Download The 4 river valley civilizations (Nile, Tigris

The 4 river valley civilizations (Nile, Tigris-Euphrates, Indus, Yellow) had similarities because they depended on huge
rivers.
Key Concept 1.3 The Development and Interaction of Early Agricultural, Pastoral and Urban Societies
The city of Mohenjo-Daro in the Indus River Valley
As agricultural surpluses allowed societies to develop into large urban centers, the foundations for the first
civilizations were set. Civilization is not easy to define precisely and can be controversial. Indeed, declaring a
group of people "uncivilized" has often been the pretext for conquering them in order to bring them to an
alleged higher level of sophistication. Thus the definition of what it means to be "civilized" could be
strategically crafted by opportunists and conquerors. Nevertheless, some basic characteristics of civilization
can be generalized. First and foremost, civilization implies cities; the word itself is based on the Latin word
for civil or city. In addition to cities, civilizations have highly stratified and hierarchical social structures; social
and gender equality is not natural to early civilizations. Civilizations also develop states, or governments,
organized by bureaucracies and legitimized often by religious belief. Rituals and ceremonies presided over by
priests are protected by the state, which in turn gains supernatural support for its laws and decrees. All of
these complex institutions, of course, are supported by large agricultural surpluses. Civilizations grew so large
and their influence felt so far beyond their borders that it was inevitable that they would have contact with
other civilizations and nomadic people. Trade between these people spread ideas, technologies and even
diseases. And as the needs of urban centers grew, the struggle for limited resources often led them to military
conflict.
Ms. Cannistraci
Name:___________________________ Date:__________
Mesopotamia
Documement 1: “How to Succeed in Sumer” by Henry Abraham and Irwin Pfeffer
Over 7,00 years ago, people began to settle in a wide valley between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, in
the southern part of a land called Mesopotamia. (Today, this country is called Iraq.) To the south and west of
this land were the Syrian and Arabian deserts. To the east and north were the mountains of Persia (presentday Iran) and Armenia. Mesopotamia was the eastern region of an area of rich lands called the Fertile
Crescent. One area of settlement was known as Sumer, and the inhabitants were called Sumerians.
Through the years, the Sumerians dug ditches and built up the riverbanks to control the flow of the
rivers’ waters. They drained the swamps and deepened some of the ditches into canals. Thus, the Sumerians
created an irrigation system that made the most of the valley’s fertile farmland. The farmers raised livestock
and grew large quantities of wheat, barley and vegetables.
As the population of Sumer grew, the people built their houses closer to one another, and villages
were formed. Some of the villages continued to grow and in time they developed the first cities. It was in a
Sumerian city, in about the year 3100 B.C., that the first written records of the daily lives of men and woman
were kept. Here, recorded history begins. The Sumerians developed the first civilization of the ancient world.
They built many cities, with such as Ur, Lagash, and Uruk.
Sumerian cities were protected by high walls. The basic building material was mud brick. A mold was
invented to make a uniform size brick. Each house had a courtyard and a doorway that opened into a straight
narrow street. The tallest building was the ziggurat (temple), which was covered with millions of pieces of
glazed, colored tiles. People believed that the god who ruled the city lived in a building at the top of the
ziggurat.
Drawing of a ziggurat
The Sumerians were a creative people. They were the first people to use the wheel for wagons drawn
by animals. They invented the potters wheel. They invented imported metals such as bronze and copper, and
they used arches and domes in their buildings. In each Sumerian city, many people worked specialized jobs.
One could find carpenters, potters, metal-workers, stone cravers, boat builders, jewelers, weapons makers,
merchants, scribes (people who kept written records) and religious leaders.
Perhaps the most important contribution of the Sumerians to history was the first written language.
The Sumerians did not create the alphabet. At first, they drew pictures to represent objects. Later, the pictures
became symbols that represented syllables (part of words). The Sumerians used a pointed stick to press
wedge-shape symbols (cuneiform) into soft clay tablets. When these tablets dried and hardened they became
the permanent records of business dealings, court proceedings, schoolwork, grain harvest, and laws.
Cuneiform – the world’s oldest written language
Sumerian Number System
Document 2: Daily Life in Mesopotamia
The Mesopotamians of the third and fourth millennium B.C. created an intricate and highly specialized
society. Living in complex city-states brought together many talented and creative people who were always
looking for ways to improve the world.
Through creativity and practical ingenuity, Mesopotamia flourished. For example, the practical use of
the wheel began in Mesopotamia. By 3500 B.C. Sumerian potters were using a new invention: a wheel turned
horizontally, allowing craftsmen to make pots from wet clay.
