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Ch 1The Rise of Civilization
Lesson 1 Early Humans
IT MATTERS BECAUSE
Scientists study and date items left by the earliest humans. Their studies help us understand prehistory,
or the time before written records. Scientists’ studies help show how the earliest humans developed. They
also show that early humans made tools, used fire, and managed to survive Ice Age conditions. Early
humans also produced art.
Prehistory
GUIDING QUESTION How do we define and learn information about prehistory?
Historians use mostly documents, or written records, to create their ideas about the
past. However, there are no written records for humankind’s prehistory. Prehistory is the
time before writing was developed. The story of prehistoric humans depends on
archaeological. It also depends on biological evidence. Archaeologists and anthropologists
use this information to create theories, or ideas, about our early past.
Archaeology and Anthropology
Archaeology is the study of past societies through what people left behind.
Archaeologists dig up and examine artifacts, which are objects made by humans. Artifacts
may be tools, weapons, art, and even buildings made by early humans.
Anthropology is the study of human life and culture. Culture includes what people
wear, how they organize their society, and what they value. Anthropologists use artifacts
and human fossils to create a picture of people’s everyday lives. Fossils are rocklike remains
of biological organisms, such as a leaf imprint or a skeleton.
Archaeologists and anthropologists use scientific methods to do their work. They
excavate sites. This means they carefully dig up land in places around the world. They do
this to uncover fossil remains of early humans, ancient cities, burial grounds, and other
objects. Then they examine and analyze these remains. This gives archaeologists a better
understanding of ancient societies. For example, these scientists examine artifacts such as
pottery, tools, and weapons to learn about the social and military structures of a society.
They analyze bones, skins, and plant seeds to learn about the diet and activities of early
people. One of the most difficult jobs of scientists is to date, or find the age, of objects from
the past.
Dating Artifacts and Fossils
Scientists date human fossils and artifacts to help them understand when and where
the first humans lived. Radiocarbon dating is one method used to determine age. All living
things absorb a small amount of radioactive carbon, or C-14, from the atmosphere. A living
thing slowly loses C-14 after it dies. A scientist can figure the age of the dead object by
measuring the amount of C-14 that is left in it. This method is accurate for objects that are
no more than about 50,000 years old. Scientists can use thermoluminescence to measure
the age of objects that date back to 200,000 years ago. This method measures the light
given off by electrons trapped in the soil around fossils and artifacts.
Organic remains come from living things. They include blood, hairs, and plant tissues
left on tools and weapons. Microscopic and biological analyses of organic remains give
scientists still more information. This kind of analysis has shown that molecules (small
particles) of blood may survive millions of years. This recent scientific discovery is very
useful in telling us more about humans. It also tells us about their use of tools and the
animals they killed. Ancient deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) also provides new information on
human evolution. The analysis of plant remains on stone tools gives information about the
history of farming. All of these techniques teach us about the lives of early peoples.
PROGRESS CHECK
Explaining What have artifacts and fossils revealed about prehistory?
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Early Development
GUIDING QUESTION How did hominids develop?
Modern science has produced a clearer picture of how early humans developed.
Even so, pieces of the puzzle are still missing. Scientists may have to revise their
ideas about prehistoric human life when a new skull or skeleton is found.
Hominids to Homo Sapiens
What is a hominid? A hominid is a humanlike creature that walked upright. The
earliest hominid lived in Africa 4 million years ago. Donald Johanson discovered this early
hominid, and he called it Australopithecus (aw•stray•loh•PIH•thuh•kuhs), or “southern ape.”
It lived in eastern and southern Africa.
Archaeologists Louis and Mary Leakey searched for clues about early human life for
many years. Mary Leakey discovered a hominid skeleton in 1959 at Olduvai Gorge in East
Africa. This was the oldest hominid found up to that time. It was about 1.8 million years old.
A more advanced hominid developed between 2.5 and 1.6 million years ago. It
had a somewhat larger brain. This hominid was named Homo habilis, which means “handy
human.” Homo habilis may have used stone tools. Another hominid developed around 1.5
million years ago. It was called Homo erectus, or “upright human.” Other hominids also
walked on two legs, but Homo erectus had arms and legs in modern human proportion, or
size. Remains in Asia show that Homo erectus was probably the first hominid to leave Africa.
