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UNIT 1: Technological and
Environmental Transformations
To c. 600 B.C.E
Key Concept 1.3
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From about 5,000 years ago, urban societies developed, laying the foundations for
the first civilizations. The term civilization is normally used to designate large
societies with cities and powerful states. While there were many differences
between civilizations, they also shared important features. They all produced
agricultural surpluses that permitted significant specialization of labor. All
civilizations contained cities and generated complex institutions, such as political
bureaucracies, armies, and religious hierarchies. They also featured clearly
stratified social hierarchies and organized long-distance trading relationships.
Economic exchanges intensified within and between civilizations, as well a with
nomadic pastoralists.
As populations grew, competition for surplus resources, especially food, led to
greater social stratification, specialization of labor, increased trade, more complex
systems of government and religion, and the development of record keeping. As
civilizations expanded, they had to balance their need for more resources with
environmental constraints such as the danger of undermining soil fertility. Finally,
the accumulation of wealth in settled communities spurred warfare between
communities and/or with patoralists; this violence drove the development of new
technologies of war and urban defense.
Objective 1.3.1
• Core and foundational civilizations
developed in a variety of geographical and
environmental settings where agriculture
flourished.
A. Students should be able to identify the
location of all of the following required
examples of core and foundational
civilizations.
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Mesopotamia in the Tigris and Euphrates River Valleys
Egypt in the Nile River Valley
Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa in the Indus River Valley
Olmecs in Mesoamerica
Chavin in Andean South America
Objective 1.3.2
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The first states emerged within core civilizations.
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B.
C.
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States were powerful new systems of rule that mobilized surplus labor and resources
over large areas. Early states were often led by a ruler whose source of power was
believed to be divine or had divine support and/or who was supported by the military.
As states grew and competed for land and resources, the more favorably situated –
including the Hittites, who had access to iron – had greater access to resources,
produced more surplus food, and experienced growing populations. These states
were able to undertake territorial expansion and conquer surrounding states.
Early regions of state expansion or empire building were Mesopotamia, Babylonia, and
the Nile Valley.
Pastoralists were often the developers and disseminators of new weapons and modes
of transportation that transformed warfare in agrarian civilizations.
New Weapons:
• Compound bows
• Iron Weapons
New modes of transportation:
• Chariots
• Horseback riding
Objective 1.3.3
Culture played a significant role in unifying states through laws, language, literature, religion, myths, and monumental art.
A.
Early civilizations developed monumental architecture and urban planning.
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B.
C.
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F.
G.
H.
Arts and Artisanship
Systems of record keeping:
Required examples of new religious beliefs:
The Vedic religion
Hebrew monotheism
Zoroastrianism
Trade expanded throughout this period from local to regional and transregional, with civilizations exchanging goods, cultural ideas, and technology.
Required examples of trade expansion from local to regional and transregional:
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Cuneiform
Hieroglyps
Pictographs
Alphabets
Quipu
States developed legal codes, including the Code of Hammurabi, that reflected existing hierarchies and facilitated the rule of governments over
people.
New religious beliefs developed in this period continued to have strong influences in later periods.
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Sculpture
Painting
Wall decorations
Elaborate weaving
Systems of record keeping arose independently in all early civilizations and subsequently were diffused.
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Ziggurats
Pyramids
Temples
Defensive walls
Streets and roads
Sewage and water systems
Elites, both political and religious, promoted arts and artisanship.
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D.
E.
Monumental architecture and urban planning:
Between Egypt and Nubia
Between Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley
Social and gender hierarchies intensified as states expanded and cities multiplied.
Literature was also a reflection of culture.
Literature:
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The “Epic of Gilgamesh”
Rig Veda
Book of the Dead
Activator
• Complete the SPRITE worksheet on the
earliest civilizations.
