1. Ancient Civilizations and the exceptions

2. How did the Neolithic Revolution change the nature of human society?
Review Question
How did the Neolithic Revolution change the nature of human society?

3. Review Question
What components must a society have in order to be considered a civilization?

4. What is a civilization?
A society distinguished by reliance on sedentary agriculture, ability to produce food surpluses, existence of non-farming elites, and social stratification.
Often lead by rulers whose source of power was believed to be divine or had divine support and/or who was supported by the military
Large societies with powerful cities and states
powerful new systems of rule that mobilized surplus labor and resources over large areas

5. Location of Ancient Culture Hearths
What environmental conditions were needed to develop the first civilizations?

6. Ancient Mesopotamia

7. Government Initially, priest-kings rule city- states
Sumerians (c BCE)
City-states evolve into empires
Akkadians (c BCE)
Land owning aristocracy dominated
Develop a formal legal codes
Hammurabi’s Code (c BCE)
Babylonians

8. Religion Believed in 3,000 gods Goal: Appease gods to control nature
Art and literature focus on gods and religion
Epic of Gilgamesh
Contains a story of an epic flood
Built ziggurats

9. Society Slavery was common Patriarchal
One could become a slave through war, crime, or debt
Slaves were used in temples, public buildings, or private homes
Patriarchal
Women could hold most occupations
Nobles
Freemen
Slaves

10. Economy

11. Science & Technology Inventions: wheel, sail, and plow
Bronze metallurgy
1st system of writing
Cuneiform
1st number system
Based on units of 10, 60, & 360
Astronomy

12. Ancient Egypt Relatively isolated Nile flooded regularly, predictably
Provided rich soil, easy soil to farm
Civilization regulated flooding, surveying
Control the Nile; control society

13. Government Formed by 3000 BCE Unified for most of history Theocracy
Early Kingdom
Middle Kingdom
Late Kingdom
Theocracy
Pharaoh was a god-king
Women could be pharaohs
Hatshepsut ( BCE)
Ramses II

14. Religion Thousands of gods Relatively egalitarian Believe in afterlife
Gods have animal and human qualities
Gods & goddesses
Relatively egalitarian
Believe in afterlife
Book of the Dead
Heaven & Hell
Mummification
Pyramids & Temples

15. Society Social Stratification Slavery common Women have more rights
Limited opportunity for social mobility
Slavery common
Women have more rights
Could own property, propose marriage, and demand a divorce

16. Arts Hieroglyphic writing on papyrus Mathematics Calendar system
Geometry
Calendar system
365 days (off by 6 hours)
Medicine
Architecture
Pyramids – monumental architecture

17. Ancient India & China

18. Indus River Valley Cities emerge around 2500 BCE
Culturally unified city- states
Harappa and Mohenjo- Daro
Mysterious ending
Environmental degradation vs. Aryan invasion

19. Indus River Valley Polytheistic religion
Influenced Hinduism
Vedism
Aryan caste system
Planned cities with large temples
Undecipherable writing system
Advanced technology
Plumbing systems

20. Ancient China Developed in isolation along the Huang He (Yellow) River
Shang dynasty emerged c BCE
Warlike kings & landed aristocracy dominate
Cities surrounded by massive earthen walls

21. Ancient China Chinese Society Chinese Culture
Family at center of society
Extended-family structure
Patriarchy
Women were subordinate
Chinese Culture
Believed spirits of family ancestors could bring good fortune or disaster
Ancestor veneration
Oracle bones (right)
Bronze & silk

22. Dynastic Cycle
Mandate of Heaven—Rulers are chose to rule by heaven and will continue to rule as long as heaven is pleased; if heaven is not pleased, heaven will pass the mandate to another family

23. The Olmec Mesoamerica c.1400-400 BCE
Olmec zone is dense tropical forest
High rainfall - over 300 cm/year

24. Government & Society City-states with common culture Social Hierarchy
Highest rank is that of the chief
Dominated by landed aristocracy
Laborers forced to build temples, palaces, and drainage canals

25. Religion Polytheistic Religion led to development of a calendar
Deities blended male & female, animal & human characteristics
Feathered-serpent god (right)
Shamans organized religious life
Religion led to development of a calendar
Major cities = athletic hubs with intricate ball courts for entertainment and devotion to the gods

26. Art Lacked a writing system
Building of clay pyramids and temple mounds – monumental architecture
Particular sculptural style
Jaguars
Fine jade carving
Colossal heads

27. Economic Villages traded with each other People paid taxes to rulers
Olmec = “Inhabitants in the land of rubber” – one of their main exports
Subsistence farmers who cultivated most of the foodstuffs needed by their villages
maize, beans, squash, and cacao, while shipping lightweight products such as ceramics and precious goods (jade, obsidian, or quetzal feathers) to other villages

28. The Chavin Coastal and highland regions of Peru c.1400-750 BCE
Town of 2,000 to 3,000 by 750 B.C.E. but no real cities

29. Government & Society No Chavin empire
Human trophy heads indicate raiding, warfare and violence among local centers before about 900 B.C.E. when the village of Chavin became the focal point.
Social Hierarchy
Clear distinctions between an elite class, who lived in stone houses, and ordinary people, with adobe dwellings

30. Religion Polytheistic
Major deities were represented as jaguars, crocodiles, and snakes of the Amazon basin.
Shamans organized religious life
Elaborate temple complex, including galleries hidden passageways, staircases, ventilation shafts, drainage canals, and distinctive carvings.
Artwork suggests religion drew ideas from both the desert coastal region and the rain forests.
Shamans or priests likely made use of the San Pedro cactus for its hallucinogenic properties.