Homo Sapiens Sapiens
Hominids called Homo sapiens developed around 250,000 years ago. Homo sapiens
means “wise human.” This hominid showed rapid brain growth and learned how to use fire.
The first anatomically modern humans appeared in Africa between 200,000 and 150,000
years ago. They are called Homo sapiens sapiens, which means “wise, wise human.” They
probably spread out of Africa to other parts of the world about 100,000 years ago. Homo
sapiens sapiens replaced populations of earlier hominids in Europe and Asia. This is called the
“out-of-Africa” theory. One of the hominid groups they came across was known as
Neanderthals. Neanderthals probably lived between 200,000 B.C. and 30,000 B.C.
Neanderthal remains have been found in Europe and Turkey. They seem to be the first early
people to bury their dead.
Homo sapiens sapiens had replaced the Neanderthals by 30,000 B.C. The Neanderthals
died out, maybe because of conflicts with Homo sapiens sapiens. The spread of these first
modern humans was a slow process. It took many thousands of years for them to spread
over the globe as they searched for food and new places to hunt. They may have moved
only two to three miles in a whole generation. Even so, this was enough to populate the
world over tens of thousands of years. Today, all humans belong to this same subgroup of
human beings whether they are Europeans, Australian Aborigines (a•buh•RIHJ•nees), or
Africans.
PROGRESS CHECK
Contrasting How do the facts we know about Homo sapiens sapiens and Neanderthals tell
different stories about how hominids developed?
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The Paleolithic Age
GUIDING QUESTION How did the first humans adapt to survive?
Humans have the ability to make tools. This is one of the important features of
our species (a group of living things that are similar and can create offspring). The
Paleolithic Age is the early period of human history when humans used simple stone tools.
It lasted from about 2,500,000 B.C. to 10,000 B.C. Paleolithic comes from Greek words
meaning “old stone.” The Paleolithic Age is sometimes called the Old Stone Age.
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Humans relied on hunting and gathering for their daily food for hundreds of
thousands of years. Paleolithic people had a close relationship with their environment. They
knew what animals to hunt and what plants to eat. They gathered wild nuts, berries, fruits,
wild grains, and green plants. They hunted and ate different animals in different places,
including buffalo, horses, bison, and reindeer. Fish and shellfish provided a rich source of
food in areas near water.
The Paleolithic Way of Life
Early humans used stone tools to hunt and gather food. Early people used very hard
stones, like flint, to make these tools. They used one stone to chip away parts of another
stone and create a sharp edge on it. Hand axes were the most common tools. These were
pointed tools with one or more cutting edges. Hand axes were eventually set in wooden
handles, which made them easier to use. Humans created spears to kill large animals. To
make spears, humans attached wooden poles to spear points and hardened the tips in fire.
Paleolithic hunters developed better tools over the years. The invention of the bow and
arrow made hunting much easier. Harpoons (large spears to hunt big fish or whales) and
fishhooks made of bone increased the amount of fish humans could catch.
Paleolithic people were hunters and gatherers. This meant they had to follow
animal migrations and vegetation cycles. Paleolithic humans were nomads. Nomads are
people who move from place to place to survive. Archaeologists and anthropologists think
these early nomads probably lived in small groups of 20 or 30. Hunting depended on
carefully observing, or watching, animal behavior patterns, or ways of acting. Hunting
demanded group cooperation for success.
The main job of Paleolithic peoples was finding enough to eat. Both men and
women were responsible for finding the food needed for survival. Paleolithic parents passed
on practices, skills, and tools to their children to ensure the survival of later generations.
Women probably stayed closer to camp because they gave birth to and raised children.
They played an important role in getting food by gathering berries, nuts, roots, and grains.
Women taught the children which foods were edible, or safe to eat. They trapped small
animals and kept the camp safe. Men had to travel far from camp to hunt herds of large
animals in the constant search for food. Many scientists believe that in Paleolithic groups,
men and women were equal. It is likely that both men and women made decisions that
affected the activities of the Paleolithic group.
