Terms/People
From Agriculture to River Valley
Civilizations
Early Humans:
 Hunter-gatherer
 Egalitarian
 Nomadic
Neolithic Revolutions
 Paleolithic  Neolithic
 Agriculture; independently in several
locations
 Social Stratification
 Gender Stratification
 Permanent Settlements
 Nutrition decreased, populations
increased
River-Valley Civilizations
Mesopotamia (land between rivers) (5000
BC) (first farming 8000BC)
Tigris and Euphrates
 Unpredictable; snow melting;
 Impact on Religion:
 Irrigation
 Cuneiform
City-States
 Villages transformed into urban
centers
 Specialized jobs (pottery, forging,
art, religious leaders)
 Cities controlled food supplies (took
the food) in exchange for protection.
 What does irrigation, control of food,
and military say about
centralization?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
Neolithic Revolution
Egalitarianism
Sumerians
City-State
Cuneiform
Ziggurat
Anthropomorphic Religion
Nile
Divine Kingship
Pyramid
Hieroglyphics
Bureaucracy
Indus River
Events
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Neolithic Revolution
Villages  Cities
Specialization of Tasks
Coerced Labor for Large Projects
Metallurgy
Taxes begin
Hammurabi’s Law Code
Essay Questions
1. Describe the changes and
continuities from the Paleolithic
Period to the Neolithic.
2. Compare the three River-Valley
Civilizations using three aspects of
“PERSIA.”
To Reread
1. “Gods, Priests, and Temples
p.20”
2. “Divine Kingship p.26”
3. “Conclusion p.33 (will help with
comparison and “big ideas”)
Leaders
 Lugal (“big man”); probably military
leader that combined several citystates
Sargon
 consolidated many cities, (King of
Sumer and Akkad)
 Uniform weights and measures
 Standard forms for taxes
 2350 BC – 2230 BC
Babylonians (Hammurabi)
 Military campaigns
 Law Code
 Conquest—access to resources
Social Classes
 Caused: urbanization, specialization,
centralization of power, written
records
 1- free landowners (royalty, warriors,
priests, merchants, artisans)
 2- “dependent” farmers and artisans
(majority)
 3-domestic slaves
 Women less powerful than
hunting/gathering societies (foraging
to farming)
Religion
 Polytheistic
 Elemental
 Anthropomorphic
 State-based religion…Ziggurat
 Astronomy, 60 number system
(time)
Egypt (5500 BC)
 Less open to invasion (natural
barriers); plenty of resources
Nile
 Egypt: “Gift of the Nile”
 Regular flooding
 Silt
 Little need to divert flooding
 Travel



Clay Readily Available
Copper Deposits
Big Idea: Largely self-sufficient
Divine Kingship
 Pharaoh; son of “Re”
 Sources of justice and law
 Pyramids
o Ensure smooth transition and
favor?
o Slave Labor? Religious
Service?
o During flooding season; built
with stone tools and levers.
Bureaucracy
 Involved from Village  Pharaohs
Administration
o Records of land, labor,
production, people
o Taxes (50% gov. revenue)
o Gov. controlled trade, unlike
Mesopotamian economy
Hieroglyphics
 Rosetta Stone
 Papyrus
Officials
 Merit, granted land and peasants
 Tension with King (became
hereditary; burials changed)
Big Ideas
 Large area, highly controlled
 Military not as important, natural
barriers, trade with Fertile Crescent
emphasized.
 Trade from south: gold, ivory;
protected by forts
 Fewer class distinctions (less of a
“middle class”)
o Ruling elite
o Peasants
 Women
o Could own property; inherit;
rights in divorce
o Marriage: joining resources,
not religious
Optimistic Outlook  Belief in optimistic
Afterlife  Mummification; Egyptian book
of the dead; emphasis on safe passage;
Pyramids
Stable flooding  desire to predict 
advances in math; excellent calendar
Indus Valley (2600-1900 BC)
Indus River
 Silt deposits
 2 floods
Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro
 High waters makes archeology
difficult
 Writing; not fully understood
 Similar constructions: high buildings
of brick; streets formed on grid
pattern; sewage system of
sorts…what does this signify?
 Evidence of trade with Sumer
 High use of metal and useful objects
 Irrigation, potter’s wheel
 Rivers: transportation, trade
 Civilization was likely to have fallen
due to “systems failure”