Chapter 2 Outline ? The First River-Valley Civilizations, 3500?1500 B.C.E. Chapter 2 ? The First River-Valley Civilizations, 3500?1500 B.C.E. I.??????? Mesopotamia Settled Agriculture in an Unstable Landscape Mesopotamia is the alluvial plain area alongside and between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. The area is a difficult environment for agriculture because there is little rainfall, the rivers flood at the wrong time for grain agriculture, and the rivers change course unpredictably. Mesopotamia does have a warm climate and good soil. By 4000 B.C.E. farmers were using cattle-pulled plows and a sort of planter to cultivate barley. Just after 3000 B.C.E. they began constructing irrigation canals to bring water to fields farther away from the rivers.