This basic technology –two and four wheeled carts-allowed the Mesopotamians to transport produce to
market and carry people where they needed to go.
Other improvements included the plow. By 4000 B.C., Mesopotamian farmers attached primitive
plows behind teams of oxen to cut furrows across the fields of Sumerian farms.
Meanwhile, Mesopotamian merchants were busying themselves with commerce: trading surplus grain
for silver and lead from Turkey, lumber from Syria, copper and building stones from Oman, and semiprecious
stones from Afghanistan. Great Sumerian trading ships-some capable of carrying up to 35 tons of grain and
other produce-were sailing far from home, doing business with the people of the city of Mohenjo-Daro,
located in the Indus River Valley.
Ms. Cannistraci
Name:___________________________ Date:__________
Ancient Egypt Documents
Document 1
In ancient Egypt, the construction of canals was a major endeavor of the pharaohs and their servants, beginning in
Scorpio's time. One of the first duties of provincial governors was the digging and repair of canals, which were used
to flood large tracts of land while the Nile was flowing high. The land was checkerboarded with small basins, defined
by a system of dikes. Problems regarding the uncertainty of the flow of the Nile were recognized. During very high
flows, the dikes were washed away and villages flooded, drowning thousands. During low flows, the land did not
receive water, and no crops could grow. In many places where fields were too high to receive water from the canals,
water was drawn from the canals or the Nile directly by a swape or a shaduf. These consisted of a bucket on the end
of a cord that hung from the long end of a pivoted boom, counterweighted at the short end. The building of canals
continued in Egypt throughout the centuries.
The Nile River has played an important role in the lives of Egyptians throughout history. This frieze (c. 2000 B.C.E.)
depicts Egyptians using water from the Nile River for irrigation.
Source: Larry W. Mays. “Irrigation Systems, Ancient,” Water Enclyclopedia online.
Document 2
The water laws of ancient Egypt were primarily concerned with ensuring that each farmer along the river had
fair access to the waters during the floods and that no farmers were denied their fair share of irrigated water.
If a farmer, for example, farmed many miles from the river, those owning land close to the river had to allow
him to have access to a water canal running through their land.
Water laws also prohibited the taking of water from canals by farmers not contributing to the labor of filling
the canal with water. How much water one was entitled to take from a canal depended on how much time
one spent filling that canal. If, for example, ten farmers contributed ten hours of labor filling irrigation canals
with water, any one of them who took more than one hour’s worth of water could be put to death....
Source: James Barter, The Nile, Lucent Books, 2003.
Document 3
Problems in Ancient Egyptian Society
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High taxes (10% of a farmer’s food) collected by Pharaohs through use of brutal force
During times when bigger pyramids were built, there were no peasant burial sites
High rates of diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis, cancer, bilharzia, arthritis, and small pox.
Droughts led to famines which caused desert peoples to invade Egypt
Source:
John Iliffe,
Africans:
The History
of a
Continent,
Cambridge
University Press, 1995.
Document 4: From Warrior Women to Female Pharaohs: Careers for Women in Ancient Egypt
By Dr Joann Fletcher
Sexual equality
In order to understand their relatively enlightened attitudes toward sexual equality, it is important to realize
that the Egyptians viewed their universe as a complete duality of male and female. Giving balance and order
to all things was the female deity Maat, symbol of cosmic harmony by whose rules the pharaoh must govern.
Ladies of leisure
The most common female title 'Lady of the House' involved running the home and bearing children, and
indeed women of all social classes were defined as wives and mothers first and foremost. Yet freed from the
necessity of producing large numbers of offspring as an extra source of labor, wealthier women also had
alternative 'career choices'.
After being bathed, depilated and doused in sweet heavy perfumes, queens and commoners alike are
portrayed sitting patiently before their hairdressers, although it is equally clear that wigmakers enjoyed a brisk
trade. The wealthy also employed manicurists and even female make-up artists, whose title translates literally
as 'painter of her mouth'. Yet the most familiar form of cosmetic, also worn by men, was the black eye paint
which reduced the glare of the sun, repelled flies and looked rather good.
Women at the top
The status and privileges enjoyed by the wealthy were a direct result of their relationship with the king, and
their own abilities helping to administer the country. Although the vast majority of such officials were men,
women did sometimes hold high office. As 'Controller of the Affairs of the Kiltwearers', Queen Hetepheres II
ran the civil service and, as well as overseers, governors and judges, two women even achieved the rank of
vizier (prime minister). This was the highest administrative title below that of pharaoh, which they also
managed on no fewer than six occasions.
