Name Date 48 MASTERING TH E TEKS IN WORLD HISTORY Wherever agriculture was introduced, people no longer had to wander in search of food. Instead, they could build permanent homes and villages and establish a fixed way of life. Populations grew. Although the emergence of agricultural societies is believed to have first occurred in Southwest Asia, it also took place independently at later times in Southeast Asia, Africa and the Americas. The Emergence of SodaL CLasses. The Neolithic Revolution brought both benefits and problems. People could grow more food than they had been able to gather or hunt, but they were also more vulnerable to attack by other peoples. Thus changes in economics - how these people met their needs for food and shelter -led to social and political changes. The introduction of agriculture and settlements led to the emergence of two new social classes: warriors and priests. Defense UNLAWFUL To PHOTOCOPY The planting of seeds brought about many major changes. of the village became a major concern, resulting in the emergence of a warrior class. A priesthood emerged to conduct religious rituals in order to promote a good harvest and to protect the village from danger. As agricultural societies developed and grew, their way of life further changed. Around 3,500 B.C., the first civilizations arose. The first civilizations developed in four separate river valleys. Each of these river valleys offered a mild climate and a water highway to other places. Water from the rivers also could be used for drinking and for cooking food. Each of these valleys was also a flood plain where an overflowing river deposited fertile soil. This rich soil led to abundant harvests and food surpluses. MESOPOTAMIA (3500 B.c.-1100 B.C.) Sometime between 5,000 and 6,000 years ago, the first river valley civilization developed in Mesopotamia, the region located between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers (in presentday Iraq). Mesopotamia was a Greek term meaning the "land between two rivers."
Nrune Dme UNLAWFUL To PHOTOCOPY Agriculture. Although Mesopotamia was hot and dry, people learned how to irrigate the land by diverting water from the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Irrigation allowed fanning settlements to flourish and food supplies to increase. Fewer people were able to produce more food, leading to a surplus. Other people could begin to specialize in activities other than fanning. Some became potters, weavers or metal workers. Others became warriors and priests. Government. The people of Mesopotamia built several cities. At first, each city-state, such as Uruk, Ur, and Babylon, had its own ruler and local gods. Later, several of these city-states were united together under a single ruler. CHAPTER 5: The Rise of River Valley Civilizations 49 Religion. The Mesopotamians were polytheistic, believing in as many as 2,000 different gods. Some historians contend that Mesopotamian religions were the world's oldest faiths. Mesopotamian rulers were often priests. A society governed by religious leaders is known as a theocracy. Building. The Mesopotamians were the world's first city-builders. They lacked stone or timber to build their cities. Instead, they made their buildings from mud bricks and crushed reeds. They built walled cities, temples with arches, and stepped-pyramids known as ziggurats. Each ziggurat was made of a series of square levels, with each level slightly smaller than the one below it. Cultural and Sdentific Contributions. Some of the most important inventions in history A Mesopotamian ziggurat. took place in ancient Mesopotamia. The Sumerians (the people of Sumer) invented the wheel and the sailboat. They were able to figure how to reroute some of the water to irrigate fields farther away. They also developed tools and weapons of copper and bronze. Bronze is made by melting tin and copper together: it is stronger than copper alone.
