Download Foundations 8000B.C.E

Unit I- 8000 BCE - 600 B.CE
Originally created by Ms. Susan M. Pojer Horace Greeley
HS Chappaqua, NY
Changes resulting from
Neolithic Revolution
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What happened to food supplies?
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Human population?
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Occupations?
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Gender differences?
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Agricultural skills, technology and use of animals to control
production increased production efficiency and food supply
Increased due to longer life spans and more children to tend
land and animals
Fewer people needed to produce food creates new occupations
and specialization like priests, traders and builders
Distinction develops between agricultural societies and nomads
(hunter/gatherers)
Patriarchial systems developed where men held power in family,
government, and economy as women become responsible for
domestic home duties (Banpo- China- Matriarchial)
Nature of civilization
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What are the central characteristics of civilization?
Large cities dominating the countryside around them in order to
guarantee food supplies
Public building projects and monumental architecture
Complex political organization to coordinate activities and
protect population using authority systems based on kinship,
military prowess, and merit or ability.
Written language to communicate multiple ideas and large
amounts of information
Specialization of labor evolving from increased food
production and improving overall quality of life through
engineers, traders, artists and bureaucracies to serve
community
Growth of art and literature serves to enrich and preserve
culture
Long distance trade with other civilizations leading to cultural
diffusion, spreading and sharing material culture (pottery,
tools, textiles) and nonmaterial culture (beliefs, customs
values and ideas)
Civilization Pro’s and Con’s
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Advantages of Civilization
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Disadvantages of Civilization
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Specialization of skills,
inventions, arts and
literature
Economically and
politically coordinated
cities
Increased ability to
protect population from
internal and external
dangers
Improved quality of life
and prosperity
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Increase class and gender
distinctions create oppression
and inequality
Overproduction of land and
depletion of resources with
increased population
Increased threat from
“outside” attracted to wealth
and internal crime promoted by
crowded conditions and
inequality
Creates life threatening
congestion, pollution, disease
Recurrent theme in successive
time periods and multiple
societies between rural and
urban lifestyle divisions
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Indo-European Migrations: 4m-2m BCE
“The Crossroads of Three Continents”
Mesopotamia
“Land between the Rivers”
The Ancient Fertile Crescent
“The Cradle of Civilization”
Effects of cities
 Cities bring massive changes to human life
 Alter physical environment (agricultures, slash
and burn, ziggurats)
 New means of transport (wheel, sailboat) need
generated by lack of natural resources
 Metallurgy new use for metals (tools, weapons):
the beginning of Bronze Age
 Human organization and structure changes
(governments)
 Division into social classes (royal, religious,
landholding)
 Specialization (scribes, artisans, traders, warriors,
farmers)
 Record keeping needed lead to development of
language and writing
Characteristics of city states
1. Scale / physical size, population, and territory controlled are
greater Chatal Hayuk 5000 to Sumer and others 40 - 50,000
2. Religion / Power rests in the hands of priests ( Theocratic
Socialism ) and prestige and power of royalty derived from
religious domain By 2800 B.C.E. kings became hereditary position
 Role of religion
 City is center for religion (ziggurats as homes to Gods)
Importance of priests increases
 Sacred marriage in New Years ceremonies
 Royal tombs for kings emphasizes religious role
3. Specialization / specialists with defined roles establish
hierarchical classes
4. Trade & Markets / contributes to economic and social
complexity and growth
5. Monumental architecture / Impress residents and enemies
6. Writing develops from pictograms to ideograms to cuneiform
Record keeping and literature leads to Epic of Gilgamesh and
codes of law
Mesopotamian Civilizations
 Sumerian
 5000 - 3000 B.C.E.
 Gilgamesh, Ur, Uruk [Southern Iraq]
 Akkadian
 2400-2100 B.C.E.
 Sargon I aka Nimrod, Babylon, Ninevah [central]
 Assyrian
 2000-1500 B.C.E. / 1500-1000 B.C.E. [Northern]
 Babylonian
 1800-1300 B.C.E. / 700-500 B.C.E.