Mesopotamia
Culture
 Independent innovation that passed to Egypt/Indus
4000 BCE bronze, copper
Wheel, irrigation canals
3500 Sumerians – cuneiform – first writing – stylus – objects > sounds
Number system – 60 – movement of heavenly bodies
 navigation
 time
 Architecture – ziggurats – 1) glory of civilization, 2) many
gods
Clay primary building material
 First epic – Epic of Gilgamesh – 1) great flood story
King’s quest to achieve immortality
 great traders
State
• Unpredictable flooding – need for government – irrigation
• City-states – controlled city + surrounding area
• Geography – lack of natural barriers – invasion – defensive
walls
• Conflicts over water/property rights
• Akkadians/Babylonians – spread Sumerian culture
– Code of Hammurabi – first written law code
• Different rules for gender/social classes
• Very harsh, favored upper class
• Systematic, consistent set of regulations, not arbitrary will of a ruler
• After 900 BCE –Assyrians and Persians ruled
• king-like figure – lugal “big man”
Social Sturcture
• Ruled by elite, rulers, priests
• Farmed by slaves – could purchase freedom
• Patriarchal – men could sell wives/children to
pay debts
– 1600 BCE women wearing veils
– But…women could gain power courts, priestesses,
scribes, small business
Egypt
Culture
• 3000 BCE – Nile River
• pharaoh – pyramids – tombs for self/families
– Decorated w/ colorful paintings
• polytheists – afterlife > mummification
– Egyptian Book of the Dead – what happened to soul, how to reach happy
– afterlife > mummification and tombs
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bronze tools weapons after Mesopotamia
Kush – independent innovation iron – spread to Egypt
some trade w/ Kush and Mesopotamia
hieroglyphics – from trade contacts Mesopotamia
– papyrus – paper making
• geography – protected – could create unique civilization
• less urban than Mesopotamians
• 365 day calendar, medicine, math, astronomy
State
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Nile overflowed annually – predictable
irrigation led to organization/government
agricultural villages engaged in trade
pharaoh – king – power
– living incarnation of sun god
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geography – protected from invading people
beginning 3100 when Menes unites Upper and Lower Egypt
2040-1640 BCE Middle Kingdom – culturally dynamic
New Kingdom – 1500 – regained from foreign invaders Hyksos –
focused on military
• by 900 in control of foreign invaders – internal disorder, invasions
Social Structure
• Social classes, but commoners could enter
government service – rise in social status
• Patriarchal, but women had some privileges
– Women sometimes acted as regents for young rulers,
priestesses, scribes
– managed household finances/education of children
– right to divorce husbands/alimony
– could own property
– Queen Hatshepsut
Indus – 2500 BCE Indus River - Pakistan
Culture
Streets laid out in precise grid – houses had
running water/sewage
Harappan writing not deciphered – much
unclear
active trade w/ Indus valley and Sumer – ores
from one place found in others
blend of Aryans and Indus valley people
affected future course of history
quite large – size of France/urbanized
State
unpredictable flooding
Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro
Because of similarities of cities, tightly unified,
centrally controlled
Overtaken by Indo-Europeans – Aryans
Already dying out – 1) river change or 2)
earthquake, 3) erosion of soil 4) salt in wells
whole societies – all over – Harappa and
Mohenjo-Daro only tip, last
Social Structure
little known – Dravidians relatively egalitarian
not as patriarchal
Aryans – based it on color – Varnu
Aryans eventually control politically, but
Dravidians would win out culturally
Shang – most isolated – Huange He valley –
Yellow River – “China’s Sorrow”
Culture
 Isolated by deserts, mountains, and seas –
unpredictable flooding
Still some trade w/ Southwest Asia and South Asia
 Shang Dynasty (1766-1122 left written records)
Knowledge of bronze metallurgy – from Southwest Asia
Strengthened Shang war machine
1000 BCE Ironworking
Fortune telling and ancestor worship started here
 Palaces/tombs built for emperors
 Writing – oracle bones
Oracle scratch person’s question on bone/shell – heat it
Resulting cracks read to learn message from gods
State
 Dynasties
 Central rule to oversee irrigation/flood-control projects
 Walled cities – center of cultural, military, economic – set
precedent in villages
 Zhou replaced Shang – “mandate of heaven” – if leader
governed wisely and fairly, he could claim right to divine
rule
Warrior aristocracy
