Prior to the Akkadian period the progressive salinisation of the soils, produced by poorly drained irrigation, had been reducing yields of wheat in the southern part of the country, leading to the conversion to more salt-tolerant barley growing.

Prior to 1991, the Soviet economy was the second largest in the world, but during its last years it was afflicted by shortages of goods in grocery stores, huge budget deficits, and explosive growth in money supply leading to inflation.

Prior to the events, the university received a facelift that included extensive renovations to the Rice – Eccles Stadium, a light rail track leading to downtown Salt Lake City, a new student center known as the Heritage Center, an array of new student housing, and a 134-room campus hotel and conference center.

Prior to the events leading to Qin dominance over China, they had gained possession of much of Sichuan to the southwest.

Prior to his days as a leading member of the Yippie movement, Hoffman was involved with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee ( SNCC ), and organized " Liberty House ", which sold items to support the Civil Rights Movement in the southern United States.

Prior to the arms deal, at the Bandung Conference in Indonesia in April 1955, Nasser was treated as the leading representative of the Arab countries and emerged as one of the key figures of the conference and the newly established Non-Aligned Movement.

Prior to 2009, the United States was the leading issuer of IPOs in terms of total value.

Prior to the Civil War they were joined by the Roe, Leonard and Stansfield families, who helped establish St. Mary's Episcopal Church and leading businesses like a general store and the Leonard Wax Company.

Prior to their nominations, and Diana Ross for Lady Sings the Blues the same year with Winfield and Tyson, only three other African Americans-Dorothy Dandridge, Sidney Poitier and James Earl Jones-had ever been nominated for a leading role.

Prior to Akansa, Paul was most recently a partner at TPG Capital, one of the world ’ s leading private equity investment firms.

Prior to the erection of the bridge, the road south of the town center was east of its current location, leading along Ferry Road to a ferry landing, which connected the town to Newburyport.

Prior and fellow right-handed pitcher Kerry Wood were dubbed " Chicago Heat " by Sports Illustrated, and the name stuck, as the twosome were dominant in leading the Cubs to an 88-win season and a division title.

After coming off the disabled list Prior did not pitch up to expectations, leading to more speculation about the health of his arm.

Peat was thus credited as being the first Grand Prior of the association, though this is not mentioned in any of his obituaries, leading W. B. H.

Prior to Long's death, leading contenders for the role of the sacrificial 1936 candidate included Senators Burton K. Wheeler ( D-Montana ) and William E. Borah ( R-Idaho ), and Governor Floyd B. Olson ( FL-Minnesota ).

Prior to this picture, leading lady Andie MacDowell was principally known as a fashion model whose entire performance in Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes had been dubbed over by Glenn Close.

Prior has the disadvantage of leading to less optimal predictions, and

Prior to this, he was a leading figure in the independence movement and then the new government, and played a crucial role in facilitating and protecting Botswana ’ s steady financial growth and development.

Prior to this, it had been standard practice for a cowbell to be attached to only the best and leading piece of livestock.

Prior to joining the NBA, Abdur-Rahim was the USA's leading scorer and rebounder at the 1994 COPABA Junior World Championship Qualifying Tournament held in Santa Rosa, Argentina.

Prior to the release of Sonic & Knuckles in North America, Blockbuster Video and MTV co-sponsored a tournament contest where kids were allowed to play a pre-release of the game, leading to a final tournament held at Alcatraz Island in San Francisco, California.

Prior to his election in 1997, he had been a leading member of Labour ’ s Scottish Executive.

Prior to decimalisation in the United Kingdom in 1971, the abbreviation s., from solidus, was used to represent shillings, just as d. and £, from denarius and Librum, were respectively used to represent pence and pounds, leading to the abbreviation "£ sd.

Prior to being invited for the leading role by writer Gilberto Braga and director Herval Rossano, Lucélia had been turned down by Globo several times.

Prior to becoming a leading figure in the Christian countercult movement, Hanegraaff was closely affiliated with the ministry of D. James Kennedy of Coral Ridge Presbyterian church in Florida.

Prior to 2000, the United States armed forces trained together with the UPDF as part of the African Crisis Response Initiative.

Prior to its release, Tiberian Sun was speculated to be a BattleMech-type game: a promotional preview of the game in the ending cut-scenes of the original Command & Conquer shows an experimental battle-walker prototype being field tested by the Global Defense Initiative.

Prior to April 2006, the magazine was sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency ( DARPA ) on behalf of the Digital Libraries Initiative and by the National Science Foundation ( NSF ).

Prior to Proposition 64, any consumer, regardless of whether they were adversely affected by unfair business acts, could bring a UCL action.

Prior to the passage of Proposition E, the Muni was governed by the Public Transportation Commission and the Department of Parking and Traffic was governed by the Parking and Traffic Commission.

Prior to the 1080, there were 54 snails found on 500sq grid.

