1. Architecture & Urban Planning
Civilizations developed various architecture and urban planning
Ziggurats:
Mesopotamia - temples and altars were placed in ziggurats - religious importance
Pyramids:
Egypt - mostly built during the “Old Kingdon”
Burial places for Pharaohs to prepare for afterlife
Defensive Walls:
Sumerian city-states had defensive walls to protect from invasion
Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro in the Indus Valley had indoor plumbing and a city sewage system

2. Record Keeping Systems
Early civilizations independently developed forms of writing and record keeping
Cuneiform - Sumer
First writing system
Markings on clay tablets, which would be hardened by fire
Led to scribes - record-keepers and writers
Hieroglyphics - Egypt (3000 B.C.E.)
Similar to cuneiform, written on papyrus
Found in tombs

3. Legal Codes Legal codes developed that demonstrated social hierarchies
Code of Ur-Nammu (Sumer)
Created around 2100 B.C.E.
Oldest code of law that survives to today
Clear consequences for punishments
“If a man commits a murder, that man must be killed”
Code of Hammurabi (Babylonia)
282 written laws
“Eye for an eye”
Punishments did vary based on social class

4. Religions Vedic Religion: Originated in present-day Northern India
1500 B.C.E B.C.E.
Many gods and a focus on rituals
Precursor of Hinduism

5. Religions Hebrew monotheism:
Lived in Canaan - Israel, Palestine, and Lebanon
Founded by Abraham
Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament)
Adopted monotheism - belief in one god
Moses led his people out of Egypt
Introduced the 10 Commandments

6. Religions Zoroastrianism: Founded by Zarathustra, in Persia
Belief in one god
Lesser gods existed, but were not worshipped
Belief in heaven and hell
Avestas - texts based on Zarathustra’s beliefs

7. Interregional Exchanges
Mesopotamia produced pottery, cloth, bronze goods
Trade between Mesopotamia and Egypt
Mesopotamia received gold from Egypt
Trade between Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley
Mesopotamia received pearls, copper, and ivory from the Indus Valley

8. Interregional Exchanges
Trade between Egypt and Nubia
Egypt sought gold, ivory, and cattle from Nubia
Trade between China and Southwest Asia
The Shang dynasty acquired tin, jade, and bronze from areas of Asia

9. Social Hierarchies
As states expanded, hierarchies, especially patriarchy intensified

10. Quick Recap Importance of ziggurats, pyramids, and defensive walls
Cuneiform and Hieroglyphics
Codes of Un-Nammu and Hammurabi
Vedic Religion -> Hinduism
Hebrew Monotheism
Zoroastrianism
Interregional exchanges
Bantu Migrations -> cultural diffusion
You are done with period 1!