fought northern/western neighbors – barbarians – expanded empire
 Tradition of central authority
 Began as small agricultural cities along Yellow River
Social Structure
Stratified – ruling elites, artisans, peasants,
slaves
Patriarchal – father needs to know children
are his
Subservient
multiple marriages
preference for sons - infanticide
ancestor worship
Matrilineal society before Shang
Mesoamerica and Andean South
Culture
 lacked knowledge of wheel
 Olmecs/Maya – pyramids/temples
 Polytheistic
 Cultural diffusion – maize, terraced pyramids
 Calendars
 Ball game on a court
 Quetzalcoatl – god who would return to rule world in peace
 Mayan reached height in 300 CE
 system of writing – pictographs
 value of zero
 astronomy – predicted eclipses
 length of year within a few seconds
State
small city-states – ruled by kings – fought
against each other
Prisoners of war – slaves/sacrifices to gods
lack of pack animals/geography prevented
communication
Inhabitants cooperated for irrigation systems
Rugged terrain of Andes prevented central
gov’t from organizing
Social Structure
• Elite class of rulers/priests vs. commoners and slaves
Geography
not in valleys of major rivers
smaller rivers/streams near oceans
no large animals/beasts of burden – llama
biggest animal – human labor
Small Points
Culture played a significant role in unifying
states through laws, language, literature,
religion, myths, and monumental art.
A. Early civilizations developed monumental
architecture and urban planning.
– Monumental architecture and urban planning:
» Ziggurats
» Pyramids
» Temples
» Defensive walls
» Streets and roads
» Sewage and water systems
Small Points
Culture played a significant role in unifying
states through laws, language, literature,
religion, myths, and monumental art.
B. Elites, both political and religious, promoted arts and
artisanship.
– Arts and Artisanship
» Sculpture
» Painting
» Wall decorations
» Elaborate weaving
Small Points
Culture played a significant role in unifying states
through laws, language, literature, religion,
myths, and monumental art.
C. Systems of record keeping arose independently in all
early civilizations and subsequently were diffused.
• Systems of record keeping:
–
–
–
–
–
Cuneiform
Hieroglyps
Pictographs
Alphabets
Quipu
Small Points
Culture played a significant role in unifying
states through laws, language, literature,
religion, myths, and monumental art.
D. States developed legal codes, including the Code
of Hammurabi, that reflected existing hierarchies
and facilitated the rule of governments over
people.
Small Points
Culture played a significant role in unifying
states through laws, language, literature,
religion, myths, and monumental art.
E. New religious beliefs developed in this period
continued to have strong influences in later
periods.
– Required examples of new religious beliefs:
• The Vedic religion
• Hebrew monotheism
• Zoroastrianism
Small Points
Culture played a significant role in unifying states
through laws, language, literature, religion,
myths, and monumental art.
F. Trade expanded throughout this period from local to
regional and transregional, with civilizations
exchanging goods, cultural ideas, and technology.
– Required examples of trade expansion from local to
regional and transregional:
• Between Egypt and Nubia
• Between Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley
Small Points
Culture played a significant role in unifying
states through laws, language, literature,
religion, myths, and monumental art.
G. Social and gender hierarchies intensified as states
expanded and cities multiplied.
Small Points
Culture played a significant role in unifying
states through laws, language, literature,
religion, myths, and monumental art.
H. Literature was also a reflection of culture.
– Literature:
• The “Epic of Gilgamesh”
• Rig Veda
• Book of the Dead
Questions to Ponder
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How was Sumeria politically organized?
What event/happening do most historians begin the history of Egypt?
On what did Egyptian civilization depend?
How did ancient Egypt civilization and the Mesopotamian civilization
resemble each other? How did they differ?
What major similarities did the four great river systems have in common?
Where are they? What differences do they have?
Major characteristics of the Shang dynasty?
What was the longest Chinese dynasty and what were the factors for its
longevity?
Major results for the fall of the Zhou Dynasty? What major philosophies
came out of this time period? Explain basic tenets of each.
Most significant contribution of Judaism?
Contributions of the Phoenicians?