Name Date 50 MASTERING THE TEKS IN WORLD HISTORY UNLAWFUL To PHOTOCOPY The Sumerians devised a calendar, dividing the year into 12 months. Later, the Babylonians developed a number system based on 60, providing the basis for our seconds and minutes today. They also invented the world's earliest known writing system, cuneiform, a form of symbol writing on clay tablets. Cuneiform writing used threedimensional marks by a stylus into clay before it hardened. Only the elite could read and write in cuneiform. Generally, priests and scribes were the ones who had this knowledge. legal System. The Babylonians developed the earliest written law code - the Code of Hammurabi. It covered most occurrences in daily life. Its aim was to ensure justice and protect the weak. A cuneiform writing tablet. ACTINt AS AN AMATEUR HISTORIAN Hammurabi's Code treated nobles and commoners differently. Some of the Code's provisions punished criminals quite harshly: How did the penalty a nobleman faced for putting out the eye of a nobleman or a commoner differ? Women in Mesopotamia. Most girls stayed at home with their mothers, where they learned cooking and housekeeping. Women were responsible for raising the children and crushing the grain. There were enormous variations in the rights enjoyed by women in different social classes. Wealthier women were able to go to the marketplace to buy goods, could complete legal matters in their husband's absence, and could even own property. These women could engage in business for themselves, and obtain divorces. A few women, such as relatives of the ruler, enjoyed even higher status in Mesopotamian society. ACTINt AS AN AMATEUR HISTORIAN Create your own scrapbook on the contributions of ancient civilizations. For Mesopotamia, include cuneiform writing, the wheel, the sailboat, irrigation, bronze tools and weapons, mud bricks, and the Code of Hammurabi. For each scrapbook item, find a photograph or make your own picture. Describe the contribution below the image and explain its importance to modem-day civilization.
Name Date UNLAWFUL To PHOTOCOPY CHAPTER 5: The Rise of River Valley Civilizations 51 EGYPT (3200 B.c.-500 B.C.) Egypt is located in Northeast Africa. The world's longest river, the Nile, runs through it. Each year, the Nile floods the lands along its banks, depositing fertile soil. With bright sunshine, a long growing season, rich soil, and an ample supply of fresh water, Egyptian farmers were able to grow large amounts of food. Farmers along the Nile were able to support a large number of craftsmen, warriors, priests, and nobles. Ease of communication along the river encouraged the development of a highly centralized government. Government and Society. The most powerful person in ancient Egypt was the pharaoh (king). The pharaoh governed Egypt as an absolute ruler. The pharaoh owned all the land, commanded the army, made laws, controlled irrigation and grain supplies, and defended Egypt from foreigners. Egyptians considered the pharaoh to be a god. Egypt was a monarchy, a system of government in which political power is inherited. Each pharaoh inherited absolute power from his father. Next in the social order below the pharaoh came the priests and nobles. Then came Egypt's warriors, scribes, merchants and craftsmen. At the bottom of society were peasants and slaves. They spent their time farming, herding cattle, and working on building projects for the pharaohs. Religion. The ancient Egyptians believed the body should be preserved Pharaoh after death to participate in the afterlife. When pharaohs died, their bod- Sesostois III, ies were embalmed and buried in a special room under a large triangular (c. 1860 B.C.) stone tomb known as a pyramid. Here they were surrounded with gold, jewels, and other precious objects for use in the afterlife, which Egyptians imagined as similar to life before death. Archaeologists have used these artifacts to learn a great deal about ancient Egypt. Building and Art. Egyptian architects and engineers built magnificent pyramids, palaces, and temples of stone. They decorated their buildings with paintings and sculptures.
Name Date 52 MASTERING THE TEKS IN WORLD HISTORY UNLAWFUL To PHOTOCOPY * Identify one way in which Egyptian and Mesopotamian societies were similar. * Identify one way in which Egyptian and Mesopotamian societies differed. More than 5,000 years ago, the Indus River Valley became another of the first centers of human civilization. In this region, as in Egypt and Mesopotamia, a river deposited rich soil over the neighboring plain during its annual flood. INDIA Agriculture and Building. Farmers " grew barley, wheat, dates and melons. Food surpluses allowed people to build large cities like Harrappa and Mohenjo- Daro. Each of these cities had more than 30,000 people. More than 1,000 cities and settlements belonging to the Indus River Valley