Careers
In fact, other than housewife and mother, the most common 'career' for women was the priesthood, serving
male and female deities. The title, 'God's Wife', held by royal women, also brought with it tremendous political
power second only to the king, for whom they could even deputise. The royal cult also had its female
priestesses, with women acting alongside men in jubilee ceremonies and, as well as earning their livings as
professional mourners, they occasionally functioned as funerary priests.
Their ability to undertake certain tasks would be even further enhanced if they could read and write but, with
less than 2% of ancient Egyptian society known to be literate, the percentage of women with these skills
would be even smaller. Although it is often stated that there is no evidence for any women being able to read
or write, some are shown reading documents. Literacy would also be necessary for them to undertake duties
which at times included prime minister, overseer, steward and even doctor, with the lady Peseshet predating
Elizabeth Garret Anderson by some 4,000 years.
Document 4: The Great Pyramid at Giza
Ms. Cannistraci
Name:___________________________ Date:__________
The Yellow River Valley in Chinese History (excerpts)
Document 1: China has had the good fortune to have two great rivers: the Yangtze, and the
Yellow River or Huang He. The Yellow River is also known as the "cradle of Chinese civilization" or the "Mother
River." Usually a source of rich fertile soil and irrigation water, the Yellow River has transformed itself more
than 1,500 times in recorded history into a raging torrent that swept away entire villages.
As a result, the river has several less-positive nicknames as well, such as "China's Sorrow" and "Scourge
of the Han People." Over the centuries, the Chinese people have used it not only for agriculture, but also as a
transportation route and even as a weapon.
…The river runs across central China's loess plains, picking up an immense load of silt, which colors the
water and gives the river its name.
The Yellow River in Ancient China
The recorded history of Chinese civilization began on the banks of the Yellow River with the Xia
Dynasty (c. 2100 to c. 1600 BCE). According to Sima Qian's "Records of the Grand Historian" and the "Classic of
Rites," a number of different tribes originally united into the Xia Kingdom in order to find a solution to
devastating floods on the river.
When a series of breakwaters failed to stop the flooding, the Xia instead dug a series of canals to
channel excess water out into the countryside and then down to sea.
Unified behind strong leaders, and able to produce bountiful harvests since Yellow River floods no
longer destroyed their crops so often, the Xia Kingdom ruled central China for several centuries. The Shang
Dynasty succeeded the Xia around 1600 BCE, lasting until 1046 BCE, and also centered itself on the Yellow
River valley. Fed by the riches of the fertile river-bottom land, the Shang developed an elaborate culture
featuring powerful emperors who built huge palaces for themselves and massive walls to guard their
kingdoms. Trade was conducted throughout China along the rivers and canals. Priests guided people through
divination using oracle bones, and artists and craftsmen produced jewelry and art artwork using jade, a soft
stone. When that era came to an end, the country plunged into the Warring States Period (256 - 221 BCE).
One favorite tactic of the various warring states was to send saboteurs to break Yellow River dams or divert
canals on neighboring kingdoms' domains, causing flooding and misery. This is the first, but by no means the
last, recorded instance of people using the river as a weapon.
…The Yellow River is the surging heart of Chinese civilization. Its waters and the rich soil it carries bring
agricultural abundance to support China's enormous population. However, this "Mother River" has always had
a dark side, as well. When the rains are heavy, or silt blocks up the river channel, she has the power to jump
her banks and spread death and destruction across central China.
Source: Kallie Szczepanski, “What Role has the Yellow River Played in Chinese History?” Asian History,
About.com, 2015.
Document 2: Oracle Bones
The oracle-bone inscriptions ere written during the Shang dynasty (ca. 1554-1045/40 BCE). The Shang
people practiced divination by boring a series of pits into either a tortoise plastron (the bottom part of the
tortoise shell) or a cattle scapula. A hot bronze rod was applied, producing cracks, which were interpreted as
answers to questions (often expressed as a pair of two possible outcomes) that the king and/or his diviner had
posed. Sometimes the questions, a record of the divination, and occasionally even a record of the actual
outcome were inscribed on the plastron or scapula. Through such divinations, the Shang hoped to discover the
causes of events, the will of their ancestors and of their highest deity, Di, and the correct course of action to
take when faced with difficult decisions. Discovered and translated beginning only in 1899, these oracle bones
are the earliest written records of Chinese civilization. The inscriptions give us a highly selective record of
some of the concerns and events that were relevant to the elite class of the Shang kingdom. However, the
only such Shang dynasty oracle bones discovered have been from the reigns of Wu Ding (r.1198-1189 BCE)
and his successors. In other words, strictly speaking, China’s written history begins with these inscriptions
around 1200 BCE.
