The Birth of Civilizations

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The Birth of Civilizations
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Essential Questions

• Why did ancient civilizations develop in river
  valleys?
• What were the cultural characteristics of ancient
  river civilizations?
• How did geography play a role in the economic,
  political and social development of a society?

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Essential Understandings

• Late in the Stone Age, ancient civilizations
  appeared in river valleys. These river valleys
  offered rich soils for agriculture, and they
  tended to be in locations easily protected from
  invasion by nomadic peoples.

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There Were Four AncientRiver Valley Civilizations
The Nile River Valley. Which civilization
inhabited this valley??
Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq, between the
Tigris and Euphrates Rivers).
The Indus River Valley. Guess which modern-day
countries this river is in.
The Huang He River Valley. Which civilization
inhabited this valley??
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Essential Understandings

• Ancient river civilizations were characterized by
  settled agriculture, city-states, trade in
  products and ideas, central government with
  written laws, written languages, specialized
  labor, social hierarchies, and religious
  institutions.

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What Are The Main Characteristics of All
Civilizations??
Surplus Food Production
Specialization of Labor
Complex Institutions
Record-keeping
Urban Life
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Why Is Surplus Food Production Important??

• What is a surplus?
• What does a food surplus make possible?

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WHAT IS SPECIALIZATIONOF LABOR?

• What are artisans?
• Who can provide some examples?

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Lets List Some ComplexInstitutions

• Government -- Why is government necessary?
• Organized Religion -- Is religion part of the
  governments job?
• Bureaucracy -- Whats that?

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Why Do Civilizations Need To Keep Records??

• In early river valley civilizations, storage of
  surplus food required accounting systems and the
  development of cities.
• Government controlled economic life. It set the
  rules for food cultivation and storage.
• Early religions and groups of artisans kept
  records as well.
• What was needed in order to keep records?

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Essential Understandings

• Urban areas exercise a powerful influence in
  shaping the worlds different cultural, political
  and economic systems.
• Urban development may lead to problems related to
  human mobility, social structure and the
  environment.

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Essential Knowledge

• Location
• natural defense
• rich soil
• irrigation
• Agriculture
• domesticating animals and plants
• irrigation
• seed cultivation

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Essential Knowledge

• Economy
• Surplus food promoted trade along rivers
• Storage of surplus food required accounting
  systems and the development of cities
• Government controlled economic life.

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Essential Knowledge

• Government
• Centralized government is often related to
  religion
• Written codes and laws provide justice

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Essential Knowledge

• Religion
• Most ancient people practices polytheism
• Hebrews practiced monotheism
• What function does religion provide to a society?

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Essential Knowledge

• Language
• Written language developed from pictures
• Phoenicians developed an alphabet
• glyphs
• pictographs
• cuneiform
• hieroglyphics
• phonetics

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Essential Knowledge

• Technology
• copper metals
• chariots for warfare
• plows
• weapons
• tools

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Essential Knowledge

• Mathematics
• architecture (buildings, etc.)
• agriculture (time, calendar, etc.)
• government (census, taxes, etc.)
• religion (buildings, membership, etc.)

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Essential Knowledge

• Elements of economic systems
• division of labor
• specialization of skills
• monetary system
• trade
• creation of agricultural suplus
• keeping records

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Essential Knowledge

• Elements of political systems
• Establishment of central power and authority
• justice system
• protection
• internal
• external
• record keeping

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Essential Knowledge

• Elements of social systems
• belief system
• religion
• class structure
• education
• art/music/crafts
• record keeping
• cultural diffusion