Guided Reading 1: Technological and Environmental Transformations, To 600 BCE Name: Period: Chapter 1: From the Origins of Agriculture to the First River-Valley Civilizations, 8000-1500 BCE The principle traits of civilized life in ancient Mesopotamia: All peoples on this planet equate civilization with: The 8 Indicators of Civilization The three river systems that spawned the earliest civilizations: 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Before Civilization Define Culture: (Read the passage please) Describe the early evidence of culture found in 1940: What evidence do archeologists use to determine Stone Age settlements? Paleolithic: Neolithic: Food Gathering and Stone Technology Define Forager: Diet consisted primarily of: Purpose of meat: Common Synonym? The impacts of fire Purpose of cooking: Earliest deliberate fires: Earliest evidence of cooking: Forager Gender roles: Males Females # of hours the average forager spent daily on food, clothing, and shelter: Side-effect?
Earliest examples of science: Early Art/Dance: Examples of art in Europe: Examples of art in Australia: Afterlife? The Agricultural Revolutions Definition: Why not use Neolithic Revolution? A middle-step was called semi-cultivation. Define: Domesticated crops central to early agricultural civilizations: Define and date Swiden Agriculture: New Guinea Brazil Middle-East Earliest evidence of farming with domesticated animals: What does the spread of Barley around the Mediterranean tell you about the various distinct Mediterranean cultures? Climate and its effect on types of grain crops: Mediterranen: Sahara Middle-East The first domesticated animal and its uses: Equatorial West Africa China India Mexico Peru Mesoamerica Describe how the domestication of sheep/ goats: Tropical South America Caribbean (Circle back and add regionally specific domesticated animals)
Define and date Pastoralism: Theories on why Agricultural Revolutions occurred: Define and date the Holocene period: Which of the theories in the right column does the existence of the Holocene support and why? Life in Neolithic Communities Compare/Contrast Agrarian Foraging Pastoral Difficulty of work: Diet: Major upsides: Major downsides: Religion: based on Earth gods based on sacred sites based on Lineage Define: Matrilineal Societies Patrilineal Societies Greek for... What modern day countries exist in this space? (4) Mesopotamia Name the two rivers: Where do the rivers begin and end? Settled Agriculture in an Unstable Land
The Fertile Crescent includes modern day: What major advancement in farm-tech occur in 4000 BCE? Domestication of plants and animals in the Fertile Crescent began: In Southern Mesopotamia? What technological inventions brought agriculture to arid South Mesopotamia? List major sources of food/materials grown and cultivated by the Mesopotamians: Evidence of trade with Northeast Africa (2000 BCE): Evidence of trade with Arabia (2000 BCE): Sumerians and Semites Time period of Political Dominance: Sumerians Semites Where did they come from? Define Semitic: Characterize the interactions between Sumerians and Semites (get specific): The textbook describes a cultural synthesis that occurred between the Akkadian s and Sumerians. Put it in your own words: Other ethnic/people groups in Mesopotamia: In 400 BCE Mesopotamian Sumerian-Semitic culture was fundamentally altered. What was the source of the change? Cities, Kings, and Trade
What benefits did the creation of villages/cities provide Mesopotamians? 4. How were Mesopotamian cities formed? Difference between Northern/Southern? Define City-State: What allowed people in urban centers to specialize? What two major functions did City-State government provide its people? Why did Mesopotamian city-states need walls? The Temple Complex as a center of power Location: The Palace of the King as a center of power Emerged at what date? Economic Function: His title was: Led by... Originally created to: What political move did Mesopotamian Kings undertake to ensure Temple Priests remained subservient to them? Include the King s major responsibilities: Akkad Date: Major Ruler: Babylon :Date Composed of what people groups? How d they get power? How did they get power? Major cultural contribution to history: What replaced Sargon s empire in 2112 BCE? How did they get power? Major Ruler: Date of the Old Babylonian State Major cultural contribution to history:
Mesopotamian Exports Mesopotamian Imports (list the country and good) Merchants in 3000 BCE were employed by: Merchants in 2000 BCE were employed by: What unit of account formed the backbone of the Mesopotamian economy? (A unit of account is how a society measures value in the U.S. our unit of accounts is the Dollar. A piece of paper.) Mesopotamian Society What groups of people began amassing unprecedented wealth in urban centers? Mesopotamian Social Stratification: Relative Power/Wealth What types of people became slaves? How was a slave identified? How were freedmen identified? How were slaves compensated? What are Scribes: What information did scribes frequently leave out?