Columb Barracks was a major military base in the county housing the 4th Field Artillery Regiment and the HQ of the 54 Reserve Field Artillery Regiment ( Army Reserve ) formally the FCA ( 9 FAR ). Because of a Government Decision Columb Barracks is to be closed on the 30th March 2012 and the 4FAR is to be moved to Custume Barracks Athlone and the location of the 54 Reserve Artillery Regiments HQ Battery and No 3 Gun Battery is unclear. This is the last Artillery Barracks in the Republic of Ireland and the largest barracks in the Irish Midlands. Prior to World War I Wellington ( Columb ) Barracks was the second largest recruiting barracks in the United Kingdom. On 28th March the 4 Field Artillery Regiment and members of the 54 Reserve Artillery Regiment marched out of Columb Barracks for the last time as the Gate was locked by the Barrack Accountant CQMS Eamonn O ' Reilly.

Prior to that, he played for the Moose Jaw Canucks of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League where he tallied 87 points and 175 penalty minutes in just 54 games in his final season.

Prior to the Atlanta Olympics, Matete beat Adkins in four races out of five, but at the Olympic Games itself Adkins turned the tables on Matete, winning in a time of 47. 54 and beating Matete to a second place by 0. 24 seconds.

Prior to the current route, highways 54 and 61 were concurrent and went on the current route of 61 through Centralia and Mount Carmel.

Prior to the season, the league declined to approve the Raiders ' proposal to move from Oakland, California to Los Angeles.

Prior to joining the BPP, Shakur had met several of its members on a 1970 trip to Oakland, California.

Prior to the adoption of the California Job Case, the capital letters were stored in a separate drawer or case that was located above the case that held the other letters ; this is why capital letters are called " upper case " characters while the non-capitals are " lower case ".

Prior to its merger with Standard Oil of California, Gulf was one of the chief instruments of the legendary Mellon family fortune ; both Gulf and Mellon Financial had their headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Prior to the establishment of ICANN for this purpose, IANA was administered primarily by Jon Postel at the Information Sciences Institute ( ISI ) of the University of Southern California ( USC ), under a contract USC / ISI had with the United States Department of Defense, until ICANN was created to assume the responsibility under a United States Department of Commerce contract.

Prior to serving as Governor, Davis served as Chief of Staff to Governor Jerry Brown ( 1975 – 1981 ), a California State Assemblyman ( 1983 – 1987 ), California State Controller ( 1987 – 1995 ) and the 44th Lieutenant Governor of California ( 1995 – 1999 ).

Prior to its incorporation, the City of Calimesa existed as an unincorporated census designated town that straddled the Riverside – San Bernardino County line at the location where Interstate 10 climbs the San Gorgonio Pass going eastward from Redlands, California.

Prior to 1949 the fire protection for the valley was provided by the California Department of Forestry at the Avenue A station, which today is the office of County Service Area 63 in Yucaipa.

Prior to signing with Columbia, the group had recorded several tracks in Oakland, California produced by Dwayne Wiggins of Tony!

Prior to the California Gold Rush of 1848 – 1855, the Yahi population numbered approximately 400, but the total Yana people numbered about 3, 000.

Prior to 1958, all Revue's shows were filmed at the old Republic Pictures studio lot in Studio City, California.

Prior to the release of the 2008 Elise SC, the limited production California Edition arrived at dealerships.

Prior to forming The Offspring, Kriesel was also on the track and field team at Pacifica High School in Garden Grove, California, along with bandmate Holland, and was also in the Math Club.

Prior to Prohibition in the United States, Malbec was a significant variety in California used mainly for blended bulk wine production.

Prior to elected service, she was appointed by then-California Governor Pat Brown to serve as a member of the California Women's Parole Board.

Prior to 2006, there had only been two confirmed sightings of Bryde's whale in the eastern North Pacific north of Baja California -- one in January 1963, only a kilometer off La Jolla ( originally misidentified as a fin whale ), and another in October 1991 west of Monterey Bay.

Prior to 2003 it was considered to be a subspecies of California sea lion as Zalophus californianus japonicus.

Prior to his work with the AEC, Dean was professor of criminal law at the University of Southern California ( 1946 – 1949 ).

Prior to the Mexican-American War the Californio forces had already driven the Mexican appointed Governor Manuel Micheltorena and most of his soldiers from Alta California.

Prior to the 1973 Rose Bowl, Hayes shoved a camera into the face of a news photographer ; Hayes was suspended for three games, fined $ 2, 000, and left California with a subpoena.

Prior to the American conquest of the Southwest, a number of Americans immigrated to California, where they often became Mexican citizens and changed their given names to Spanish equivalents, for example " Juan Temple " for Jonathan Temple.

Mark William Prior ( born September 7, 1980 in San Diego, California ) is an American professional baseball pitcher.

Prior to this, LACMA was part of the Los Angeles Museum of History, Science and Art, founded in 1910 in Exposition Park near the University of Southern California.