Civilization
• A complex culture with five characteristics:
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Advanced cities
Specialized workers
Complex institutions
Record keeping
Advanced technology
Advanced Cities
• A city is more than a large group of people
living together. The size of the population alone
does NOT distinguish a village from a city.
• The key difference between a village and a city
is a center of trade.
• In ancient cities, farmers, merchants, and
traders brought goods to markets in the city.
Specialized Workers
• Specialization- The developments of skills
in a specific kind of job.
• As cities grew, so did needs for more
specialized workers
• Traders
• Government officials
• Priests
• Some city dwellers became artisans.
• Artisans: Skilled workers who make goods by
hand
• Examples: metal tools, weapons, pottery
Complex Institutions
• Government, religion, and economy
• Institution: A long lasting pattern of
organization in a community.
• Growing populations made complex
institutions necessary
• Churches mainly governed ancient cities
• Ancient economies began with bartering
Record Keeping
• As government, religion, and the economy
became more complex (complex what?), people
recognized the need to keep records.
• Earliest forms cave drawings
• Systems of writing became necessary because
of early forms of taxes and keeping track of a
calendar.
Improved Technology
• New tools and technologies are always
needed to solve problems that emerge
when large groups of people live together.
• Early example Early farmers harnessed
larger animals for agricultural needs
Before Civilizations…
• Men and women of the stone age were
Nomads
• Nomads- Highly mobile people who moved from
place to place searching for new sources of food.
• Nomads whose food supplies depended on
hunting animals and collecting plant foods were
called Hunter-Gatherers.
The Neolithic Revolution
• Either an accidental or an experiment that
worked!
• Gatherers dropped, threw or planted some
seeds in an area. When they returned the next
season to gather, they found plants.
*No record keeping*
• This discovery is known as the Neolithic
Revolution or the Agricultural Revolution.
Farming Perfected…
• Some groups learned and practiced a
technique in which they cut down trees or
grasses and then burned them.
*Slash and Burn*
• The ashes would fertilize the soil.
• After a year or two, farmers would move
to another piece of land.
• They repeated the process after several
years
Domestication
• Hunters’ knowledge of animals played a
huge part in taming and training.
• Used animals as tools and food
• The earliest form domesticated animals:
The first Civilization
Most historians believe that one of the first civilizations
arose in Sumer
• Located in Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq)
Mesopotamia
Ur
• Ur was one of the earliest cities in Sumer.
• Sumer was a region in Mesopotamia
• Modern day Iraq
• Nearly 5,000 years ago (*remember it’s 2009 right now), Ur
was also a flourishing city in Sumer.
• Archaeologists have excavated the area
and discovered:
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Evidence of using oxen to plow
Mud walls (meaning there were ancient “foremen” )
Areas for artisans to trade
Areas for worship (meaning there was religion)
The Ziggurat
is a temple still standing in Ur
• Means “Mountain of God”.
• 100 mud brick stairs lead to the top
• Who oversaw the construction?
• Either a Specialized Worker or the head of a Complex
Institution
• The temple was used for sacrifices
• Goats or sheep
• Stored grains, fabrics, and gems for the Gods
Mesopotamia
Means, “land between two rivers”.
• The Tigris river
• The Euphrates river
• The two rivers flooded Mesopotamia at
least once a year.
• The flooding softened the soil, creating a
thick bed of mud called silt.
• Farmers irrigated the silt and grew
massive amounts of wheat.
• Surpluses of food brought in a greater
population.
The Sumerians
• Were the first people to settle in the southern
Mesopotamia.
Sumerians (*You don’t have to copy this)
• Archaeologists believe that the Sumerians
settled in 4500 B.C.
• THREE Challenges:
• Unpredictable flooding
• No natural barriers for protection
(defenseless villages)
• Limited natural resources
The Sumerians
• Are the first group of people to form a civilization
• Leaders planned projects and oversaw production.
• To provide water, they dug irrigation ditches that
carried water to their farms.
• For defense, they built city walls
• Sumerians traded their goods for raw materials
such as wood and stone.
Polytheism
• The Sumerians believed in many different Gods.
• Believed that many different Gods controlled
the various forces of nature.
• An example: Enlil was the god of storms and air.
• Sumerians believed that their Gods fell in love,
had children, and fought.
• Believed that humans were there servants.
• The Sumerians built ziggurats for them and
offered rich sacrifices of animals.