 Hammurabi to Nebuchadnezzer [Central Iraq]
Rise of Sumer
 Migration of Sumerians to Mesopotamia (4000
B.C.E.)
 Opportunity and need combine to create city
 Challenges of river valley (floods and farming
create need for irrigation)
 Lack of natural resources encourages long
distance trade
 Need for protection and aggression results in
disputes over resources
 Age of warring cities (Ur, Uruk, Lagash, Nippur)
3300 - 2350 B.C.E.
 Creation of the first empires (control of other
lands and people)
 Eventual creation of city-states and unified empires
Sumerians
Ziggurat at Ur
 Temple
 “Mountain
of
the Gods”
Sumerian Religion Polytheistic
Enki
Innana
Anthropomorphic
Gods
Mesopotamian Trade
“The Cuneiform
World”
Cuneiform: “Wedge-Shaped” Writing
Cuneiform Writing
Deciphering Cuneiform
Sumerian Scribes
“Tablet House”
Sumerian Cylinder Seals
Gilgamesh
Gilgamesh Epic Tablet:
Flood Story
Sumerian Innovations
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Wheel [from pottery wheel]
Cuneiform
Astronomers
Arithmetic base of 10 and 6
Clock of 60 seconds, minutes, 12
hours, 12 months
Military formations
Codified law /administration [govt]
Agriculture and irrigation
Wheat, barley, sheep, cattle
Akkadian Empires
The first “empire”
Sargon of Akkad:
The World’s First Empire [Akkadians]
The Royal Standard of Ur
Skilled artisans
Board Game From Ur
Akkadian Innovations
 Given credit for the world’s first
empire
 Sargon of Akkad aka Nimrod
 Multiethnic centrally ruled empire
 Euphrates River to Mediterranean
with parts of modern-day Iran,Syria,
Anatolia, and Arabian Peninsulas
 Continuation of Sumerian
civilization and innovations
Assyrian Empires
“A land bathed in blood”
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The Assyrian Empire
Assyrian Military Power
Assyrian
soldiers
carrying away
the enemy’s
gods.
Jewish Captives:
c
8
BCE
Assyrian Innovations
 During this time, metal technology
evolves to work with Bronze
 Mostly known for military prowess:
excavation of city walls, battering
rams, corps of engineers, pontoons,
“life” jackets
 Combines Sumer and Akkad lands
 Fertile Crescent, Egypt, Anatolia
with the capital at Nineveh
Babylonian Empires
Hammurabi to
Nebuchadnezzer
Ishtar
Gate
Hanging Gardens
of Babylon and tower of Babel
Israelites in Captivity
Sophisticated Metallurgy Skills
at Ur
The Babylonian Empires
Hammurabi’s [r. 1792-1750 B. C. E.] Code
Hammurabi, the Judge
Babylonian Math
Babylonian Numbers
Nebuchadnezzar II’s Babylon
Babylon under the
Chaldeans
Babylonian Innovations
 Recorded laws and customs- first major collection
of laws
 “Eye for an Eye, tooth for a tooth”
 Sharp division of classes- nobles, priests, artisans,
merchants, farmers, slaves
 Women could own property*
 Strong paternal role
 Business practices-such as loans, contracts
 Astrology
 First fell to Hittites (Iron) and eventually Fell to
Persians
Works Cited

Bentley, Jerry H. and Ziegler, Herbert F. Traditions and
Encounters: A Global Perspective on the Past. 4th Edition.
Boston, MA: McGraw Hill. 2008.
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Bulliet, Richard, Daniel R. Headrick David Northrup, Lynman L.
Johnson, and Pamela Kyle Crossley. The Earth and Its Peoples:
A Global History. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. 2005.
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Spodek, Howard. The World's History, Third Edition. 3rd ed.
Pearson Prentice Hall. 2006.