31. Chavin Art Jaguar-human images Intricate stone carvings
Experimentation with minerals led to the discovery of gold, silver, and copper metallurgy; fashioned metals into pieces of jewelry or other decorative items as well as tools
Quipu – no writing

32. Architecture Building of clay pyramids and temple mounds
Ceremonial centers of temples constructed in a characteristic U shape, associated with small-scale irrigation projects, and suggest the growing power of religion leaders.
Became a pilgrimage site and training center

33. Economic
Situated on trade routes to both the coastal region to the west and the Amazon rain forest to the east
Andean trade routes spread religion and culture
Weavers produced elaborate textiles of both cotton and wool from llamas and alpacas.

34. Oceania
Originally settled from Southeast Asia by two different groups of people at widely separated points in time.
The first settlers of the Pacific, ancestors of present-day Melanesians and Australian Aboriginals, reached New Guinea and Australia roughly 40,000–60,000 years ago.
By 38,000 B.C., these Melanesian peoples had expanded as far east as the northern Solomon Islands.
It took more than 30,000 years before the descendants of a second wave of Southeast Asian peoples, together with the Melanesians with whom they interacted, began to venture into the more remote islands of the Pacific.

35. Government & Society Organized in tribes (clans) Semi-nomadic
Chief-based
Each tribe controlled a portion of Australia
In the other three culture areas, the territory controlled by a given tribe might consist of a portion of an island, an entire island, or even multiple islands

36. Oceania Religion Polytheistic
They also believed in ghosts which were the spirits of dead people.
The priestly class organized worship around low stone platforms called "marae" and where stone or wooden sculptures, called "Tiki", that represented gods and spirits, were placated and honored.

37. Art
Lacking writing systems and working primarily in perishable materials such as wood and fiber, the peoples of the Pacific have left little record of their early history or art forms.
Rock paintings and engravings
Polynesian statuary has a common feature: the heads of its figures are exaggeratedly large

38. Architecture Worked mainly in wood Used the basic stone blade as a ax
When obsidian was available, it was chipped into blades for use as both weapons and tools.
Materials also included bamboo and bivalve shells, which take extremely sharp edges.
Some fine cutting and engraving was done with boar tusks or with hafted shark and rodent teeth.
Animal bones served as gouges, awls, and needles.

39. Economic Sophisticated maritime technology Semi-nomadic
Agricultural expertise

40. Despite Differences ALL:
Produced agricultural surpluses that permitted:
Significant specialization of labor
Cities
Complex institutions
Political bureaucracies
Armies
Religious hierarchies
Stratified social hierarchies
Long-distance trading relationships within and between civilizations and nomadic pastoralists

41. Legacy of Ancient Civilizations
Ancient civilizations decline by 1000 BCE
Subject to nomadic invasions
Political and cultural centers shift to new geographical areas (except China)

42. Exceptions
Pastoral Societies
Agricultural Village Societies
Chiefdoms

43. Pastoral Societies Nomadic peoples who herd domesticated animals
Sheep, goats, cattle, horses, camels, reindeer
Move in search of food for their animals
Traditionally more stable than hunter-gatherer societies
Other groups were able to combine permanent settlements in lowland areas and the movements of animals to more mountanous pasturelands

44. Geography
Develop on marginal land where farming was difficult or impossible
Interact with agricultural societies
Central Asia, the Arabian Peninsula, Sahara, parts of eastern and southern Africa

45. Economy Food-producing economy
Could turn grass or waste products into meat, fibers, hides, and milk
Useful for transport and warfare

46. Political Primarily organized in kinship based tribes or clans
Periodically created powerful military confederation
Attracted to the wealth and sophistication of agricultural societies
Cain “tiller of the ground” and Able “keeper of sheep”

47. Interaction
Developers and disseminators of new weapons and modes of transportation that transformed warfare in agrarian societies
Compound bows
Iron weapons
Chariots
Horseback riding

49. Agricultural Village Societies
Kinship groups or lineages
Continued their agricultural livelihoods with gathering, hunting, and fishing
Few signs of inherited social inequalities
Women were farmers, spinners, weavers of textiles
Traced their descent matrilineally
Large numbers of people could make or enforce rules, maintain order, and settle disputes without going to war

50. Lineage systems
Performed the functions of government but without the formal apparatus of government
Did not require kings, queens, chiefs, or permanent officials associated with a state organization
Elders could exploit the labor of junior members of the community and sought to control women’s reproductive powers

51. Chiefdoms Agricultural societies that became organized politically
Inherited positions of power and privilege introduced a more distinct element of inequality
Chiefs could seldom use force to compel the obedience of their subjects
Relied on their generosity or gift giving, their ritual status, or their position or charisma th persuade their followers

52. Chiefs came from senior lineages
They had both religious and secular functions
Led important rituals and ceremonies, organized the community for warfare, directed its economic life, and sought to resolve internal conflicts
Collected tribute from commoners in the form of food, manufactured goods, and raw materials
Items were redistributed to warriors, craftsmen, religious specialists, and other subordinates