civilization have already been excavated. The artifacts found in PE I o Miles IN D I A these settlements suggest a technologically advanced urban culture. Dockyards, granaries, warehouses, brick platforms and protective walls were present in many of their cities. They were also among the first "urban planners," with almost all their houses connected to public sewers and a water supply. These people, known as the Harrappans, were also the first people known to make cotton cloth. Trade and Collapse. Trade was an important part of the Harrappan economy. Many small clay seals, probably used for trading purposes, have been discovered by archaeologists. They have also found kilns for making pottery and evidence of the use of metals. The Harappans developed their own form of writing, although scholars are still unable to decipher it. No one knows exactly why this civilization collapsed, but its end occurred suddenly. I 400
Name Date UNLAWFUL To PHOTOCOPY CHAPTER 5: The Rise of River Valley Civilizations 53 What were some of the achievements of the Harappan civilization in the Indus River Vruley? About 500 years after the settlement of the Indus River Valley, China's first civilization emerged in the fertile plains along the Huang He (Yellow River). AgricuLture. As in the Nile and Indus River Vruleys, the fertility of the soil ruong the Huang He was increased by the river's periodic floods. Around 4,500 B.C., people ruong the Huang He began growing millet (a type of grain). Later, they learned to farm soybeans and raise chickens, dogs, and pigs. CHINA Government. Around 1700 B.C. a ruling family, or dynasty, known as the Shang, took power. They built the first Chinese cities and established their capitru at Anyang, near the Huang He. The Shang ruled with the help of powerful nobles. Shang kings were military leaders. They were ruso high priests who offered sacrifices to their royru ancestors. CuLturaL Contributions. The people living in the Huang He Vruley were skilled at many crafts. Their ability in bronze work can be seen in many objects surviving from this period, including superior weapons and ceremonial vessels. They ruso were the first to make silk textiles from silkworm cocoons. Finruly, they developed a system of writing with pictographs, known as characters. Each character represented one word. Their pictoriru characteristics, often with only minor modifications, are still used in written Chinese today. Even those speaking different dialects use the same characteristics. Lake
Geography and time-frame In 1856, British colonial officials in India were busy monitoring the construction of a railway connecting the cities of Lahore and Karachi in modernday Pakistan along the Indus River valley. As they continued to work, some of the laborers discovered many fire-baked bricks lodged in the dry terrain. There were hundreds of thousands of fairly uniform bricks, which seemed to be quite old. Nonetheless, the workers used some of them to construct the road bed, unaware that they were using ancient artifacts. They soon found among the bricks stone artifacts made of soapstone, featuring intricate artistic markings. Though they did not know it then, and though the first major excavations did not take place until the 1920s, these railway workers had happened upon the remnants of the Indus Valley Civilization, also known as the Harappan Civilization, after Harappa, the first of its sites to be excavated, in what was then the Punjab province of British India and is now in Pakistan. Initially, many archaeologists thought they had found ruins of the ancient Maurya Empire, a large empire which dominated ancient India between c. 322 and 185 BCE. Before the excavation of these Harappan cities, scholars thought that Indian civilization had begun in the Ganges valley as Aryan immigrants from Persia and central Asia populated the region around 1250 BCE. The discovery of ancient Harappan cities unsettled that conception and moved the timeline back another 1500 years,situating the Indus Valley Civilization in an entirely different environmental context. Relief map of Pakistan including the origins of the Indus Valley empire, Mehrgarh, in the foothills of a mountain pass. Map shows Pakistan, Afghanistan, the northwest part of India and Punjab, and part of the Arabian Sea. Scholars are still piecing together information about this mysterious civilization, but they have learned a great deal about it since its rediscovery. Its origins seem to lie in a settlement named Mehrgarh in the foothills of a mountain pass in modern-day Balochistan in western Pakistan. There is evidence of settlement in this area as early as 7000 BCE. The Indus Valley Civilization is often separated into three phases: the Early Harappan Phase from 3300 to 2600 BCE, the Mature Harappan Phase from 2600 to 1900 BCE, and the Late Harappan Phase from 1900 to 1300 BCE.