What rights did Women in Mesopotamia have? Why did Women s rights decline in the transition from forager to agrarian societies? What caused women s rights to decline in 2000 BCE? Gods, Priests, and Temples Sumerian gods were based on: Semitic gods were based on: Anthropomorphic means human-like. How were Mesopotamian gods human-like? Elements of a temple complex (precinct): Physical characteristics of a ziggurat: Spiritual importance of a ziggurat: 4. 5. What is the Babylonian creation myth? How did Babylonians worship their chief god Marduk? Responsibilities of the Chief Priest: Responsibilities of lesser priest: Amulets suggest... Gifts were given to priests because... All social classes interacted at... Technology and Science
Record the two definitions of technology: Retell the story of how writing originated in Uruk circa 3300 BCE: Define Cuneiform: How many symbols? Why not simpler? Early uses of cuneiform included: Cuneiform is not a language, but a writing system. What languages used it? What unlikely technology did Mesopotamians master? An important invention in 4000 BCE: What military tech enabled larger empires? How did astronomy become associated with religion? Egypt How did Egypt s environment foster a unique culture apart from Mesopotamia? The Land of Egypt: Gift of the Nile Detail the entire path of the Nile River Where do most of Egypt s residents live? Explain "Red Land, Black Land
What is unique about the geographic placement of Upper and Lower Egypt? Why did this happen? What marks the southern boundary of Egypt? Define Cataract: Where is it? Egyptian control at its peak extended into a region called Kush, later Nubia. What two modern countries comprise Nubia? How is the Nile different than the Tigris and Euphrates? Egyptian farmers were able to predict EXACTLY how prosperous the next harvest would be. How? How were Egypt's politics and the Nile linked? List the natural resources found in Egypt: Date of earliest farming villages: How did climate change in the Sahara make Egypt the focal point of civilization? (Describe the climate change and when it took place, then link it) Divine Kingship Form of government predating unified kingship: Name of king who united Egypt: Official title: Contrast to Mesopotamia How many Egyptian Dynasties were there? Scholars generally break up Egyptian dynasties into three periods punctuated by intermediate periods. What are the three periods? How do scholars distinguish between these periods? The Pharaoh s chief responsibility is to maintain Ma at. What is Ma at? What divine role did the Pharaoh have?
Who made the first pyramid and when? In 2550 and 2490 BCE, what major pyramids were erected? What Dynasty? Where was it? How was this pyramid later revised? Who is responsible? How was labor arranged for these works? Administration and Communication Significance of Memphis Significance of Thebes The Pharaoh was at the top of the government. What layers were beneath him? Highest tax rate? What were taxes used for? Which region had more centralized government? Egypt or Mesopotamia? (Circle) If you could read, what social class were you in? Writing system was called: What changed in 2500 BCE? How would one get an administrative job in the Old Kingdom? What was your payment? What changes demonstrate the transition from Old to the first Intermediate period? What change marks the beginning of the Middle Kingdom? Why is it often remarked that Egypt doesn't have real cities? Compared to Mesopotamia, how do most Egyptians live? What was Egypt s chief interest abroad? List Egypts major trading partners (modern day countries) List people groups that were a nuisance to Egypt The period specific name was 4.
Resources imported from Nubia: 4. 5. Resources imported from Punt What did Egypt do around 2000 BCE? This extended the southern border to... The People of Egypt How many people lived in Ancient Egypt? What types of people lived in Egypt and what accounts for the differences? Egyptian Social Stratification (or lack thereof): 1% of the population 99% of the population How did artists designate wealth or poverty? Daily tasks of peasants: Diet of peasants: How are women and men depicted differently in artwork and what does that suggest about their specific roles? As you read earlier, Mesopotamian women became a unit of marital currency. Did the same standard exist for Egyptian women? What's different? What unique rights did Women have in Egypt?
Belief and Knowledge Describe the underlying geographic forces that shaped Egyptian Religion: Responsibilities of Re Responsibilities of Osiris Summarize the story of Isis and Osiris Pharaohs saw themselves as the physical manifestation of Pharaoh s saw themselves as the descendant of... Were Egyptian gods anthropomorphic like Mesopotamian gods? Get specific. How did local gods become incorporated into the national religion? Examples in the book? (Include name and town) What practical purpose did this incorporation serve? Were Egyptians allowed into the temple to worship? How/when did they interact with national deities? How did common people express daily worship? What major piece of historical evidence tells us about Egyptian afterlife mythology? Where were ALL royal tombs located? What were Shawabtis? The Indus Valley Civilization Natural Environment The two modern countries that contain this civilization: Describe the Geography: The Indus River floods twice annually. Why twice? What other river used to flow parallel to the Indus? Material Culture
Date of the Indus Civ: What two major Indus Civ cities have been found? Why don t we know much about these cities? When did settled agriculture begin in this region? Evidence for a centralized government? Included the size and population of #1, and a physical description for # Why do archeologists find such rigid standardization of products in the region? Theory 1: How did the wide availability of metals affect what metal was used for? What has greatly hindered modern understanding of the Indus people? Theory 2: Transformation of the Indus Valley Civilization When were Indus Cities abandoned? First theory on why? Current theory: List of causes of the societal breakdown: Disasters like an: Gradual changes like: What became of the Indus peoples following the abandonment of their urban centers? AP EXAM ESSENTIAL UNDERSTANDINGS: How the interaction of geography and climate affected the development of human societies The characteristics of agricultural, pastoral, and foraging societies Causes of the Agricultural Revolutions 4. How agricultural surpluses contributed to specialization 5. Similarities and differences between river-valley civilizations