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Ancient 2 Essay, Research Paper
In history, we have an era called Pre-history, which is history before humanity left written
records. During this period, archeologist named these early periods of human culture from the
materials used at the time. They called this the Old Stone (Paleolithic) age. This was around
3000 B.C. were people used chipped stone tools. Also the development of farming and the use of
stone implements marked the beginning of the New Stone age (Neolithic). About 3000 B.C., the
invention of bronze led to the Bronze Age. Here, new forms of human life and society were
found.
All this information was retained thanks to historians. Historians rely on written sources to put
history in order. Recent development in science called Carbon-14 helps straighten out
chronology. This technique, whereby radioactive carbon is used, helps to date ancient objects
within a couple of centuries.
In the Old Stone Age, Paleolithic people left remains scattered in Europe and Asia. They took
refuge in Africa from the glaciers that moved south over to northern continents. These people
hunted to eat, and fought and killed their enemies. They cooked their food, specialize tools, and
sheltered in caves from the cold. They also created art. At Lascaux France, Paleolithic artists left
remarkable paintings in limestone caves, using vibrant colors depicting deer, bison and horses. A
variety of finds concerning the development of the calendar showed markings whose sequence
and intervals may have recorded lunar periods.
The advance from the Old Stone Age to the New Stone Age was marked by certain major
changes found in the Near East. The domestication of animals for food was discovered. Parallel
with this was the domestication of plants for food-a kind of wheat and barley. Temporary shelter
was replaced by houses. The baking of clay vessels were also discovered. In Catal Huyuk in
Southern Turkey, people grew their own grain, kept sheep and wove the wool into textiles.
Variety of pottery and sculptures were found. In ancient Mesopotamia, farmers were using plows
to scratch soil and they were also keeping business accounts of their temple in picture writings.
Writing, metallurgy, and urban life are among the early marks of civilization.
Recent discoveries have led some scholars to believe that the inventors of writing were the
Subarians who might have been conquered by the Sumarians. They apparently turned the
Subarians into slaves. Sumarians began to use capital. Archeologists found clay tablets that were
inscribed. The language on them was Akkadian. Others were unknown. But, because they made
references to the king of Summer and Akkad, a scholar suggested that the language be called
Sumerian. The Summerians developed a phonetic alphabet between 3000-2000 B.C. They
impressed little wedge-shaped marks into a wet clay tablet with a reed pen. This was a script
called cuneiform-from the latin cuneus , meaning wedge . Most of these tablets contained
economic or administration records.
The Summerians were a major group of people in history. The earliest of the kind governed
themselves through a council of elders. This group derived their authority from a general
assembly of adult free males. This assembly who sometimes granted a supreme authority to one
leader at a time, decided on matters of war and peace. This arrangement did not last long! It was
replaced by a one-man rule in each city. The human ruler acted as a representative of the god of
the city.
Torrential floods swept down the river valleys. The lives, religion and literature of the people of
Mesopotamia were pervaded by terror of these floods. The Summerians devised a system of
canals to control these forceful floods.
Around 2300, Sargon, king of Akkad, conquered the Sumerian ruler of Urok. Sagon then called
himself king of Summer and Akkad. This indicates the fusion of the Summerians and the
Akkadians. By 2100, when the Bronze Age ended, Sargon lost his power.
Gudea, ruler of the city of Lagash, united the Summerians. Ur replaced Lagash as the capital city
after Gudea died. Its rulers again called themselves king of Summer and Akkad. Much of what is
known about the Summerians come from Ur.
Ur was prosperous. It had far-flung trade by sea in textiles and metals. Ur had recorded a
systematic tax system and a revival of learning. Within time, a decline set in because Ur took
over too many responsibilities.
Sumer was a hydrolic society. This meant that it was based on a centralized control of irrigation
and flood management by government. Within time, these city-states fragmented. Elamites from
the east destroyed it. This destructed Ur and Summerian power ended.
Life became very diversified with blacksmiths, carpenters, and merchants who appeared
alongside the hunters, farmers and shepherds of the older days. The women held high- position
during these days.
The Summerians looked up to their city gods. They also worshiped numerous other gods such as
god of heaven, god of earth, and god between heaven and earth. Others included god of moon
and goddess of the morning star. Enki was god of earth and of wisdom who apparently poured
water into the 2 fertilizing rivers, Tigris and Euphrates, He supposedly filled the land with cattle,
built houses and canals, and set sub gods over the enterprise. Along with these beliefs,
Summerians used various arts to fortell the future and interpreted dreams.
Summerian art and literature and architecture were largely religious in style. Their epic poetry
included Gilgamesh, a mighty hero two-thirds divine and one-third human. The Summerians
built their temples of baked brick. The typical Mesopotmia temple was the ziggurat.
The successors of the Summerians as rulers of Mesopotamia were the Babylonians and their
successors, the Assyrians. They both originally descended from the nomands of the Arabian
desert. Power passed to them with Sargon the Great in 2300B.C. and retuned to them later after
the Amorites (people from the west) invaded them in 2000B.C.
The Amorite Prince named Hammurabi, made his Babyonian kingdom supreme in Mesopotamia
by warfare and diplomacy. Hammurabi had a code of law that applied to the Persian Gulf to the
Mediterranean Sea. These were inscribed on a pillar eight feet tall beneath a sculpture of the king
in front of the sun god. The code was a leagal statement about stern justice. In its vocabulary,the
code refects the continuing Sumerian impact on the Akkadian-speaking Babylonians.
Nomands from the east, the
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