Early Civilization Research Paper

Early humans began to form small groups that created a simple culture for survival; however, as human cultures grew, civilizations formed. A civilization is an intricate culture where large numbers of people contribute a variety of traditional components. Historians came up with seven basic characteristics of civilization. The seven are as follows: an urban focus, new political and military structures, a new social structure based on economic power, the development of more complexity in a material sense, a distinct religious structure, the development of writing, and new significant artistic and intellectual activity (Pg.8).

Chinese practice found technological advances to be a huge success when it came to growth of the country. Legendary rulers of china were the ones credited with the development of large technologies. One example includes the introduction of bronze tools. They were used to clear forest and harvest agricultural products. About a thousand years later, iron was invented. Iron proved to be a better form of metal to work

The more people there were the more discovery man made during this time. The invention of agriculture led to the settled life. Since man no longer needed to roam, all they had to do was put a seed in the ground and watch it grow. Tool and weaponry became more advanced, and pottery and the potters wheel was invented.

Unlike Paleolithic time's, man could have more leisure time to spend. This led him to broaden the society he was living in and led to increased populations in the Neolithic Age. The more people there were the more discovery man made during this time. The invention of agriculture led to the settled life. Since man no longer needed to roam, all they had to do was put a seed in the ground and watch it grow. Tool and weaponry became more advanced, and pottery and the potters wheel was invented.

Agriculture is the main reason we have civilization today, for without food surplus people would spend their days finding food and water constantly. Native Americans started like all other people in the world, doing just that, until over time they turned food production into an art. Without the elaborate specialization of crops over time, people would not have reached the point that they had before the Europeans had arrived. The allowance of food surplus led to the ability to advance culturally, scientifically, and economically.

Ancient civilizations made some important contributions to our life today. They started around 3500 BC. Ancient civilizations also achieved many things. Some of those things were new inventions, the use of new technology, writing systems and architectural skills. Two of the many civilizations that did these things were the Chinese and Egyptians.

Agriculture spread through verbal communication and the slow colonization of land caused by slowly growing populations. Some resisted the agricultural lifestyle since they preferred their free Paleolithic lifestyles more.

For example, because of the shortage of water, China built dikes so that they were able to get water easily even though there was little rainfall. For the elite groups, the new technology of tools and weapons were very important and they are part of what made them successful. Agriculture was important for each civilization as well, because it provided more food for the people, which led to larger

With this new mode of production, people were able to stay in one place. With the hunter-gatherer way of life, one was always going after their food. If the animals that they were hunting migrated so did they. This means that there was no settling and people had to rely on nature in order to survive, something that would have been very dangerous if nature was not on their side. By being able to stay in one place there was not the need to constantly be moving around. Everything that one needed in terms of survival was right where they lived. There would be crops and domesticated livestock for food, and local water supplies to provide them with plenty of food and water.

The domestication of animals and crops gave civilizations the opportunity to settle down in one place and build up a society and that’s where specialists came in. specialists were people who had a certain craft or job that they specialized in which resulted in the production of more advanced tools and eventually steel.

Lastly, agriculture allowed societies to learn new skills, such as pottery for storage, weaving for clothing, and shelter. People had learned the skill of weaving. They had sheep wool, and needed to find a use for it, so they started to spin the hairs to make cloth. Since they were able to now make cloth, they could make better clothing, and blankets, or tents. This allowed people to be warm during the winters, and not die because of the coldness.

In this time frame there was a substantial amount of change in society. Some of the advancements and achievements they made during this time were the use of polished stone tools. One advantage they had was the vessel and the grind stone, which were used to grind the grains. Eventually they start making pottery, growing their own crops and raising animals. All of this leads up to the revolution of agriculture. Some of the factors that play into this was the discovery of seeds scattering and growing into crops. Also the rise in temperatures, the warmer it got the more the crops grew. Another factor was that the supply of grain was humongous. In can be noted that during this time, the more food that was being harvested, the more people starting reproducing. Farming became a steady source for food, and this was a huge impact for them. Some of the major crops were bananas, corn, cotton. This made it easier for them to make clothes, instead of using animal hide. The domestication of animals also became another consistent source of food for them. The use of slash and burn farming was another huge impact on society. This was when farmers clear the land and burned the debris, and the ash was used to fertilize the soil and then planted the crops on the land that was cleared

During mans transition to agriculture human achievements were both interesting and essential even though archeologists needed to interpret the remains of tools, cave paintings and burial sites. The social norms adopted during this period led to the creation of society as we know it today. Agriculture led to the formation of more complex societies where people were able to settle in one place for longer periods focus on economic, political, and religious goals which helped to increase the number of people in the world.

Do you remember the story of Jacob in the Bible? I do, and as I think about how while he was in Egypt, God gave him the knowledge, skill, and forethought for the preparation for store houses when the great famine struck the land. This reminds me of how difficult times were in early civilization. As I studied the textbook, World Civilizations: volume 1: to 1700, I see how far our civilization has come. I will cover most of the things that made the different cultures better, such as; advances in technology, major trade routes established, the cultures who utilized the specific trade routes, and the advancement that agriculture and trade made to influence individual civilizations.

     A pattern that was common among the ancient civilizations of China, Rome, Greece, Mesopotamia, Egypt, and India was that most of them started as a dictatorship, a monarchy, or a dynasty. Eventually, most of them changed to a democracy, republic, or to class systems. Almost all of the civilizations had one or two great leaders. For example, Egypt had King Tut, Greece had Alexander the Great and Rome had Julius Caesar.