1. Bell Work While watching the video clip, answer the following:
How did domesticating animals create more inequalities?
Why did the Middle East have an advantage over other world areas?

2. The Four River Valley Civilizations
Daily Objective:
1. Compare and Contrast the 4 Early River Civilizations in terms of Politics, Economy, Social Class, and Religion

3. I. General Civilization Characteristics
1. Organized Farming and Village Life
2. Food Surplus (Iron Tools/Beasts of Burden) led to clear specialization of labor
4. Clear Social Class Distinctions
5. Growth in Population in new Urban areas
Increased immunities led to better health
7. Complex formal government institutions which governed large projects
Irrigation
Road Building
Taxation
8. Increased trade routes/cultural connections
9. Writing systems/ Uniform Coinage and Weights

4. The Ancient Fertile Crescent Area
The Middle East: “The Cradle of Civilization”

5. II. Tigris-Euphrates Rivers (Fertile Crescent)
Located in the Middle East (modern-day Iraq)
Often called Mesopotamia (“land between the rivers”)
First example of human civilization
By B.C.E.
Farmers were working with some metals, invented the wheel
Irrigation systems, dykes, and canals for farming
Flourishing culture
Written language – cuneiform, developed by the Sumerians- also made advances in Algebra and Geometry
Complex religious beliefs (Polytheistic)
Sumerians erected shrines/massive monuments, called ziggurats, to honor gods
Some ideas (gods’ creation of earth, floods) can be found in various religions
Negative view of gods and afterlife due to unpredictable flooding

6. Sumerians invented: Brick technology Wheel Sail
Base 60 – using the circle degrees
Time – 60 minutes in an hour, 60 seconds in a minute
12 month lunar calendar
arch
ramp
ziggurat

7. Cuneiform: “Wedge-Shaped” Writing

8. Ziggurat – Holy Mountain

9. II. continued… Highly organized Lasting belief systems
Relied on city-states – small, autonomous regions ruled by a king (decentralized government)
Later groups developed larger empires
Developed strict class systems – kings, priests, and nobles controlled most land; then merchants, scribes, artisans, farmers, and slaves
Regulated system of laws and courts
Babylonian leader, Hammurabi, set early code of law in stone
Lasting belief systems
Judaism – earliest monotheistic religion

10. Hammurabi’s [r. 1792-1750 B. C. E.] Code

11. II. continued…. Other Civilizations in Fertile Crescent Persians
Sumerians
1st wheel, cuneiform, city-states
Babylonians
Hammurabi’s Code of Law
Hittites
1st to mine Iron (began Iron Age)
Assyrians
Improved military equipment, chariot
Persians
Built large empire divided into provinces; Royal Roads, common set of weights & measurements; single coinage
Phoenicians
Colonized Mediterranean; phonetic alphabet with 22 letters
Hebrews/ Semitic
Judaism- oldest monotheistic religion

12. III. Nile River Located in northern Africa, modern-day Egypt
3000 B.C.E.
Ruled by a pharaoh, or king (Monarchy)
Considered to be directly descended from the gods
Complex religious and political rituals (Polytheistic)
Book of the Dead – guided the soul to the afterlife (more positive view)
Mummification of bodies – preserved those with elite status for eternity
Theocracy – ruled through laws based on religion
Development of writing
Hieroglyphics – comes from Greek words meaning “sacred carving”
More complex than cuneiform
Used papyrus reeds to make a paper-like writing surface

13. III. continued Social Class Structure: Cultural Advances
Pharaoh, Priest/Nobles, Merchants/Artisans/Scribes (Middle Class), Peasant Farmers, Slaves
Cultural Advances
Medicine/Surgery, Math, Calendars, Irrigation, Cosmetics, Architecture, Jewelry, Metal Work, Pyramids, Papyrus
Giza Pyramid Complex

14. Egyptian Social Hierarchy

15. An Egyptian Woman’s “Must-Haves”
Mirror
Perfume
Whigs

16. IV. Indus River Located in modern-day Pakistan, near India’s border
2500 B.C.E B.C.E. (abruptly ends)
Advanced cities
Sophisticated city planning, running water, two-storied and spacious buildings; drainage systems to brick-lined sewers
Harappa, Mohenjo Daro
Traded with Mesopotamia, but developed independently
Developed Pictographic system of writing, but never been translated
Thought to be a theocracy (Polytheistic), religion a precursor to Hinduism
Environment and invasions a factor in disappearance
Monsoons, floods
Nomadic invaders (Aryan tribes)

17. IV. Continued… Built ships; Traded overseas and overland
Social Class System (not fully sure):
Priests
Warriors
Traders and Agriculturists
Workers

18. V. Huanghe (Yellow River)
Located in northern half of modern-day China
Flows from central China to east coast
About 2000 B.C.E B.C.E (Shang)
Developed independently from other civilizations
Largely cut off from contact with outside world by geography (desert, mountains, ocean)
Developed sophisticated irrigations systems
Controlled flooding of Yellow River
Early pioneers in science and weapon/tool-making
Developed unique written language based on ideographic symbols
Early religious beliefs based on spirits, centered around family
Social classes divided society
Nobles and peasants
Established system of feudalism – nobles owned all the land that peasants worked
Rigid political system develops – paves way for dynastic system
Shang dynasty was earliest – 1500 B.C.E.

19. VI. Legacies of River Valleys
Expanded populations & urbanization
New networks – roads & trade routes lined, sea routes
Established systems of government, laws, & religion
Established patterns of culture & cultural diffusion

20. Early River Valley Civilizations
Environment
Flooding of Tigris and Euphrates unpredictable
No natural barriers
Limited natural resources for making tools or buildings
Sumer
Flooding of the Nile predictable
Nile an easy transportation link between Egypt’s villages
Deserts were natural barriers
Egypt
Indus Valley
Indus flooding unpredictable
Monsoon winds
Mountains, deserts were natural barriers
Huang He flooding unpredictable
Mountains, deserts natural barriers
Geographically isolated from other ancient civilizations
China

21. VII. Mesoamerica and the Andes
General Characteristics
1st humans arrived from land bridge from Asia
Separated by vast oceans
No contact with Eastern Hemisphere until 15th c. CE
Developed agriculture independently

22. VII. continued The Olmec (1200-400 BCE) of Mesoamerica (Central Am.)
Agriculture by 3000 BCE
Grew beans, peppers, squash, and maize; had plenty of rain (no irrigation)
Fewer domesticated animals than Eastern civ.; no LARGE animals (horse, cattle, goats or sheep)
Cities were religious and trade centers
Hierarchal society with elite group of priests (performed elaborate rituals at large temples in the city)
Ruler and his family also lived elaborately
Number system based on 30; 365 day yearly calendar
Abandoned cities due to internal conflict

23. VII. continued The Chavin (900-250 BCE) of South America
Peru coastline and Andes Mountains foothills
No river valley; dry coastline and rugged mnts.
Capital in highlands to connect trade between regions
Grew maize, potatoes, fruits, cotton, and coca leaves
Domesticated the Llama
Craftsmen used silver and gold for decorative and ceremonial items
Politically well organized; culture spread over large area
Jaguar god with human/animal features important symbol of their religion

24. Key Vocabulary – Chapter 1 (Part 2)
Mesopotamia
Sumerians
City-states
Hammurabi
Pharaoh
Pyramids
Indus Valley
Harappa/Mohenjo Daro
Huanghe (Yellow River)
Ideographic
Shang
Monotheism
Olmec
Chavin