Dawn of Civilization
Civilization:
Large population
High population density
High degree of specialization in division
of labor
Dependent on outside resources
Long life
Dawn of Civilization
Examples from Old and New Worlds
Sumerian Civilization
Olmeca revisited
Maya
Teotihuacán
Dawn of Civilization
Sumerian Civilization
Developed in Tigris-Euphrates area of the
“Fertile Crescent.”
Early Phases:
Early Dynasty
3200 - 2800 BCE
Sumerian Proto-literate
3400 - 3200 BCE
Ubaid Phase
3800 - 3400 BCE
Dawn
of
Civilization
The Sumerian Civilization
Developed in Tigris-Euphrates
area of the “Fertile Crescent.”
Early Dynasty
3200-2800 BC
(Full Civilization: Ur, Baghdad)
Proto-literate Phase 3500-3200 BC
(Early writing: Cuneiform)
Ubaid Phase
3800-3500 BC
(Large scale public
works)
Tell Arpachiyah
(near Mosul)
Cuneiform Writing
History Cuneiform
Begins at was
Sumer:
composed of pictograms,
Thirty-Nine
Firsts
in Recorded
History
primitive forms
representing
easily recognizable
images,
(1981) Gradually,
such as objects, Samuel
animalsNoah
andKramer
human beings.
the pictograms
were simplified and became groups of
The
First Schools
abstract
Cuneiform
writing was quickly adopted
The
Firstsigns.
Bicameral
Congress
by Middle Eastern cultures. In Assyria, for example,
The
First "Moses" (Hammurabi)
king Hammourabi used it to compose one of the first law
The
Pharmacopoeia
codesFirst
in history.
Cuneiform remained in use until the 1st
The
FirstA.D.
"Noah"
century
The First Tale of Resurrection
The First Moral Ideals
The First Biblical Parallels
First Heroic Age (Gilgamesh)
Dawn of Civilization
Olmec Civilization
Developed in Southern Gulf of Mexico in
modern States of Vera Cruz and Tabasco
Site of La Venta: (Located in floodplain of Tonala River)
Late Phase
400 - 200 BCE
Middle Phase
600 -400 BCE
Early Phase
800 -600 BC
Phase
I –IISite
established
along
N/S axis;
major
Phase
–
Flanker
mounds
added,
entire
site
Phase
III
–
Northern
enclosure
with
small
mounds;
mounds
established.
covered
with pink clay;
basaltmasks;
pavements;
greenmonumental
serpentine jaguar
sculpture
begins.
figurine
cache….
The Maya
“Protocities” were important to the Maya during the Classic
period from 300 to 900 AD. The Mayas were never a "true"
urban culture; the urban centers were almost entirely used as
religious centers for the rural population surrounding them.
Mayans built incredibly sophisticated urban centers, an
astronomical science and mathematics among the most
sophisticated in the pre-modern world, and the most
developed and complex system of writing in the Americas.
The Maya
The Temple of the Inscriptions is one of the most impressive
buildings at the site. While excavating the room at the top of
this structure in 1952, the Mexican Archeologist Alberto Ruz
Lhuillier discovered a hidden chamber and a concealed
stairway filled with rubble. It took four field seasons to
follow the stairs 80 vertical feet into the pyramid. They
terminate in a chamber 30 feet long by 13 feet wide with a
high vaulted arch of 23 feet which contains the crypt of
Pacal--the most important ruler at the site. The sarcophagus
is famous for its sculpture of the tree of life and the
afterworld journey of Pacal. A jade burial mask was found in
the crypt
Teotihuacán
Teotihuacán was the sixth largest city in the world
with an estimated population of 150,000 during its period of
greatest prosperity, circa 600 A.D., when it occupied about
8 square miles.
By the fourth century, unmistakable influences of
Teotihuacán were felt throughout most parts of
Mesoamerica and extended from the Great Lakes to the
Inca area of South America.