At its peak, the Indus Valley Civilization may have had a population of over five million people. The Indus cities are noted for their urban planning, a technical and political process concerned with the use of land and design of the urban environment. They are also noted for their baked brick houses, elaborate drainage systems, water supply systems, and clusters of large, nonresidential buildings. The Indus Valley Civilization began to decline around 1800 BCE. Archaeological evidence indicates that trade with Mesopotamia, located largely in modern Iraq, seemed to have ended. The advanced drainage systems and baths of the great cities were built over or blocked. Writing began to disappear, and the standardized weights and measures used for trade and taxation fell out of use. Urban infrastructure and architecture By 2600 BCE, small Early Harappan communities had developed into large urban centers. These cities include Harappa, Ganeriwala, and Mohenjodaro in modern-day Pakistan and Dholavira, Kalibangan, Rakhigarhi, Rupar, and Lothal in modern-day India. In total, more than 1,052 cities and settlements have been found, mainly in the general region of the Indus River and its tributaries. Mohenjo-daro is thought to have been built in the twenty-sixth century BCE; it became not only the largest city of the Indus Valley Civilization but one of the world s earliest major urban centers. Located west of the Indus River in the Larkana District, Mohenjo-daro was one of the most sophisticated cities of the period, with advanced engineering and urban planning. Harappa was a fortified city in modern-day Pakistan that is believed to have been home to as many as 23,500 residents living in sculpted houses with flat roofs made of red sand and clay. The city spread over 150 hectares 370 acres and had fortified administrative and religious centers of the same type used in Mohenjo-daro. Both cities had similar organization and featured citadels, central areas in a city that were heavily fortified protected with defensive military structures. Additionally, both cities were situated along the Indus River. This structure would have allowed those at the higher levels of the buildings in either city to look down the river and see into the distance. The remains of the Indus Valley Civilization cities indicate remarkable organization; there were well-ordered wastewater drainage and trash collection systems and possibly even public baths and granaries, which are storehouses for grain. Most city-dwellers were artisans and merchants grouped together in distinct neighborhoods. The quality of urban planning suggests efficient municipal governments that placed a high priority on hygiene or religious ritual. Harappans demonstrated advanced architecture with dockyards, granaries, warehouses, brick platforms, and protective walls. These massive walls likely protected the Harappans from floods and may have deterred military conflicts. Unlike Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt, the inhabitants of the Indus Valley Civilization did not build large, monumental structures. There is no conclusive evidence of palaces or temples or even of kings, armies, or priests and the largest structures may be granaries. The city of Mohenjo-daro contains the Great Bath, which may have been a large, public bathing and social area.
The first dynasty The very earliest period in traditional Chinese history is called the Mythical Period, when according to legend the Xia dynasty ruled China. The Shang dynasty, the first historically confirmed dynasty, supposedly began when the Shang overthrew the Xia sometime around 1760 BCE. Did this overthrow actually happen? We re not sure. The Shang dynasty is the oldest Chinese dynasty whose existence is supported by archaeological finds, but more evidence for the existence of the Xia dynasty may yet emerge.^11start superscript, 1, end superscript It s estimated that the Shang ruled the Yellow River Valley of China for most of the second millennium BCE so about 1766 to 1046 BCE. Map showing the region controlled by the Shang dynasty in China. Map of China is in beige, with rivers in blue and the outline of the Shangcontrolled area in green. Shang dynasty is located in the North China Plain in western China. For centuries, people found what they called dragon bones bones and shells with mysterious inscriptions in many parts of China. Excavations of the ancient city of Anyang in the early twentieth century revealed tens of thousands of these bone fragments and bronze vessels, many of which had inscriptions in proto-chinese characters.^22start superscript, 2, end superscript These artifacts contained records dating back to the Shang dynasty, allowing scholars to learn much about Shang life, such as their agricultural methods, medical treatments, legal system, and craft making styles.^33 start superscript, 3, end superscript The Shang built huge cities with strong social class divisions, expanded earlier irrigation systems, excelled in the use of bronze, and developed a writing system. Shang kings fulfilled a sacred, not political, role, while a council of chosen advisers and bureaucrats official administrators organized and ran the government. Both banks of the Yellow River had massive amounts of loess pronounced like the English word less a fertile sediment that allowed Shang-era farmers to grow a large surplus of food. This supported specialization and allowed a class of Shang artisans and craftspeople to develop sophisticated technology and culture.^44start superscript, 4, end superscript Ultimately, the Shang dynasty was overthrown in 1046 BCE by the Zhou, a subject people a people who lived under imperial rule living in the western part of the kingdom, but their cultural contributions carried on through future dynasties.
