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THE ANCIENT RIVER VALLEY CIVILIZATIONS
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Let’s Review! Neolithic Revolution (~12,000 BC) Somehow Neolithic people learned how to plant and raise crops and keep and raise livestock for food.
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Farming was reason for Civilizations Agriculture made it possible for mankind to settle in permanent communities. Once people could be assured of a reliable supply of food, their lives changed completely.
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Advanced technical skills Sometime around 3000 BC, the Neolithic peoples around these river valleys learned how to make and use bronze tools and weapons. (copper & tin) bronze is harder and more durable than their stone and copper.
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Best Place to Farm? Civilizations now began popping up in river valleys. These river valleys provided people with fertile soil due to their floods. These floods allowed for a stable food supply.
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River Valleys Were the geographic feature common to the development of civilizations in ancient Egypt, China, India, and Mesopotamia.
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plentiful water supply and fertile land. The development of early civilizations usually depended on a plentiful water supply and fertile land. Indus River Valley
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Rivers Flood: Nile flooded every summer heavy summer rain in the Ethiopian highlands, sent a torrent of water that overflowed the banks of the Nile. When the floods went down it left thick rich mud (black silt) which was excellent soil to plant seeds in after it had been ploughed. Isis: was worshipped as the ideal mother and wife as well as the patron of nature and magic. Ancient Egyptians believed that the Nile flooded every year because of Isis's tears of sorrow for her dead husband, Osiris.
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Irrigation and Transportation One reason the Euphrates, Indus, Nile, and Tigris valleys became centers of early civilization is that these valleys had the means for irrigation and transportation. Ancient Egyptian Farmers
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Civilization, what is it? As people lived together in one spot civilizations arose. Civilizations often share common characteristics.
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A form of government Provided the required organization for the construction of massive irrigation projects. So governments probably developed to direct these projects and to provide rules by which to live.
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A form of writing Writing systems developed to keep records, put down rules, and to pass on complex instructions (maybe for irrigation) to future generations. The Sumerians developed cuneiform; Egyptians developed hieroglyphics. Mesopotamian Cuneiform 8000 BC
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A calendar Calendars were created out of the need to predict and know when the floods would arrive. Most of these early calendars were based on the cycle of the moon.
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Specialized Labor could develop Settled farmers allowed for a surplus of food to be supplied, so some people could have other jobs, not just search and produce food. Egyptian workers making bricks
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A division of labor People could then become artisans, or merchants or traders and thereby providing a better standard of living for all. Two Musicians, from the Tomb of Rekhmirec 1550 – c. 1292 BC
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A Quick View of the 4 Ancient River Valley Civilizations Approximately 5000 years ago the first complex, politically centralized civilizations began independently 3200 B.C. various Sumerian cities dominated Mesopotamia 3100 B.C. The ruler-conqueror first united Egypt 3000 B.C. urbanized civilization existed along the Indus River 2200 B.C. Xia Dynasty the first of these dynasties
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Tigris-Euphrates River Valley Geographical Factors The floods provided fertile soil The floods were unpredictable and as a result the Sumerians believed that their gods were angry gods The valley was surrounded by deserts & hills but they were relatively easy to cross and so the peoples of this region were constantly conquered and re- conquered
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Irrigation; Mesopotamia They built reservoirs to store water and canals to transport water from these reservoirs and from rivers and lakes to the farmland that needed it. This was the first use of irrigation. 5,500 to 8,000 BC.
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The Sumerian city is regarded as a great achievement of the Ancient World. Some of the largest cities had 50,000 people
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Indus The citizens of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro also clung to a rigid dualism of purity and pollution. They were among the first civilizations to establish a functioning system of sewage and plumbing.
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Tigris-Euphrates River Valley Accomplishments Developed a system of writing called Cuneiform, which were wedge-shaped characters pressed into a clay tablet http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARlzQlfTbSA
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Tigris-Euphrates River Valley Accomplishments http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbRNPxUZ3 SI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbRNPxUZ3 SI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQtrDAdxM bc&feature=fvwrel http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQtrDAdxM bc&feature=fvwrel Built ziggurats and arches with sun-dried clay bricks Developed the wheel and algebra Hammurabi's Code was constructed by the Babylonians and was an early form of written laws (an eye for an eye) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbRNPxUZ 3SI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQtrDAdx Mbc&feature=fvwrel
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Code of Hammurabi If any one break a hole into a house (break in to steal), he shall be put to death before that hole and be buried.
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Tigris-Euphrates River Valley (present-day Iraq) Culture Practiced polytheism Had no conception of a heaven or salvation for the deceased http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xG9XkIs32o w http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xG9XkIs32o w http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFxPXKBUD dE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFxPXKBUD dE
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Royal lion hunts were an ancient tradition in Mesopotamia Mesopotamians invented the wheel
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Royal Cemetery at Ur, Helmet of King Meskalamdug, c. 2400 BCE,
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Ram in the Thicket (or Ram Caught in a Thicket) (Mesopotamian, ca. 2650-2550 B.C.).
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Bull Headed Lyre
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A tiny and extremely rare 5,000-year-old white limestone sculpture from ancient Mesopotamia Sold for over $18 million
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Ancient Egypt The Great Sphinx is one of the world’s largest and oldest statues, yet basic facts about it such as the real-life model for the face, when it was built, and by whom, are debated. These questions have collectively earned the title “Riddle of the Sphinx”.