Document 3: The Bronze Age
The Bronze Age was the time when men learned how to mine and smelt copper and tin to make bronze
weapons and tools. These activities required an organized labor force and skilled craftsmen. In Neolithic times
(before the Bronze Age), people had made tools out of stone and hunted and gathered their food. However, in
the Bronze Age people learned how to farm and produce enough extra food to feed other workers — such as
miners, bronze-smiths, weavers, potters and builders who lived in towns — and to feed the ruling class who
organized and led society.
The Chinese Bronze Age had begun by 1700 B.C. in the kingdom of the Shang dynasty along the banks of the
Yellow River in northern China. At times the Shang kings ruled even larger areas.
Contrary to common notions about the Chinese, the Bronze Age Chinese did not drink tea or eat rice. Both
these commodities came from the south and were not popular in the rest of China until hundreds of years
later. Instead the ordinary people consumed cereals, breads and cakes of millet and barley and drank beer.
Members of the royal court could afford to vary their diet with meat and wine.
The Shang kings spent most of their time riding forth from their walled cities with their nobles and knights to
hunt and fight wars. The farmers were peasants who belonged to the land and were supervised by vassals of
the king. In many ways society in Bronze Age China resembles society in Medieval Europe. In the centuries
after the Zhou dynasty (11th century B.C. to 221 B.C.) replaced the Shang kings, the lords and barons seized
more and more power and became more and more independent.
The Bronze Age Chinese held extraordinarily different ideas about kingship and religion from Medieval Europe.
They believed the king's right to rule was based on his good relations with the spirits of his ancestors who
controlled the destiny of the domain. The king continually posed questions to his ancestors about policy. He
did this by instructing his scribe to write the question on an "oracle bone" — that is, an animal shoulder blade
or the breast bone of a turtle. A priest then held a hot rod to the bone until it cracked and interpreted the
pattern of the cracks for the answer.
It was also the king's duty to please the great forces of nature — the sun and rain gods — who controlled the
outcome of the harvest. So that these gods and his ancestor spirits would look favorably on his kingdom, the
king made regular sacrifices of wine and cereals, which were placed in elaborate bronze vessels and heated
over the fires on the temple altar. During the Shang dynasty bronze vessels were the symbol of royalty, just as
the gold crown became the symbol of royalty in Europe. [Paragraphs 3, 4, 5, and 6 in the exhibition pamphlet
(reproduced below) describe the history and use of these bronzes.]
At times the Shang kings make animal and human sacrifices as well; and when the king and powerful members
of the royal court died, it was not unusual that their wives, servants, bodyguards, horses and dogs were killed
and buried with them. During the Zhou Dynasty people gradually turned away from this custom and
substituted clay figures for real people and animals.
Ms. Cannistraci
Name:___________________________ Date:__________
The Indus Valley Civilizations of Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa
Document 1:
Indus Valley Trade
Indus Valley cities lived by trade. Farmers brought food into the cities. City workers made such things as pots,
beads and cotton cloth. Traders brought the materials workers needed, and took away finished goods to trade
in other cities.
Trade goods included terracotta pots, beads, gold and silver, colored gem stones such as turquoise and lapis
lazuli, metals, flints (for making stone tools), seashells and pearls.
Minerals came from Iran and Afghanistan. Lead and copper came from India. Jade came from China and cedar
tree wood was floated down the rivers from Kashmir and the Himalayas.
City plans
Indus Valley cities were neatly planned. They had straight roads making a grid pattern, dividing the city into
blocks. Main streets were almost 10 meters wide, so two bullock carts could pass by each other. Drains were
laid along the streets and wells were dug for water.
Mohenjo-Daro stood on a mound and had a wall with gateways to go in and out. Some city districts inside
were raised on mounds too. On the highest mound was a citadel, which was perhaps where priests and rulers
lived.
People built new houses on top of old ones, as the mud-bricks crumbled. So, over hundreds of years the cities
grew higher.
Mohenjo-Daro's Great Bath
The Great Bath in the city of Mohenjo-Daro looks like a swimming pool. It was over 14 meters long and seven
meters wide. It had a brick-paved courtyard and columns on three sides.
Water (probably from a well) filled the Bath to about 2.4 meters deep (a tall man is about 1.8 meters). Two
sets of steps led down to the bottom. Water drained out through one corner into a drain. Tar and gypsum
mortar between the bricks made sure no water leaked out.