Writing and culture The oldest surviving form of Chinese writing is found as inscriptions of divination records on the bones or shells of animals, called oracle bones; oracle, from a similar Latin root as the English word orator, means holy messenger or speaker. The writing found on oracle bones shows complexity, indicating that this language had existed for a long time. In fact, modern scholars are able to read it because the language is very similar to the modern Chinese writing system. Oracle bones are pieces of bone or turtle shell that were used by the ancient Chinese, especially Chinese kings, in attempts to predict the future. The ancient kings would inscribe their name and the date on the bone along with a question. They would then heat the bone until it cracked and then interpret the shape of the crack, which was believed to provide an answer to their question. Different questions have been found carved into oracle bones, such as, "Will we win the upcoming battle?" or "How many soldiers should we commit to the battle?" The bones reveal a great deal about what was important to Shang society and often asked questions about war, harvests, and childbirth. Toward the end of the dynasty, this practice of divination predicting the future was reserved for the king alone. As a result, oracle bones from this period give historians comparatively less insight into the lives and concerns of people in other classes. Writing allowed science in the Shang dynasty to advance, as observations could be recorded more accurately. The Oracle Scripts are accounts of eclipses and other celestial events written by astronomers of the Shang period. Shang astronomers works also showed advances in mathematics, the development of odd and even numbers, and principles of accounting. The I-Ching also known as The Book of Changes was either written or compiled at this same time, around 1250 to 1150 BCE. The I-Ching is a book of divination with roots going back to the fortune tellers of the rural areas and their oracle bones.^55start superscript, 5, end superscript Musical instruments were also developed by the Shang. At Yin Xu, near Angyang, excavations have revealed instruments from the Shang period such as the ocarina a wind instrument drums, and cymbals. Bells, chimes, and bone flutes have been discovered elsewhere.^66start superscript, 6, end superscript The Shang created a lunar calendar, based on the cycles of the moon, that was used to predict and record important events, especially planting and harvesting of crops. Because lunar years are shorter than solar years, which are based on the Earth s orbit of the sun, Shang kings employed speciallytrained astronomers who made adjustments and maintained the precision of the calendar.
Early Egypt Much of the history of Egypt is divided into three kingdom periods Old, Middle, and New with shorter intermediate periods separating the kingdoms. The term intermediate here refers to the fact that during these times Egypt was not a unified political power, and thus was in-between powerful kingdoms. Even before the Old Kingdom period, the foundations of Egyptian civilization were being laid for thousands of years as people living near the Nile increasingly focused on sedentary agriculture, with led to urbanization and specialized, non-agricultural economic activity. Evidence of human habitation in Egypt stretches back tens of thousands of years. However, it was only in about 6000 BCE that widespread settlement began in the region. Around this time, the Sahara Desert expanded. Some scientists think this expansion was caused by a slight shift in the tilt of the Earth. Others have explored changing rainfall patterns, but the specific causes are not entirely clear. The most important result of this expansion of the Sahara for human civilization was that it pushed humans closer to the Nile River in search of reliable water sources. Apart from the delta region, where the river spreads out as it flows into the sea, most settlement in the Nile Valley was confined to within a few miles of the river itself, see map above. The Nile River flooded annually; this flooding was so regular that the ancient Egyptians set their three seasons Inundation, or flooding, Growth, and Harvest around it. This annual flooding was vital to agriculture because it deposited a new layer of nutrient-rich soil each year. In years when the Nile did not flood, the nutrient level in the soil was seriously depleted, and the chance of food shortages increased greatly. Food supplies had political effects, as well, and periods of drought probably contributed to the decline of Egyptian political unity at the ends of both the Old and Middle Kingdoms. Although we do not know the specific dates and events, most scholars who study this period believe that sometime around the year 3100 BCE, a leader named either Narmer or Menes sources are unclear on whether these were the same person! united Egypt politically when he gained control of both Upper and Lower Egypt. Somewhat confusingly, when you look at a map of this area, Lower Egypt is the delta region in the north, and Upper Egypt refers to the southern portion of the country, which is upriver from the delta. You may encounter this terminology when reading about rivers in history, so a good trick is to remember that rivers flow downhill, so the river is lower toward its end at the sea and higher closer to its source! After political unification, divine kingship, or the idea that a political ruler held his power by favor of a god or gods or that he was a living incarnation of a god became firmly established in Egypt. For example, in the mythology that developed around unification, Narmer was portrayed as Horus, a god of Lower Egypt, where Narmer originally ruled. He conquered Set, a god of Upper Egypt. This mythologized version of actual political events added legitimacy to the king s rule.
