Download The First Civilization From hunter-gatherers to simple

The First Civilization
From hunter-gatherers to simple villages to complex villages to...
CIVILIZATIONS!!!!
Sumer... the first civilization...
A modern civilization includes: sports, entertainment, museums,
restaurants, education, job opportunities...WHAT DID THE FIRST
CIVILIZATION LOOK LIKE??
Five Traits of a Civilization.....
Advanced Cities
Specialized Workers
Complex Institutions
Record Keeping
Advanced Technology
First Trait......Advanced Cities
Cities in Sumer included: Kish, Nippur, Ur
Many cities make up a civilization
As cities grew, they were able to offer other advantages...such as
temples, markets, employment
Most of Sumer's cities were located near the Tigris and Euphrates
rivers...
In Sumer, cities were called city-states because they had not only the
city but neighboring farmland which also included villages
Each city-state ruled itself and had between 10,000-100,000 people
Advanced cities continued...
Sumer had at least 12 city-states....the city-state of Ur was the hometown
of Abraham
Sumerian streets were narrow and winding
Protective walls surrounded the cities...gates allowed people to come and
go
Houses were built of mud and were several feet thick
Narrow tunnels were built into the walls for air flow
Houses were basically rooms built around a courtyard
The courtyard roofs were made of palm branches to block out some sun
Cooking was done on the courtyard
Specialized Workers
Having a food surplus allows people to do other kinds of work
Workers can now do jobs that require specific skills ("specialized")
When people specialize in a particular job, the quality of the work
improves
Jobs included: building houses, making jewelry, making clothes,
pottery, weavers, farmers, tool makers,etc.
People also had to start working together and cooperating to get some
jobs done such as building irrigation canals
Some people now had the job of ORGANIZING their society
In Sumer, priests were the organizers and judges
Complex Institutions
An "institution" is a group of people who have a specific purpose
Examples of institutions: schools, churches, army
The largest and most important building in Sumer was the temple...it was
called a ZIGGURAT
The ziggurat was not just a temple, it was the center of city life
It was also the "city hall" ...this was because the priests ran the irrigation
systems and controlled the storage of the surplus grain...priests ended up
controllilng much of the wealth
Complex institutions continued...
Sumerian religion...
Polytheism~ the belief in many gods and goddesses
Sumerians believed in four main gods: sky, wind,water, hills
They also believed in lesser gods (thousands of them!)
Each city-state worshipped its own god
They believed their gods looked and acted like people
Priests...
Priests would try to appease the gods in order to prevent droughts,
floods, invasions, etc.
Priests became very powerful
Complex institutions continued...
Sumerians thought the gods were rich landowners who created humans to
work for them
Everyone said prayers and made offerings to the gods
Everyone took part in rituals and followed religious rules
Many of the rituals took place at the ziggurat
Believed that souls went to the "land of no return"...the "underworld"
Life on earth was hard and some Sumerians believed the afterlife would be
hard as well
Record Keeping
Societies must keep track of many things such as measuring the food
supply stored as surplus
In Mesopotamia, people started keeping records by using wooden
counting sticks
Later, they invented the world's first system of writing
Advanced Technology
What is technology? Learning/inventing better ways of doing things!
Learning to use canals for irrigation...new tools...new materials...
Bronze tools replace copper...a great example of technology
Sumerian City-States
They were often in conflict with each other over access to resources
War was common among the city-states
UR...archaeologists unearthed an amazing collection of art, jewelry,
musical instruments and beautiful objects
They used gold and semiprecious stones
Artistic skill had developed to a very high level in Ur
Priests remained important but were eventually replaced by kings
A king was usually a strong military leader
Main Points
Sumer had a complex society and culture; historians consider it the
first civilization
Sumerian city-states were a form of government that included cities
and the land around them
Priests were the first leaders in Sumer but kings became leaders
when the need for defense grew