Use of Fire
Another important result of the migration of early hominids was the use of fire.
Early hominids needed to adjust to new climate conditions when they moved from the
tropics (warm areas near the equator) into colder regions. Archaeologists have discovered
the piled remains of ashes in caves. These ashes prove that Paleolithic people used fire as
long as 500,000 years ago. Remains of hearths, ashes, charcoal, and charred, or burned,
bones at a site in northern China have been dated to 400,000 years ago.
Fire not only gave warmth but kept wild animals away from the campsite. Hunters
armed with spears used fire to force wild pigs into the open to kill them. People also
gathered around the fire to trade stories and to cook. Cooked food tasted better, lasted
longer, and was easier to chew and digest. This probably meant that nutrition of early
humans improved.
The Ice Ages
Fire as a source of heat was especially important when the Ice Age began. The
most recent Ice Age began about 100,000 B.C. It ended about 8000 B.C. Thick sheets of ice
covered large parts of Europe, Asia, and North America. People migrated across land
bridges. These had not existed before sea levels went down.
Ice Age conditions were a serious threat, or danger, to human life. The ability to
adapt, or change to meet new conditions, was important to human survival. Early humans
did not always change themselves to adapt to the environment. Sometimes they adapted by
changing the environment. The use of fire is one example of this.
Paleolithic Art
Paleolithic peoples did more than just survive. The cave paintings of large animals
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have been found at Lascaux (la•SKOH) in southern France and Altamira in northern Spain.
They show us the cultural activity of Paleolithic peoples. The Chauvet cave was discovered
in southern France in 1994. It contained more than 300 paintings of lions, oxen, owls,
panthers, and other animals. Most of these are animals that Paleolithic people did not hunt.
This tells us that the animals were painted for religious or decorative purposes.
Early artists painted with fingers and twigs and even blew paint through hollow
reeds. They used stone lamps filled with animal fat to light the caves. They mixed mineral
ores with animal fat to make red, yellow, and black paint. A variety of realistically painted
animals covers the caves. Few humans appear in these paintings. They are drawn as
sticklike figures when they do appear. This has led some scholars to think the paintings
were done for a magical or religious ritual to bring success in hunting.
PROGRESS CHECK
Describing Describe how the Paleolithic way of life revolved around acquiring
food.
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Lesson 2 The Neolithic Revolution
IT MATTERS BECAUSE
Agriculture, or farming, developed during the Neolithic Age. This was a revolution,
or a major change, in human history. Humans changed from nomadic hunters to
farmers and herders. This important change was part of the Neolithic Revolution.
This revolution led to the development of economies based on agriculture and
with some trade.
Agricultural Revolution
GUIDING QUESTION How did developments in the Neolithic period impact early
human history?
The last Ice Age ended around 8000 B.C. It was followed by what is called the
Neolithic Revolution. The Neolithic Age was the period of human history from 8000 B.C. to
4000 B.C. The word Neolithic comes from Greek words meaning “new stone.” The name New
Stone Age is perhaps not the best choice of name. The real revolution in the Neolithic
Revolution was the shift from hunting animals and gathering food to keeping animals and
growing food on a regular basis. Keeping animals and growing food is what we call
systematic agriculture.
Early humans had to move from place to place to follow herds of animals and
find plants. Humans began planting crops during the Neolithic Age. These crops provided a
regular food source. Humans also domesticated animals, which means they tamed them for
their use. The domesticated animals gave humans a reliable source of meat, milk, and wool.
Animals could also be used to do work. Growing crops and taming animals caused an
agricultural revolution. Humans had more control over their lives because now there was
enough food. Enough food also meant humans no longer had to follow a nomadic way of
life. They soon began to live in settled communities. This means they lived together in
groups and no longer moved around. Some historians believe this revolution was the single
most important development in human history.
