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6 Foundational
Civilizations
River Valley Civs of
Afro-Eurasia
ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA
Oldest known
civilization
Cradle of Human
Civilization
Old Testament
Nebuchadnezzar
Ziggurat (right)
Hanging gardens
Geography
This civ rose in the
valleys between the
Tigris and
Euphrates rivers.
Some say this
Fertile Crescent
was the real Garden
of Eden.
In what modern day country was
the Fertile Crescent?
Ur, the capital city of
Mesopotamia
Political:What was the earliest kingdom
in Mesopotamia? The second?
Social
This is cuneiform.
Babylonians wrote
using this “wedgeshaped” writing on
clay tablets.
The Sumerians
invented writing.
More cuneiform writing
More ziggurats
Hanging gardens of Babylonia
The ancient city of Babylon, under King Nebuchadnezzar
II, must have been a wonder to the traveler's eyes. "In
addition to its size," wrote Herodotus, a historian in 450
BC, "Babylon surpasses in splendor any city in the known
world."
Herodotus claimed the outer walls were 56 miles in length,
80 feet thick and 320 feet high. Wide enough, he said, to
allow a four-horse chariot to turn. The inner walls were "not
so thick as the first, but hardly less strong." Inside the walls
were fortresses and temples containing immense statues of
solid gold. Rising above the city was the famous Tower of
Babel, a temple to the god Marduk, that seemed to reach to
the heavens
Another painting of the hanging
gardens with Tower of Babel in back
Economic: trade and farming
Sumerians
(Mesopotamians) were
known to trade with
the Egyptians and the
Indus Valley
civilizations.
In later years, these
trade routes became
Silk Road.
Sumerians invented the wheel!
The wheel was
invented by 6000 BC!
It helped military,
farming and trade.
At right, this is made
of wood.
Political:Mesopotamian Law
Code of Hammurabi
“eye for an eye
tooth for a tooth”
INNOVATIONS
Developed the first writing – cuneiform
Built clay brick structures – ziggurats
(temples)
Developed the arch, ramps, sewers, and the
wheel
Number system based
on 60 and algebra
Had a lunar calendar
ANCIENT EGYPT
Nile River
Mummies
Pharaohs
Rameses
King Tutankhamen
Hieroglyphics
Egyptian civilization
Egyptian civilization
arose a bit after
Mesopotamia.
Geography: It was
centered around the
Nile River.
The Nile River
Pyramids
These are the Giza
pyramids, the most
famous.
Pyramids were tombs
for the kings.
These were built in
3500 B.C.E.
How old are they?
Khufu—The Great Pyramid
Built: Around 2560 BC
Function: Tomb of
Pharoah Khufu
Size: Height 480 ft.
(146m)
Made of: Mostly limestone
Other: Tallest building in
the world till 1311 AD and
again from 1647 to 1874.
It's 756 feet long on each side, 450 feet high and is composed of 2,300,000 blocks
of stone, each averaging 2 1/2 tons in weight. No side is more than 8 inches
different in length than another, and the whole structure is perfectly oriented to the
points of the compass. Even in the 19th century, it was the tallest building in the
world and, at the age of 4,500 years, it is the only one of the famous 7 Wonders of
the Ancient World that still stands. Even today it remains the most massive building
on Earth. It is the Great Pyramid of Khufu, at Giza, Egypt.
Political:Egyptian Pharaohs
Egyptians were led by
Pharaohs.
They were priest-kings
King Tut is the most
famous
Using computers, this
image was
reconstructed using his
remains
Tutankhamun
Tutankhamun on the
throne
Abu Simbel rock temples
were built by Ramseses II
Mummies
Egyptians who could
afford to do so would
have themselves
mummified.
They believed in a
better afterlife if their
body was preserved.
