Essential Elements Of Ancient Civilization

4. Specialized Workers – In early human societies, farming allowed one people to produce food surpluses thus allowing other to focus on other tasks.

Over the course of human history, humans and our ancestors have made tremendous strides. From Homo habilis making the first stone tools to the Egyptians building The Pyramids of Giza, human history is nothing short of intriguing. If it wouldn’t have been for each stride made by our ancestors we probably wouldn’t live in the world that we live in today. When the Neolithic Era began in 9600 BCE, human civilizations gradually started to spring up all over the world. Humans set up civilizations from Mesopotamia in the Middle East, to China in East Asia, and all the way to Caral-Supe in South America. Although these ancient civilizations were separated by thousands of miles, they all share common patterns and

The 5 “hearths of civilization” are the ancient locations where society first developed. The 5 hearths of civilization are: The Indus River Valley, The Nile River Valley, Mesopotamia, The Huang He River Valley, and Mesoamerica. One thing that each of these unique ancient civilizations had in common was that they were all best suited for agriculture. Generally, this is because each group was located near water and the soil was usable for growing crops. In each of these civilizations, the “Agricultural Revolution” of about 8,000 B.C.E. was significant because it prompted the people of each land areas to develop farming as a central aspect of sustainability, providing for the development of cities, language, and further development.

An interesting question to ask oneself about ancient civilizations is “How did the various governments keep their respective populations under control?” By taking a look at some of the literature and forms of art, one can get an idea of the crafty techniques used by leaders to control the populace. The concept of social control has been around as long as civilizations have been. This can be seen in the Roman stoic ideals portrayed in the Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius, the Four Noble Truth’s teachings in India, and the emphasis on harmony in China with the Chinese Bronze Bell. It’s interesting to see the ways works of art and even religious texts were used to control the common people.

In a period of complete change beknownst to us as the Neolithic Revolution, some groups of nomads deserted their “normal” way of life and began to settle down in villages and use agrarian methods to make a living for themselves. Two examples would be the Chumash of Southern California and the San of South Africa. Although the Chumash and the San both led a gathering and hunting way of life, they are ultimately two completely different civilizations, embodying unique political organizations, social structures and hierarchies, distinct economic foundations and individual sets of differing values.

Many factors contribute to civilization, one being job specialization. Job specialization is a job given based on strengths. Many people abandoned farming completely to make tools and prepare the produce. This not only let people strive in what they do best at, but also provided other people with instruments they needed to execute their personal jobs. Additionally, this instituted trade. It states in Document 2, “they gave them [tools and other goods] food in exchange.” This exchange, hence, started trade. They can vend what they make for food and visa-versa. Document 4 explains, how they “all work together and help one another.” To do this, individuals take on a specific task and participate in a series of exchanges to make the civilization work smoothly. During the Paleolithic Era, they could not trade, merely because they did not have a civilization. Everyone hunted and there was nothing to trade or job to do because it wasn’t

Prior to living in homes build to with stand the test of time, growing food their food source, and raising animals, humans were nomads who followed their food source around and were hunters and gathers. Although it took many years, from 8000B.C. to 3000B.C. for humans to go from hunters and gathers to a more common day life as we now know it, the result is referred to as the Neolithic Revolution the begins of human civilization. As the people of this time began to settle down and they began to both farm the land and domesticate animals for the better of the community. Along with the development of these communities as for the first time began to create social class among the many different roles they played in their community. Because

In 1950, V Gordon Childe drew up a list of traits of to what he considered to be the common characteristics of early civilizations. According to Fagan & Scarre, a recent archaeologist Charles Redman divided Childe’s list into primary and secondary characteristics. The primary characteristics included cities and states, together with full-time specialization of labor, concentration of surplus, and a class-structured society. For the secondary, the characteristics included symptoms or by-products of these major economic and organizational changes: monumental public works, long-distance trade, standardized monumental artworks, writing, and the sciences (arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy)(Scarre and Fagan 2003). One of the most common characteristics involve was a large, dense population living in a city. This essay well state and describe two early cities in Mesopotamia and explore the layouts and characteristics of these two cities. Also, whether each city is unique or share common characteristics with each other. The two cities are Maskan-shapir and Ur.

The Neolithic Revolution began in Southwest Asia and other areas during 10,000 B.C.E to 3, 000 B.C.E (Council for Economic Education, 2012). The Neolithic Revolution also known as the Agricultural Revolution was a new way of life. Our society is constantly changing and moving forward. As a part of human culture, humans strive to learn, discover, create and evolve (Barber, n.d.). As a society, we have made many technological and social advancements, but have we ever taken the time to appreciate the past? The Neolithic Revolution is where it all began. Prior to the Neolithic Revolution, the early humans lived in the Paleolithic Age. This presentation will display life before the Neolithic Revolution and the shift that lead to some of the first social and technological advancements in history.

Throughout history, many changes occurred regarding the way humans got their food. These changes are usually caused by environmental changes and having to adapt to them. Adapting to new environments can cause long-term political, social, and economic effects on societies and regions. A lot of the changes regarding food production mainly happened during the Neolithic Revolution. Before the Neolithic Revolution, humans had to depend more on animals than plants as a food source.

In the beginning, we were hunters and gathers. Then, we started settling and farming. Our population started rising, so we needed more food to live. We put ourselves at river valleys to have water; Egypt ended up at the Nile river valley. Over time they developed the seven indicators of a great civilization: Well Organized Government, Complex Religion, Specialized Skills and Jobs, Social Classes, Long Distance Trade, Methods of Keeping Records, and Cities. This is how Ancient Egypt became a great, complex civilization because it shows all of the seven indicators.

History of human is a long and mysterious journey to contemporary people to understand fully about it. However, it can be described briefly that “historical mankind has been mesmerized by the narrative of progress and civilization as codified by the first great agrarian kingdoms” (Scott 2011, p.2). By replacing hunters-gatherers and nomadic lifestyles with society of agriculture, people witnessed the flourish of many early civilizations in Europe, Asia such as Mesopotamian civilization, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, China dynasties, etc. Besides those big and famous civilizations existed in Europe and Asia, owning to the discovery of American continent of Christopher Columbus in 1492, one of the greatest civilizations

Before the Neolithic Revolution, civilization had not existed because humans traveled in nomadic groups. However, the environment began to change and disrupted the nomadic lifestyle human’s had led. People constantly migrated to follow their prey and relied on their hunting and gathering skills to provide nourishment to survive, until they discovered farming, which later resulted in the development of group living. The development of agriculture and group living provided food surpluses, causing the development of trade and population growth. Soon after, the population growth and established trading system led to the division of labor, eventually creating a government system. The discovery of farming changed the way the nomadic people had lived; they had to settle down in communities for their crops to be able to flourish and this created civilized societies, because of this agriculture created a new system that would soon be used across the world, a Neolithic economy.

The phrase “Rome wasn’t built in a day” is commonly used to describe things that take time and patience. The phrase is very true, Rome was not built in a day and it did not rise out of nothing. The rise of Rome was impacted greatly by Etruscan urbanism, Greek colonization, and Hellenistic imperialism. These external influences gave rise to the Republic by impacting the growth and formation of the city, both architecturally and civically, and contributing to the eventual success of the urbs.

People have evolved from hunting and gathering to a settled civilization. The transition from a lifestyle of hunting and gathering to a settlement of civilization was called the Neolithic revolution. During and after the Neolithic revolution, many factors such as geography, religious beliefs, and government structures contributed to the success of the land’s civilization. Many of those empires had similarities and differences between the features. Ethiopia and Persia were some of the earliest civilizations.