Indus Valley people had clean water and excellent drains - better than any other ancient civilization. Most city
homes had a bathroom and toilet, connected to the city drains. Some people had private wells, for clean
water. Others went to public wells, to fetch water in jars or animal- skin bags.
Waste water flowed out of the house through pipes into the street-drains. 'Poo-cleaners' cleaned the drains
and emptied the pits where sewage from toilets collected.
Cooking and keeping clean
Indus people cooked food on a fire made from wood, charcoal or dried animal dung. They baked bread on hot
stones or in ovens. In the bathroom, people stood on a brick 'shower tray' and tipped water over themselves
from a jar. The clean water came from a well. Dirty water drained through a pipe out through the wall into
the drain in the street.
Toilets had brick seats. The toilet was flushed with water from jars. The waste flowed out through clay pipes
into a drain in the street. Waste was carried away along the drains to 'soak pits' (cesspits), Cleaners dug out
the pit and took the waste away. They also took away rubbish from bins on the side of houses.
Rich and poor
Most people were poor, and had to work hard, either farming, fishing or making things. The richest people in
an Indus city were probably people who owned a lot of land, or traders who controlled the buying and selling
of luxury goods, such as rugs, jewels, minerals and metals.
Poor traders went to market to sell fish, fruit (such as melons) or a few clay pots. Rich traders loaded their
goods on ships sailing off across the sea. They wore fine clothes, and lived in big houses with servants and
perhaps slaves.
Source: British Broadcasting Service, “Indus Valley”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/indus_valley/
Document 2: Terracotta Figurines from Harappa
Document 3: City, Government and Culture
Indus cities like
An Indus city was made of mud-brick buildings. It had walls and roads. Water was very important to Indus
people, so the builders started by digging wells, and laying drains. Main streets were up to 10 meters wide,
wide enough for carts to pass. Side streets were narrow, more like alleys. Some cities had a citadel high on a
mound. In the citadel were bigger buildings. Perhaps the city's rulers lived there. Most people lived and
worked in the lower part of town. Most Indus people did not live in cities at all. Perhaps 9 out of 10 people
were farmers and traders who lived in small villages. The Indus Valley civilization was very large, but we do not
know if it had kings. It seems that nothing much changed there for hundreds of years. New houses were built
on top of old ones, and city street plans stayed the same. Life went on in the same way for generations. This
might mean the Indus rulers controlled everything. Or it might just mean they were happy the way things
were. What look like crowns were found at a site called Kunal. Did they belong to an Indus king? Perhaps each
city had its own ruler.
Building of Walls
An Indus city had strong walls, and in history, walls usually mean people want to keep out enemies. Think of a
medieval castle. Like a castle, an Indus city had towers and gateways, but we do not know if there were
soldiers. At the city gates city officials could check traders coming in and out. There were probably guards too,
in case of trouble. Other ancient civilizations, such as Egypt, had large armies. Kings fought battles with
enemies. But the Indus people seem to have lived in peace for most of their history. Other ancient writings tell
us about wars. Since we can't yet read the Indus writing, we just don't know
Indus gods
Pictures on seals and other artifacts show what look like figures of gods. One looks like a Mother Goddess.
People probably believed this goddess gave health and fertility to people, animals and plants.
Another seal picture shows a male god with horns and three faces. Around him are animals, including an
elephant, tiger, rhino and buffalo. This god is a bit like the Hindu god Shiva (who also has three faces). Plants,
trees and animals were probably important to Indus people. The pipal or fig tree is shown in Indus seals, and is
still a sacred tree for many Buddhists and Hindus.
Some people think that the Indus religion shaped early Hindu beliefs.
The Priest-King
A small stone statue found at Mohenjo-Daro in 1927 shows the head of a man with a beard and headband. He
is wearing a robe with a three-leaf pattern on it. He looks important, and people have called him the 'PriestKing'. A priest is someone who leads people in religious worship. It's possible the cities of the Indus Valley
were ruled by priests. But no one knows.
If this man was a ruler, he probably lived in the citadel. He and other rulers may have made the laws to run the
city, and collected taxes from traders.
Burying the dead
In ancient times dead people were often buried with belongings, to use in a world after death.
Graves were filled with food, pots, weapons, jewels, clothes even furniture. Small model people and houses
were also found in graves too. Most Indus people were buried in coffins. In the grave, people put pottery jars,
probably with food and drink for the dead person.
At Harappa, archaeologists found a woman's body in a wood coffin lined with reed mats. This was how people
from Sumer were buried. Perhaps she was a Sumerian who had come to live in the Indus city.