shoulder to shoulder, they united and tried to stop the disastrous flood by dams, irrigated the fields, built high walls for protection. By struggling in this way, they have survived in a hostile environment.