Civilization

• A complex culture with five characteristics:– 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 CivilizationMost 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:

• 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.