The Egyptians took out all of the internal organs, except
the heart. When they removed them the organs were put
in canopic jars, that were put in the tomb with the
mummy. They did not take out the heart because it was
believed to be the intelligence and emotion of the
person. The Egyptians
thought the brain had no significant value, so they took it
out through the nose. The body was packed and covered
with natron (a salty drying agent). After this the body
was left
for 40-50 days.
Mummies
Egyptians wrote in hieroglyphics
Hieroglyphics
The Rosetta Stone
The Rosetta Stone is a stone with
writing on it in two languages
(Egyptian and Greek), using three
scripts (hieroglyphic, demotic and
Greek).
Jean-François Champollion
deciphered hieroglyphs in 1822.
Champollion could read both Greek
and coptic.
He was able to figure out what the
seven demotic signs in coptic were.
By looking at how these signs were
used in coptic he was able to work
out what they stood for. Then he
began tracing these demotic signs
back to hieroglyphic signs.
What did Egyptians write on?
Ancient Egyptians
used papyrus, a
substance derived
from the plant of
the same name
The Great Sphinx is
located on the Giza
plateau, about six
miles west of Cairo.
The Great Sphinx & Khafre
nd
(2 largest pyramid)
Egyptian economy
Although Egypt looks
really sophisticated, the
economy is a traditional
economy based on
farming and trade.
Egyptians traded up and
down the Nile, with
Mesopotamians and
sometimes with Indus
Valley (in Pakistan)
INNOVATIONS
Number system
based on 10, as well
as geometry
Great astronomers
Excellent irrigation
systems
Mummification
Hieroglyphic writing
The Arts
Built huge temples and
pyramids
Sphinx, obelisks
Decorated tombs and
temples with drawings
and hieroglyphics that
recorded history and
depicted everyday life,
as well as the pharaohs
and their families
Indus Valley civilization
G:What modern day countries
was the Indus Valley civ in?
Indus River Valley
This civ is still
mysterious.
The writing has not
been translated.
Indus River civilization
We do know the cities
were sophisticated
enough to have brick
walls surrounding
them for protection
against flooding from
the Indus River.
Mohenjo Daro
Various artifacts found
Artifacts
Indus Economy
Just like the other river
valley civs, the Indus
river valley people
were mostly farmers.
Traditional economy
They did trade with
Chinese and with
Sumerians
(Mesopotamians).
INNOVATIONS
Well-planned cities (streets at 90o
angles)
Sewer systems and garbage bins
Private and public baths
Kilns for baking bricks
Public wells provided water
Written language (mostly pictographic)
[The Arayans brought the Sanskrit language
when they took over]
THE END OF HARAPPAN
CIVILIZATION
No one really knows what happened to the
Harappans
Theories
Natural disaster (earthquake, floods) destroyed
the cities and the people migrated to other areas
They were conquered by other people
They moved from the region for some other
reason
Aryans, a nomadic people, moved into the
region as Harappan civilization was
declining
ANCIENT CHINA
Great Wall
Began 2000 B.C.
Mandate of
Heaven
Dynasties
Silk
astronomy
As in Egypt, Mesopotamia, and along the Indus River,
Chinese civilization began within a major river valley.
Modern China itself is a huge geographical expanse.
Around 4000 BC, this huge area contained an almost
infinite number of ethnic groups and languages. This
history, in which a vast area populated by diverse ethnic
groups became, over time, a more or less single culture,
began in the Yellow River Valley.
Yellow River Civilization
Ancient China was formed
around the Yellow River.
The color yellow symbolized
“centrality”, as in China is the
center of the world.
Also called China’s
Sorrow (devastating
floods)
Contained by a system of
dikes
Chinese accomplishments
During the Zhou and
Shang periods, the
Chinese made
remarkable
achievements in
astronomy and
bronzework, learned
to make silk and
create books, and
developed a complex
system of writing
Chinese Writing
Began as oracle bone
script—It was etched
onto turtle shells and
animals bones, which
were then heated until
cracks would appear.
