The First Civilizations John Ermer AP World History Miami Beach Senior High School

Prehistory Paleolithic Age (c 1,800,000 B.C.E.- c 8,000 B.C.E.) Nomadic Hunter-Gatherers Fire, bone tools, animal skin, stonework Neolithic Age (c 8,000 B.C.E.-c 3,000 B.C.E.) Agricultural Revolutions Systematic Agriculture Domesticated Animals Land Ownership by Clan Long lines of patrilineal or matrilineal kinship Reverence for ancestors—afterlife? Civilization Six General Characteristics Cities, Religion, Social Structure, Government, Writing, & Art

The Spread of Agriculture

River Valley Civilizations

Mesopotamia The Fertile Crescent Tigris and Euphrates rivers “Mesopotamia” Land Between Two Rivers Unpredictable Floods The Sumerians First urban dwellers; Ur, Eridu, Uruk Cuneiform Writing The Akkadians Semitic language First Empire

Mesopotamian Society City-States Sun-dried brick city walls Irrigation networks Government Sumerian lugal Theocracy and Monarchy Empire Building Sargon of Akkad builds first empire, dominates neighbors Hammurabi of Babylon Code of Laws Social Structure 1. Free Landowning Class 2. Farmers and Artisans 3. Slaves Patriarchal Society (males dominate politics; women retained control of dowry, owned property, engage in trade) Religion Polytheistic, nature based anthropomorphic gods and goddesses ziggurat

The Nile River Valley (Egypt) The Nile River Valley & Delta “The Gift of the Nile”=Floods The Black Land The Red Land Natural Defenses & Resources The Three Kingdoms Old Kingdom Middle Kingdom New Kingdom

Egyptian Civilization Government Capital cities: Memphis (Old Kingdom), Thebes (Middle & New Kingdoms with Memphis at times) Divine Kingship—maintaining ma’at Pharaohs as gods—sons of Re Pharaohs vs. the Bureaucracy Writing Papyrus and Hieroglyphics Urban Administrative Capital & Farming Villages Less urban than Mesopotamia, more dependent of agriculture Canal Building and Land Surveying

Egyptian Society Social Structure Religion Multi-racial society Upper Class: Royals and high gov’t officials Middle Class: Priests, lower level officials, scribes, artisans, large land owners, and local leaders Lower Class: Peasants Women=subordinate Property ownership, divorce, significant influence over men in private Religion Cycles of Renewal Polytheistic, anthropomorphic gods and goddesses Mummification and the Afterlife Medical expertise Domination of economic wealth

The Indus River Valley

Indus Societies Several hundred urban centers along river valley Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro Dravidians replaced, pushed south by Indo-Europeans Cities Walled with rectangular road grids Citadels Metal work more common than in Mesopotamia and Egypt Ecological change and systemic failure bring Indus civilization down around 1900 BCE