This shift from hunting and gathering to food producing was not as sudden as
was once believed. The Mesolithic Age is also called the “Middle Stone Age.” It lasted from
about 10,000 B.C. to 7000 B.C. There was a gradual, or slow, shift from the old foodgathering and hunting economy to a food-producing one during the Mesolithic Age. Animals
were also gradually tamed. Hunting and gathering still remained a way of life for many
people throughout the Neolithic period.
Systematic agriculture developed in many parts of the world between 8000 B.C.
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and 5000 B.C. People in Southwest Asia began growing wheat and barley by 8000 B.C. They
also domesticated pigs, cows, goats, and sheep. Farming then spread into Southeastern
Europe. Farming was well established in central Europe and the coastal regions of the
Mediterranean Sea by 4000 B.C.
The cultivation of wheat and barley had spread into the Nile Valley of Egypt by
6000 B.C. These crops soon spread up the Nile to other areas of Africa, including Sudan and
Ethiopia. A separate farming system developed in central Africa. People there grew root
crops called tubers, such as yams, and tree crops, such as bananas. Wheat and barley
farming also moved east into India between 7000 B.C. and 5000 B.C.
Farmers in Southeast Asia grew rice by 5000 B.C. From there, rice farming spread
into southern China. People in northern China were farming millet and domesticating dogs
and pigs by 6000 B.C. Mesoamericans lived in present-day Mexico and Central America.
They grew beans, squash, and maize between 7000 B.C. and 5000 B.C. They also
domesticated dogs and birds.
Neolithic Farming Villages
Growing crops on a regular basis helped create more permanent settlements,
which are called Neolithic farming villages. These villages appeared in Europe, India, Egypt,
China, and Mesoamerica. The oldest and biggest villages were in Southwest Asia. One of
these was Jericho, which was near the Dead Sea. It existed by 8000 B.C. Çatalhüyük
(chah•tahl•hoo•YOOK) was in modern Turkey. It was an even larger community, covering
32 acres (12.9 ha). The city probably had 6,000 inhabitants between 6700 B.C. and 5700
B.C. Their simple mud brick houses were built so closely together that there were few
streets. People walked on the roofs and entered their homes through holes in the rooftops.
Archaeologists have found a dozen products that were grown outside the city
walls, including fruits, nuts, and wheat. Domesticated animals provided meat, milk, and
hides. Scenes on the walls of the city’s ruins show that the people also hunted. Çatalhüyük
had a steady, regular food supply and even had a food surplus, or extra food. Specialization
of labor began when not all villagers needed to farm. This meant that some villagers spent
their time working on one job or task other than farming. Some became artisans, or skilled
workers. They made goods to trade with neighboring people. These goods were bartered, or
exchanged, not sold. This was the beginning of a traditional economy based on agriculture
and some trade.
Çatalhüyük had special buildings in addition to homes. These buildings were shrines
(holy places used for worship) containing figures of gods and goddesses. Statues of women
giving birth or nursing a child have also been found there. Both the shrines and the statues
show the growing role of religion in the lives of Neolithic peoples.
Effects of the Neolithic Revolution
The Neolithic agricultural revolution caused major changes that have affected
people’s lives to the present day. People began to settle in villages or towns. They soon saw
the need to build walls for protection and storehouses for goods. Storing surplus products
encouraged trade. Trading encouraged more people to learn crafts. This led to the division
of labor.
Artisans made more advanced tools as they became more skilled. Flint blades were
used to make sickles and hoes for farming. Eventually, many of the food plants still in use
today began to be cultivated. Some plants, such as flax and cotton, were used to make yarn
and cloth.
The change to systematic agriculture also had effects on how men and women
related to one another. Men became more active in farming and herding animals. These
jobs took them away from the settlement. The whole family moved in earlier times, but now
women stayed behind. They cared for children, wove cloth for clothes, and did other tasks
that kept them in one place. Men took on more and more responsibility for getting food and
protecting the settlement. They soon began to play a more dominant role in society.
The End of the Neolithic Age
New developments began to affect some Neolithic towns between 4000 B.C. and
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3000 B.C. Even before 4000 B.C., craftspeople discovered that they could turn the metal
found in some rocks into liquid by heating the rocks. Then they poured the liquid metal into
molds, or casts, to make tools and weapons. The use of metals marked a new level of
humans’ control over the environment.
