1. Civilization: Case Study of Ur in Sumer
Chapter 1 Section 3

2. I Villages Grow into Cities
Agriculture allowed nomadic people to make permanent settlements & organize agricultural communities
Farming & invention of tools made daily work easier  allowed communities to support more peoplecaused populations to rise
From these villages emerges cities together with more complex social relationships

3. A. Economic Changes
Ancient people built irrigation systems to produce extra crops
Extra food freed up people to pursue other jobs and develop other skills

4. Craftspeople began making products like pottery, woven cloth, & metal objects
Traders profited from exchanging these products, grain, and raw materials

5. These most important inventions allowed for transportation of goods across long distances

6. B. Social Changes
Large irrigation systems require cooperation & labor of many in the village
Groups of workers formed social classes with different wealth, power, & influence emerged
As cities grow, social classes would be clearly defined

7. Religion becomes more organized
Old Stone Age religioin centers around nature, animal spirits, & afterlife
New Stone Age saw people worshiping gods & goddesses who had power over forces of nature
City dwellers develop rituals around these beliefs

8. II What is Civilization?
Civilization= complex culture with 5 Characteristics:
Advanced cities
Specialized workers
Complex institutions
Record keeping
Advanced technology

9. A. Advanced Cities Ur
City is not determines by a large population but by the fact that it is the center of trade for a larger area
Like todays city residents, they depended on trade and developed goods of their own

10. B. Specialized Workers
As cities grow, so does the need for specialized workers
Food surplus allowed opportunity for cultivating skills and specialization of work
Specialization= development of skills in specific kind of work
Artisans= skilled workers who made goods by hand
Made jewelry, tools, weapons, etc. which helped make cities the center of trade

11. C. Complex Institutions
Growing population made institutions like gov’t necessary
Government= a system of ruling
Institution= a long lasting pattern of organization in a community
Religion became a formal institution with building of large temples
Sumerians believed every city belonged to a god that lived in the temple and governed the cities activities
Temples became city’ economic center

12. D. Record Keeping
As institutions became complex people needed to keep records
Tex collections, laws, grain storage
Most civilizations developed system of writing
Sumerian scribes, or professional record keepers, invented a form of writing called cuneiform

13. Cuneiform means “wedge shaped”
Ealier wumerian writing consisted of pictographs
Pictographs= symbols of the objects or things they represented
Scribe used stylus to press into wet clay tablets
Tablets dried in sun to preserve writing
Eventually used writing to keep accounts of wars, natural disasters, kings

14. The beginning of civilization in Sumer also signaled the beginning of written history

15. E. Advanced Technology
Farmers began to use power of animals and nature
Ox drawn plows to turn soil
Created irrigation system
Artisans used technology such as the 1st potter’s wheel

16. Sumerian workers also discovered that melting copper & tin made a stronger metal called bronze
Bronze Age= the time when people began using bronze rather than copper and stone to make tools and weapons

17. III Civilizations Emerge in Ur
Ur, one of the earliest cities in Sumer, is locate din modern day Iraq
Ur was flourishing city in which people lived in well defined social classes

18. A. An Agricultural Economy
Ox driven plows cultivate fieldirrigation ditches carry water into fields from resovoir miles away

19. B. UR’s Thriving Trade
People in Ur do not use coines because they were not yet invented
People barter
Barter=the way of tradeing goods and services without money

20. The Temple: Center of City Life
Ziggurat= massive pyramid shaped monument within the temple gates
Temple houses storage areas for grains, fabrics, & gems

21. D. A Religious Ritual Recorded
Cuneiform tablets reveal Sumerian burial rituals and beliefs in afterlife
Foods mentioned in rituals suggest they grew wide range of crops
Ur is model of first early cities
Others were prospering in other civilizations in Egypt, China, & other countries