Chart 1.1 Prehistoric to Neolithic Society
Characteristic
Hunter-gatherer society Neolithic town
Social
Structure
Religious
Practices
Economic
Activities
Women – Gatherers,
cooked & watched
children.
Men – Hunted
Lived in small bands for
protection and food
gathering.
Deliberate human burials
- Buried with tools
- May suggest
belief in afterlife
Women – helped
transition to plant
cultivation.
Men – cleared the fields
Lived as nuclear families
w/ ties by lineage.
Animal fur & vegetable
clothing. Birch bark
drinking cup. Stone and
Metal Tools w/ bow and
arrow.
Bartered milk & meat for
crops or seeds from
farming societies.
Deliberate burials,
ancestor worship, nature
worship and megaliths.
Chart 1.2 Early River Valley Civilizations
Characteristic
Egypt
Mesopotamia
Social
Structure
Cultural
Accomplishments
Political
Structure
1) King, high
ranking
officials.
2) Local leaders,
priests & artisans.
3) Peasants
* Women’s status
high.
Pyramids, papyrus,
hieroglyphics,
mummification
Indus Valley
1) Free, landowning Largely unknown,
class.
but believed that
2) Dependent
priests played a
farmers, temple
large role.
servants, rural work
force.
3) Slaves, women’s
status declines
Bronze, Wheeled City planning,
carts, irrigation
sewage, Copper &
channels,
Tin usage,
Cuneiform,
irrigation, potter’s
ziggurats
wheel
The people worked King – Govt
Clearly had strong
for their King, or
officials – priests. governmental
God on earth.
Controlled the city- oversight to create
Kingdom and local states in the name cities, but structure
officials carried out of the King.
is unknown.
the needs of the
crown.