Copper was the first metal to be used in making tools. After 4000 B.C., artisans in
western Asia discovered that combining copper and tin created bronze. Bronze is a metal
that is harder and stronger than copper. The widespread use of bronze led to the Bronze
Age that lasted from around 3000 B.C. to 1200 B.C. The use of iron tools and weapons
became common after about 1000 B.C. This new era, or time period, was known as the Iron
Age.
The Neolithic Age marked the first steps toward major changes in the future. Some
villages developed more complex and wealthier societies as people mastered farming. They
built armies and city walls to protect their wealth. Large numbers of people were
concentrated in the river valleys of Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, and China by the beginning
of the Bronze Age. These farming villages led to the development of cities.
PROGRESS CHECK
Locating Where and when did systematic agriculture develop?
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Civilization Emerges
GUIDING QUESTION How would you define civilization?
Anthropologists describe the culture, or the way of life, of a people in a certain
time and place when they study societies of the past and of the present. Humans from
earliest times lived in small nomadic groups. These groups had simple cultures that helped
them survive. Their cultures became more complex when humans settled in permanent
villages. More complex cultures gradually developed into a new form of human society
called civilization.
A civilization is a complex culture. Large numbers of human beings share a
number of common elements in a civilization. Historians have identified the basic
characteristics of civilizations. Six of the most important characteristics of civilization are
cities, government, religion, social structure, writing, and art.
The first civilizations developed in river valleys. People there could carry on the
large-scale farming that was needed to feed a large population. More people would live in
the city as the amount of food grew. New patterns of living soon developed.
Growing numbers of people, the need to maintain the food supply, and the need for
defense soon led to the growth of governments. Governments organize and control human
activity. They also provide for smooth interaction between individuals and groups.
Governments in the first civilizations were usually led by monarchs, who are kings or
queens who rule a kingdom. The rulers organized armies to protect their populations. They
also made laws to control the lives of their subjects.
Important religious developments also characterized the new urban civilizations.
All of them developed religions to explain things in nature and their own roles in the world.
They believed that gods and goddesses were important to the community’s success. Priests
led rituals, or ceremonies, to please the gods and goddesses. This gave the priests special
power and made them very important people in society. Rulers also claimed that the gods
gave them their power. Some rulers claimed to be divine. This means they said they were
gods or were related to gods.
A new social structure based on economic power also developed. Rulers and an
upper class of priests, government officials, and warriors dominated society. Below this
class was a large group of free people. These were farmers, artisans, and craftspeople. At
the bottom was a slave class.
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The upper class demanded luxury items, such as jewelry and pottery. This
encouraged artisans and craftspeople to create new products. Urban populations exported,
or sent, finished goods to neighboring populations in exchange for raw materials. As a
result, organized trade began to grow. Trade also brought new civilizations into contact with
one another, which led to the transfer of new technology from one region to another. This
included metals for tools and new ways of farming.
Most early river valley civilizations developed independently. Each one was based on
developments connected to the agricultural revolution of the Neolithic Age. Each was also
based on the cities that the agricultural revolution helped to produce. The civilizations of
Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, and China were a revolutionary period in the growth of human
society.
Writing was an important feature in the life of these new civilizations. Rulers, priests,
merchants, and artisans used writing to keep accurate records. Not all civilizations
depended on writing to keep records. The Inca in Peru relied on well trained memory
experts to keep track of their important matters. The earliest civilizations eventually used
writing for creative expression as well as for record keeping. This produced the world’s first
works of literature.
Important artistic activity was another feature of the new civilizations. Architects
built temples and pyramids as places for worship or sacrifice. Such structures were also
sometimes used for the burial of kings and other important people. Painters and sculptors
showed stories of nature. They also showed the rulers and gods that their society
worshiped.
PROGRESS CHECK
Gathering Information How did large-scale agriculture lead to new patterns of
living in river valley civilizations?
