Name:
___________________
Date: __________
Period:_____
Reading Quiz: Civilization (1.3)
1. List and define the 5 characteristics of a Civilization
outlined in this chapter.
 Advanced Cities: large population centers that
serve as centers for trade
 Specialized Workers: people begin to have
different jobs
 Complex Institutions: government, religion, law in
order to organize a large population
 Record Keeping: some way of keeping records,
could be writing
 Advanced Technology: improvements in tools/
weapons, etc. that helps society
2. List an example from Sumer for each of the 5
characteristics of a Civilization
Advanced Cities
Uruk (10,000) Lagash (19,000)
Umma (16,000)
Specialized
 Priests * metalworkers
Workers
* scribes *soldiers *
teachers *weavers
*merchants *
government officials *
potters * farmers
Complex
Formal governments with
Institutions
officials and laws
Priests with both religious and
political power
A rigorous education system
for training of scribes
Record Keeping
Cuneiform tablets- records of
business transactions,
historical events, customs, and
traditions
Advanced
By Around 3000BCETechnology
Wheel, plow, sailboat in daily
use
Bronze weapons and body
armor that gave Sumerians a
military advantage
3. What was the Bronze Age? (time period, location,
key characteristics) Began in Sumer around 3000
BCE, and is a time when people started using Bronze
(an alloy of copper and tin) to make stronger
weapons and tools…led to increase in food
production, as well as defense
Chapter 1.3: Civilization- Case Study: Ur in Sumer
I. Villages Grow into Cities
 Over the centuries, people settled in stable
communities that were based on agriculture
 Domesticated animals became more common
 New tools: hoes, sickles, and plow sticks- farming
easier (food surplus, population increase)
 More complex social relationships (specialization of
labor, social hierarchies)
A. Economic Changes
 Elaborate irrigation systems
 Improved techniques led to food surpluses,
specialization of labor
 Craftspeople: pottery, metal objects, woven cloth
o Broader range of goods to exchange- craftwork,
grains, and many raw materials
 Two important inventions led to the expansion of
trade between villages: Wheel and Sail
B. Social Changes
 More complex and prosperous economy affected
the social structure of village life
 Large-scale projects (like irrigation) needed skill and
labor and organization of large groups of people
 Social classes with varying wealth, power, and
influence began to emerge…social hierarchy
 Religion also became more organized
o Religion centered around nature, animal spirits,
and some idea of an afterlife
o Neolithic Age- worship of many gods and
goddesses, who they believed had power over
the rain, wind, and other forces of nature
II. What is Civilization?
 Most historians agree that the first civilizations arose
in Sumer, (modern Iraq)
 Sumer was located in Mesopotamia
 Five Characteristics of Civilization:
o 1. Advanced Cities
o 2. Specialized Workers
o 3. Complex Institutions
o 4. Record Keeping
o 5. Advanced Technology
A. Advanced Cities
 Cities were the birthplaces of the first civilizations
 Key difference between a village and a city= city is a
center of trade for a larger area
o Dependent on trade
B. Specialized Workers
 With increase in cities, increase in demand for
specialized workers
o Traders, government officials, priests
 Food surpluses allowed for specialization of labor
 Artisans: skilled workers who made goods by hand
o Designing jewelry, fashioning metal tools and
weapons, making pottery
C. Complex Institutions
 With large populations, system of government was
necessary
 Leaders emerged to maintain order and establish
laws
 Institution- ex. Government long-lasting pattern of
organization in a community
 Examples of Complex Institutions: government,
religion, and the economy
 Religion became a formal institution
 Temples with priests and rituals
 Sumerians believed every city belonged to a god
who lived in the temple and governed the city’s
activities
 Temple= hub of government and religious affairs,
and economic center
D.Record Keeping
 With complex government, religion, and
economy…need record keeping
o Ex. Tax collections, passage of laws, and storage
of grain, calendar, merchant debts and
payments
 Most civilizations developed a system of writing (or
other form of record keeping)
 3000BCE: Sumerian scribes invented Cuneiform:
wedge-shaped writing with a stylus on clay tablets
 Beginning of civilization in Sumer signaled the
beginning of written history
E. Advanced Technology
 Farmers began to use ox-drawn plows to turn the
soil…elaborate irrigation systems to expand planting
areas
 3500BCE- Sumerian artisans began using potter’s
wheel
 2500BCE- Sumerian metalworkers were producing
BRONZE spearheads and weapons
 Bronze Age= time with people began using bronze,
rather than copper and stone, to fashion tools and
weapons- began around 3000BCE in Sumer
III. Civilization Emerges in Ur
 Ur- early Sumerian city on banks of Euphrates River
in southern Iraq
 Population of 30,000
 Archaeologist Leonard Woolley 1922-1934
 Well defined social classes…priests and rulers had
great power…wealthy merchants, artists and artisans
A. An Agricultural Economy
 Mud-brick walls and buildings
 Use of ox-driven plows
 Large scale irrigation projects- food surplusesgovernment officials to plan and oversee public
works
B. A Glimpse of City Life
 One story mud-brick homes for poor, wealthy had 2story homes with inner courtyards
 Specialization of labor- artisans/metalworkers- tools,
weapons, and trade items
C. Ur’s Thriving Trade
 City Bazaar (marketplace)
 Have a system of Barter: trading goods and services
without money
D.The Temple: Center of City Life
 Temple is the most important building in the city,
surrounded by a heavy wall
 Tiered structure called a ziggurat “mountain of
god”…priests conduct rituals on top
E. A Religious Ritual Recorded
 Sumerian Burial Rituals included making sacrifices of
food
 Contemporaneous with the Sumerians were
Egyptians, Chinese and other countries in Asia