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Geographical Factors: Nile River Valley The Nile River provided predictable floods and a stable food source The River flows northward and empties into the Mediterranean but the winds blow south which promoted trade and unity in Ancient Egypt Deserts and seas surround the valley and offered some protection from invasion
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Irrigation Egyptians built large flat-bottomed basins for growing crops along the river banks, and simple sluices* that diverted water into them at the peak of the flood. *a sliding gate or other device for controlling the flow of water, esp. one in a lock gate
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Accomplishments: Nile River Valley Hieroglyphics Wrote on sheets of dried papyrus (plant)
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Egyptians had more than 2,000 hieroglyphic characters Each hieroglyph represents a common object in ancient Egypt. Hieroglyphs could represent the sound of the object or they could represent an idea associated with the object. A modern type of hieroglyphic writings would be a rebus (a picture puzzle that can be "sounded out“) 1799, the discovery of the Rosetta Stone: hieroglyphic and Ancient Greek translations of the same passage.
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Most of what we know about Egyptian art comes from the paintings the Egyptians created in the tombs
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Accomplishments: Nile River Valley Pyramids: burial tombs for Pharaoh http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/ places/countries-places/egypt/egypt- pyramids-dest/ http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/ places/countries-places/egypt/egypt- pyramids-dest/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2dpvGif K8E&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2dpvGif K8E&feature=related
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Culture: Nile River Valley (present-day Egypt) Rigid class structure with the pharaoh at the top followed by priests, artisans, farmers. and slaves Polytheistic religion - believed in life after death http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OipmPbe1ezs&f eature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OipmPbe1ezs&f eature=related
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Signs of Rigid class structure Also “Labor Specialization”: you needed full time hairdressers to look like this every day Both men and women wore perfumed cones on their heads made of tallow or fat, which melted gradually, releasing fragrance.
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Religion of ancient Egypt was complex. There was no single belief system, The Egyptians believed in that mummification. Burial in tombs that were filled with food, tools, domestic wares, treasures (all the necessities of life) to assist the deceased find their way in the afterworld. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnHcG9oE 9Ec&feature=related Start @ 14:15 to 20:00
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Yellow River (Huang He) Valley (China) Geographical Factors Flooding of the Yellow River provided fertile, yellow soil and a stable food supply
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The Chinese were surrounded by mountains and the Gobi desert and as a result were very isolated from other civilizations and cultures http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3GyqHhjx- 4
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ethnocentric As a result of this isolation the Chinese developed an ethnocentric mode of thinking China called itself “Middle Kingdom” because it believed it was located in the center of the world map
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Irrigation: China They worked together on flood control and irrigation projects. They had great engineering skills. Legend has it that their "Great Engineer", Yu, founded the Xia (sometimes called the Hsia) Dynasty in about 2,000 BCE.
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Irrigation: China
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Terrace Farming
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Huang He (Yellow River) Valley (China) Accomplishments Developed a 360-day calendar based on the moon Predicted eclipses and kept a written history Early written language consisted of pictograms While Chinese script is not the oldest in the world, it is the one that has been in use continuously for the longest period of time.
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Most of these records are "oracle bones," which were used to divine (foresee) the future. Flat bones (especially the shoulder bones of oxen and the shells of turtles) were used as Oracle Bones to which heat was applied to produce cracks in the surface. These cracks would then be "read" to divine the will of gods and ancestral spirits. A typical oracle bone would read, "Will the king have a son?" (Question) "Yes" (Answer) "This came to pass" (Outcome).
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Oracle Bone
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Yellow River Valley (present-day China) culture Dynastic cycle and Mandate of Heaven
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Silkworms were cultivated. Silk cloth was made only for the nobility,
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Indus River Valley (India) Geographical Factors The Indus River and monsoons provided a food supply Monsoons were unpredictable and led to famine or floods and destruction Valley is bordered by the Himalayas and the Hindu Kush to the north, however the Khyber pass allowed for entry into the region and invasion
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Khyber pass
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Irrigation The economy of the Indus civilization, like that of Babylonia and Egypt, was based on irrigation farming.
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Indus River Valley (present-day India) Accomplishments Developed a written language of pictograms Constructed a water system, public baths, hospitals little progress has been made on deciphering this script Seal impression showing a typical "inscription" of 5 "characters".
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Medicine The early Harappan periods had knowledge of proto-dentistry; evidence for the drilling of human teeth in vivo (i.e. in a living person).
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Indus River Valley (present-day India) culture Practiced animism before Hinduism and Buddhism take hold The Aryans conquer the valley 2000-1500 BC They bring Hinduism religion and the beginnings of the caste system http://www.youtube.com /watch?v=ZL1GTq92JXo&f eature=related start @ 7:00 to 9:36 http://www.youtube.com /watch?v=ZL1GTq92JXo&f eature=related
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Basic questions about the Indus people who created this highly complex culture remain unanswered. People wore mostly cotton clothing
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Elements of a Civilization include: 1. Central governments; 2. Organized Religions; 3. Social Classes; 4. Art and Architecture; 5. Cities; Roads, Bridges, and other Public Works, 6. System of Writing; 7. Different Jobs
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highly developed and organized cultures used advanced technology law. written forms of communication
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