By interpreting the
pattern of the cracks,
Shang court officials
would make
divinations about the
future.
Chinese invented silk
Silk was exotic and
expensive, so it was
good for trading with
the rest of the world.
It is made from silk
worms.
Silk also makes
“paper”
Silk worm
Chinese astronomy
•2137 BC - Chinese book 书经 records the earliest known solar
eclipse on October 22.
•ca. 2000 BC - Chinese determine that Jupiter needs 12 years to
complete one revolution of its orbit.
•ca. 1400 BC - Chinese record the regularity of solar and lunar
eclipses and the earliest known solar variation日珥.
•ca. 1200 BC - Chinese divide the sky into twenty eight regions
二十八宿 for recognitions of the stars.
•ca. 1100 BC - Chinese first determine the spring equinox 黄赤
交角.
•776 BC - Chinese make the earliest reliably record of solar
eclipse.
In the Middle Ages the Arabs made known throughout
Muslim Spain a material which was to replace all its
predecessors. This was paper, whose manufacture they
imported from far distant and mysterious realm of China.
The first paper appeared in China about 200 BC. Its
name is derived from papyrus. Silk was transformed into
paper by a process of pasting, but because silk was
expensive, wool and cotton came to be used instead.
This
invention
was
attributed
to
Ts'ai
Lun.
In the picture above, the manufacturing process used by
the Chinese. They steeped mulberry or bamboo bark in
water, then kneaded it to produce a paste from which
they obtained smooth thin sheets of paper.
Ancient China
Chinese pyramids!!!!
The Great Wall of China was built to
keep northern nomads out.
Many died building it, and their
bodies were used as filler for it.
INNOVATIONS
Skilled metal workers
Weapons made of bronze
Bronze ceremonial vessels
Silk
Mirrors
Fireworks/gunpowder (later dynasties)
The Arts
Unique architecture
Decorated pottery
Pictographic writing (5000 characters)
Civilization in the Americas
2 Main Centers:
Mexico / Central America
The Andes Mount
(with extension into N. America)
In isolation from the “Old World” (Eastern Hemisphere), a
different set of elements of a civilization emerged:
(1) Agriculture, ca. 7000 B.C.E.
In Mexico / C. America: CORN, manioc→
(support large population)
In the Andes: potatoes
(Corn was eventually imported from
C. America).
(2) Non-alphabetic writing in Mexico /
C. America; no writing in Andes
(3) No wheel
(4) Not many metal weapons
(5) Monumental stone architecture
MEXICO / CENTRAL AMERICA: OLMECS
I. Foundational civilization:
OLMECS, ca. 1200-400 B.C.E.
A. Irrigation for corn
B. Writing
C. Cities as h.q. of ruling elite
and centers of religious
ritual
Mass of population live
outside cities, farm crops
from which rulers take
tribute.
D. Monumental stone
architecture--Stone heads
E. Ball Game orginates
THE BALL GAME
Ball Court in Monte Alban
The Great Pyramid at La Venta
Olmec stone heads
Features fuel speculation that Olmec ancestors may have
come from Polynesia.
THE ANDES—The CHAVIN
Foundational civilization: Chavín in Peru, ca. 900-250 BC
A. Administrative / religious
cities supported by cropgrowing peasantry (as in
Mexico / C. America)
B. Terraced agriculture
C. Potatoes,
eventually corn (imported
from Mexico / C. America)
Peruvian potatoes
Chavín
cultural capital, Chavín de Huanter, was
at the intersection of diverse ecological
zones which provided it economic
advantage over rivals
llamas, only beasts of burden in
Americas, facilitated trade
The evidence suggests that increased
warfare led to the fall of Chavín around
200 BCE.
Chavin Textile of Earth Goddess
Quipu--an
accounting
device
based on
ropes and
knots.
Some think
it was also
used to
encode
spoken
language.
Stone architecture, feline deity
Chavin
vessel
depicting
a jaguar