First-Century Civilizations

If ancient civilizations did not invent new ideas and machines, the world would not be in the spot it is today. Innovation is necessary for the continuation and improvement of a society. Ancient cities in the River Valley were very intelligent and knew how to use the resources they could find. Civilizations in the Middle East and Asia, circa 3,000 BCE, showed great success in the areas of government, science and technology, and writing. The cities made advancements in government and the security of their lands.

Thousands of years ago, as mankind began to discover more elaborate discoveries in the world, people improved their lifestyle over a long period of time. Towns and villages grew immensely and before we knew it, a society had emerged. In these towns, the people normally had the same religion, culture, laws, and economy. The members in a society are what make up a civilization. When these people flourish together as a society, the civilization improves and becomes more advanced with knowledge and technology.

Record Keeping, this is the third characteristic of early civilization. Complex life required records for things such as taxes and laws which needed to be written down, this is called codified. Scribes are professional record keepers and historians. Cuneiform is the Samaritan form of writing. This was the earliest form of writing ever discovered. Also used was a stylus, this is a sharpened reed or strong stick, wedge shaped point used by scribes to write on clay tablets. There are four steps to the process of writing, those would be: Pictogram, ideogram, phonogram, and the

Ancient civilizations have had profound effects of what we know as the modern world today. The primary purpose for anything that lives is to survive. Throughout history animals, plants and humans have adapted to their surroundings. All living things have changed throughout time. The thing that differs humans from rest is, humans are more cognitively advanced. Over the course of time the shape and size of the human skull has changed. The size of the human brain has increased, which has allowed humans to adapt more to their surroundings. To survive, humans were making tools for hunting and to cut with. The closer you lived to the equator the darker your skin may have been, so you could adapt to the intensity of the sun’s rays. If you lived further

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

Written language was a major development because it started to create a language. The text states, “writing also gave weight to and specificity to orders, regulations, and laws.”(page 78). The text shows that writing was being invented and proved to be worthwhile with laws for the government during the new society, whereas in earlier Paleolithic and Neolithic societies, there was no written language which might have led to chaos. As well as written language, another critical development was complex calendars. According to the text, it states, “complex calendars indicated precisely when certain rituals should be performed”(page 78). The textbook portrays that complex calendars helped civilians display when religion rituals should be held. This is an important development for civilization because complex calendars provided a certain date to perform certain rituals. All in all, hierarchies in class and gender, as well as written language and complex calendars proved to be an important development that distinguish

Mesopotamian Civilizations contributed massively to the development for future civilizations. To begin, the Sumerians created the first written language. Cuneiform was the writing system to keep track of business dealings when it comes to trading with the people who lived in lands that were thousands of miles away. Cuneiform also kept records and allowed new ideas to be passed from generation to generation (Doc 1). Cuneiform is developed from pictographs that were sideways and used

That was an act of human creation of the Near Eastern river valleys of Sumer and Egypt. Cuneiform writing in Sumer and the hieroglyphics in Egypt was developed in this time period. Such things as the Code of Hammurabi and the fall of the Assyrian Empire, The Persian wars, assassination of Julius

The first civilizations, the foundations for future empires, were all founded and created between 3500 B.C.E. and 500 B.C.E. by groups of nomadic peoples who decided to settle in an area for certain group specific reasons. Some of the main states of the first civilization were Mesopotamia, Norte Chico, Egypt, Indus Valley, China, and Olmec. The second wave civilizations, built between 500 B.C.E. and 500 C.E., included the Persians, the Greeks, Romans, Chinese (Qin and Han), and India (Mauryan and Gupta). The first wave civilizations were sparked by the agricultural movement that led to the settlement of large groups of people in areas that became the cities and states that formed these first civilizations. The rise of civilization led to

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.

Now that food was being produced by not hunted or gathered, humans had more time to set their minds on other things. Because of this, many new advances had been made. One such advancement was the developement of the Sumerian language system called Cuneiform. This was a major social advancement because it helped Sumerians to communicate better with each other. Cuneiform was, then, used for record keeping which kept records of daily trade.

The importance of cuneiform to this society is that it was a written record of the sacred marriages between high priestesses and kings. Also, it recorded transactions of wheat and goats, created class distinctions because not everyone could read and write, widened the gap between classes, and created history because information did not have to be guessed. Moreover, cuneiform created employment.

Until sometime before 1500 A.D., European civilizations were less technologically advanced than Eastern civilizations, e.g. China. Such Eastern countries were well into what Tonio Andrade terms “the Gunpowder Age”. Modernization succeeds this age and sometime before 1500 A.D., Western civilizations gained Eastern military technology and fitted it to push them ahead in warfare and in turn, modernity. A trend in modernity in European states is an advancement of war and the accompanying technology. In looking at the 19th century, those countries that are perceived as “modern” are far ahead in war technology than those countries perceived as “pre-modern”. An example of such modernity exists in Britain in their military might. Contrasting

Just by looking at the way of life of the people during the early civilization and the way of our life today, I can say that our way of life isn’t that different from theirs. They have laws, way of writing, armies, government, religion, language, way of economy, and science, mathematics, and technology which obviously, we also have nowadays. I would want to revive the part when people are still starting the establishment of the nation state. It is because during this time, people have the sense of unity for they have a common goal, which is to create an independent city state. Through all the revolutionary leaps that happened before, we can learn that achieving something we want will never be easy. It will take a lot of patience, bravery and

There is evidence of how humans were creative before civilization, from the paintings, objects, tools, and other things found. Humans learned how to hunt, gather food, build homes, make tools, and create artwork from their surroundings throughout their lives. Domestication of plants and animals began the agricultural revolution, which became a very important time for humans all over the world. Farmers were crucial people in Neolithic communities because they worked hard to provide food for foragers. Çatal Hüyük, one of the centers of trade and specialized crafts, focused on agricultures, had religious shrines, and did metal work in the Neolithic period.