1. What are the basic characteristics of any civilization?
Civitas
What are the basic characteristics of any civilization?

2. What is civilization?
The word itself derived from the Latin word “civitas” which means city.

3. Civilization
Record keeping
Culture
Complex Institutions
Job specialization
Advanced Cities
Advanced Technology
Draw top of your graphic organizer. Leave enough room to do the rest.

4. Instructions for creating your graphic organizer
Underneath your neatly labeled drawing of a ziggurat, write a brief explanation (in your own words) of each of the six characteristics of civilization. You should try to provide at least two historical examples of each one so you will have a better understanding. Please skip a line in between each characteristic of civilization.

5. Advanced Cities Birthplace of civilization
Farming and domesticated animals allowed people to stay in one place

6. Advanced Technology
Needed to solve problems that arise when living in crowded spaces
Irrigation, ox drawn plow, calendars, metalwork, mathematics, astronomy

7. Complex Institutions
Organized govt. – grew out of the need for farming and irrigation 1st – prob. religious, later warrior kings later bureaucracy (organized by dept.)
Complex Religions – most were polytheistic (to explain nature)
Education & Economics emerge

8. Job Specialization So many jobs, no one could do it all
Artisans (pottery, metalwork, etc.), govt. officials, merchants, and religious leaders were examples
Developed a barter system
Result – people became more interdependent

9. Record Keeping Taxes, laws, food storage, religious events
Earliest forms of writing… pictograms (picture = idea) cuneiform (wedge shaped) alphabet (letter = sound)
Scribes = people who keep records

10. Ancient Writing
Pictograms
Cuneiform

11. Culture
Art & architecture used to express the beliefs and values of society
Social stratification emerges
Every civilization developed its own unique art, religion, architecture, clothing, language, and traditions.

12. Complete Your Understanding
Notice that each characteristic of civilization built upon the needs created by the earlier ones. Ex. Cities -> problems -> technology -> problems controlling it -> govt (institutions) -> etc.