The use of hieroglyphics a form of writing that used images to express sounds and meanings likely began in this period. As the Egyptian state grew in power and influence, it was better able to mobilize resources for large-scale projects and required better methods of record-keeping to organize and manage an increasingly large state. During the Middle Kingdom, Egyptians began to write literature, as well. Hieroglyphic writing also became an important tool for historians studying ancient Egypt once it was translated in the early 1800s. An example of New Kingdom hieroglyphics from the thirteenth century BCE. Four vertical columns of colorfully painted hieroglyphics on a white background depict birds, eyes, a crab, and pottery, among other images. As rulers became more powerful, they were better able to coordinate labor and resources to construct major projects, and more people required larger supplies of food. Projects to improve agricultural production, such as levees and canals became more important. Irrigation practices consisted of building mud levees which were walls of compacted dirt that directed the annual flooding onto farmland and kept it away from living areas, and of digging canals to direct water to fields as crops were growing. Elites, those individuals who were wealthy and powerful, began building larger tombs which were precursors to the pyramids. These tombs represented a growing divide between the elite and common people in Egyptian society. Only the wealthy and important could afford and be considered as deserving of such elaborate burials.
PRIMARY SOURCE! PAGE 1 The Code of Hammurabi...If a man has come forward in a lawsuit for the witnessing of false things, and has not proved the thing that he said, if that lawsuit is a capital case, that man shall be put to death. If he came forward for witnessing about corn or silver, he shall bear the penalty (that would apply to) that case. If a man has concealed in his house a lost slave or slave-girl belonging to the Palace or to a subject, and has not brought him ( or her) out at the proclamation of the crier, the owner of the house shall be put to death. If a fire has broken out in a man s house, and a man who has gone to extinguish it has cast his eye on the property of the owner of the house and has taken the property of the owner of the house, that man shall be thrown into the fire. If a man is subject to a debt bearing interest and... a high flood has carried (his crop) away, or because of lack of water he has not produced any corn in that field, in that year he shall not return any corn to (his) creditor. He shall... not pay any interest for that year... If a man has destroyed the eye of a man of the gentlemen class, they shall destroy his eye. If he has broken a gentleman s bone, they shall break his bone. If he has destroyed the eye of a commoner or broken the bone of a commoner, he shall pay one shekel of silver. If he has destroyed the eye of a gentleman s slave, or broken a bone of a gentleman s slave, he shall pay half (the slave s) price... If a surgeon has made an (incision) in a gentleman with a bronze lancet, and has thereby saved the gentleman s life... he shall receive five shekels of silver. If (the patient is) a slave, the slave s master shall pay the surgeon two shekels of silver. If the surgeon has made an (incision) in a gentleman with a bronze lancet, and has thereby caused the gentleman to die... they shall cut off the surgeon s hand. If a builder has made a house for a man but has not made his work strong, so that the house he made falls down and causes the death of the owner of the house, that builder shall be put to death. If it causes the death of the son of the owner of the house, they shall kill the son of that builder... If a man strikes a man s daughter (and do her injury) he shall pay ten shekels of silver. If that woman die, they shall put hie daughter to death. If a male slave say to his master: Thou are not my master, his master shall prove him to be his slave and shall cut off his ear. If a son has struck his father, they shall cut off his hand. If a man stole either an ox, a sheep or an ass, or a pig or boat: if it be from a god (temple) or a palace, he shall pay thirty times its value; if it be from a freeman (private citizen) he shall pay ten times its value. If the thief have nothing wherewith to pay he shall be put to death.