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Lesson 3 Mesopotamia
IT MATTERS BECAUSE
Mesopotamia was one area where civilization began. This area, the Tigris and
Euphrates River valley, supported agriculture and encouraged trade.
Mesopotamians developed complex economic, political, and social structures. They
invented a written language and built empires. They also codified their laws, or
put them in an organized system.
The Fertile Crescent
GUIDING QUESTION What role did the physical environment play in the
development of Sumerian civilization?
Fertile river valleys could support many people in permanent settlements. These
farming villages grew into culture centers. They spread their ideas and practices
to surrounding areas. Highly organized societies then developed.
The ancient Greeks spoke of the valley between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers
as Mesopotamia, meaning the land “between the rivers.” Mesopotamia was at the eastern
end of the Fertile Crescent. The Fertile Crescent was an arc of land from the Mediterranean
Sea to the Persian Gulf. Rich soil and many crops grown by farmers allowed the land to
support an early civilization.
Mesopotamia had little rain, but over the years layers of silt made its soil fertile. Silt
is material that was deposited, or left, by the two rivers. The Tigris and Euphrates often
overflowed their banks in late spring and deposited their fertile silt over the surrounding
area. The problem was that this flooding was unpredictable. It depended on the melted
snow in the mountains where the rivers began. People in the valley could not tell exactly
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when the floods would come or how large they would be. As a result, they learned to control
the flow of the rivers. Farmers used irrigation and drainage ditches to manage the flow of
water. This allowed farmers to grow crops regularly. A large amount of food allowed many
people to live together in cities, and civilization developed.
Mesopotamian civilization includes the achievements of people from three general
areas. These areas are Assyria, Akkad, and Sumer. The Sumerians created the first
Mesopotamian civilization.
PROGRESS CHECK
Analyzing How did people in the Fertile Crescent adapt their environment?
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City-States of Ancient Mesopotamia
GUIDING QUESTION How did religious beliefs influence the organization of
Sumerian society?
The Sumerians had established many independent cities in southern Mesopotamia by
3000 B.C. These cities included Eridu, Ur, and Uruk. The cities grew, and they gained
political and economic control over the surrounding countryside. They soon formed citystates. These were the basic units of Sumerian civilization.
Walls surrounded Sumerian cities. A wall six miles (10 km) long went around Uruk.
There were defense towers located every 30 to 35 feet (9 to 10 m) along the wall. It is
thought that about 50,000 people lived in Uruk by 2700 B.C. This made it one of the largest
city-states.
City dwellings were built of sun-dried bricks. They included both the small houses of
peasants and the larger buildings of the city officials, priests, and priestesses. Mesopotamia
did not have much stone or wood for building purposes. However, it did have plenty of mud,
which could be easily shaped by hand into bricks. Then the bricks were left to bake in the
hot sun until they were hard enough to use for building. People in Mesopotamia were very
creative with mud bricks. They invented the arch and the dome. They also built some of the
largest brick buildings in the world.
Religion and Rulers
People in Mesopotamia looked to religion to answer their questions about life. They
believed that powerful spiritual beings such as gods and goddesses were everywhere in the
universe. The Mesopotamians had nearly 3,000 gods and goddesses. Their religion was
polytheistic, meaning they believed in many gods. Mesopotamians believed humans had to
obey and serve the gods. Humans were inferior, or less than, the gods. They could never be
sure what the gods might do to them or for them.
The most important building in a Sumerian city was the temple dedicated to the
chief god or goddess of the city. This temple was often built on top of a huge stepped tower
called a ziggurat. The Sumerians believed that gods and goddesses owned the cities. The
people spent much of their money on building temples and elaborate houses for the priests
and priestesses who served the gods. The temples and related buildings served as a
physical, economic, and political center of the city. The temples also served as storehouses
for surplus food and crafts. The surplus could then be distributed or traded.
The priests and priestesses who supervised, or managed, the temples held a great
deal of power. The Sumerians believed that the gods ruled the cities, and that rulers got
their power from the gods. This made the state a theocracy, or a government established by
divine authority. When power passed into the hands of kings, Sumerians felt these rulers
got their power from the gods and acted for the gods.
