UNIT 1: Technological and UNIT 1: Technological and Environmental TransformationsEnvironmental Transformations

To c. 600 B.C.E

Key Concept 1.3• 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.• 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• The first states emerged within core civilizations.

A. 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.

B. 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.

C. Early regions of state expansion or empire building were Mesopotamia, Babylonia, and the Nile Valley.

D. 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 1.3.3Culture 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

B. Elites, both political and religious, promoted arts and artisanship.–  Arts and Artisanship

• Sculpture• Painting• Wall decorations• Elaborate weaving

C. Systems of record keeping arose independently in all early civilizations and subsequently were diffused.–  Systems of record keeping:

• Cuneiform• Hieroglyps• Pictographs• Alphabets• Quipu

D. States developed legal codes, including the Code of Hammurabi, that reflected existing hierarchies and facilitated the rule of governments over people.

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

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

• Social and gender hierarchies intensified as states expanded and cities multiplied.• Literature was also a reflection of culture.

A.  Literature:• 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

• 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• Nile overflowed annually – predictable • irrigation led to organization/government • agricultural villages engaged in trade • pharaoh – king – power

– living incarnation of sun god • 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

CultureStreets 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

Stateunpredictable 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 StructureStratified – 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 PointsCulture 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 PointsCulture 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 PointsCulture 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 PointsCulture 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 PointsCulture 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 PointsCulture 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 PointsCulture 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 PointsCulture 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• 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?