Sumerian kings held great power. They led armies, supervised the building of public
works, and organized workers for the irrigation projects on which farming depended. The
army, the government, and the priests and priestesses all helped the kings rule. Sumerian
kings and their families lived in large palaces that showed their power and high status.
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Economy and Society
The Sumerian city-states had an economy based chiefly on farming, but trade and
industry became important as well. The peoples of Mesopotamia made wool textiles and
pottery, but they were very well known for their metalwork. Copper, gold, and silver were
already being used for jewelry and some tools. The Sumerians discovered that when tin is
added to copper, it makes bronze. Bronze has a lower melting point (temperature at which
it turns from a solid into a liquid). This makes it easier to cast, or mold, than copper. Bronze
is also a harder metal than copper and does not rust as easily.
The Sumerians bartered, or exchanged, wool, barley, dried fish, wheat, and metal
goods for imported copper, tin, and wood. Sumerian traders traveled by land to the eastern
Mediterranean in the west, and they traveled by sea to India in the east. The wheel was
invented around 3000 B.C. This led to wheeled carts, which
made the transport of goods much easier.
Sumerian city-states contained three major social groups: nobles, commoners,
and slaves. Nobles included royal and priestly officials and their families. Commoners
worked for palace and temple estates and as farmers, merchants, fishers, and craftspeople.
Probably 90 percent or more of the people were farmers. Slaves belonged to palace officials
and were used mostly in building projects. Temple officials most often used female slaves to
weave cloth and to grind grain. Rich landowners also used slaves to farm their lands.
PROGRESS CHECK
Evaluating Did the Sumerians have an advanced economy relative to their time
and place? Explain your answer.
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The Creativity of the Sumerians
GUIDING QUESTION Based on their achievements, why do we consider the Sumerians to be
innovative?
The Sumerians created many inventions that still affect our lives today. Probably their
greatest invention was their writing. In addition, historians believe that they created many
other useful inventions.
Writing and Literature
The Sumerians created a cuneiform (“wedge-shaped”) writing system around 3000
B.C. They made impressions, or marks, on clay tablets using a reed stylus. A stylus is a tool
for writing. The tablets were then baked or dried in the sun. These tablets lasted a very long
time after they dried. Several hundred thousand tablets have been found. They have been a
valuable source of information for modern scholars.
Mesopotamian peoples used writing mostly for record keeping. Cuneiform texts were
also used in schools to train scribes. Scribes were members of the educated class who
served as copyists, teachers, and jurists (people who study and know a lot about law). Men
who began their careers as scribes became the leaders of their cities, temples, and armies.
Scribes came to hold the most important positions in Sumerian society.
Writing was important because it allowed a society to keep records and to pass along
knowledge from person to person and from generation to generation. Writing also made it
possible for people to communicate ideas in new ways. This is especially clear in The Epic of
Gilgamesh. This was an epic poem that records the adventures of a legendary king named
Gilgamesh, who was part man and part god. He becomes friends with a hairy beast named
Enkidu, and they go off to do great deeds together. Then Enkidu dies, and Gilgamesh feels
the pain of death. He begins a search for the secret of immortality, or the ability to live
forever. His efforts fail, and Gilgamesh remains mortal. This shows that “everlasting life” is
only for the gods.
Technology
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The Sumerians invented several tools and other useful objects that made daily life
easier and more productive. They developed the wagon wheel to help transport people and
goods from place to place. The sundial was created to keep time, and the arch was used in
construction. The Sumerians were the first to make bronze out of copper and tin, and they
used bronze to create finely crafted metalwork. The Sumerians also made outstanding
achievements in mathematics. They created a number system based on 60. The division of
the hour into 60 minutes is based on this system. They used geometry to measure fields
and to put up buildings. In astronomy, Sumerians charted the constellations (patterns of
stars in the night sky). A quick look at your watch, with its division of 60 minutes in an
hour, should remind you what we owe to the Sumerians.
PROGRESS CHECK
Hypothesizing Given what you have learned about the Sumerians, develop a
hypothesis on how or why they created a system of writing.
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