Early River Valley Civilizations Table of Contents 1

Early River Valley Civilizations Table of Contents 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Mesopotamia (Slides 4 -13) Egypt (Slides 14 -28) Indus Valley (Slides 29 -41) China (Slides 42 -54) Summary (Slide 55) Glossary (Slides 56 -58)

Mesopotamia: Present-Day Syria, Northern Iraq, Turkey “Cradle of Civilization” Irrigation Led to an Abundance of Crops The First Civilization in Human History Sprang Up Next to the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers Mesopotamians Learned How to Supply Fields with Water Through Irrigation Mesopotamia was the First Place that Agriculture and Domestication of Animals Occurred

Mesopotamia: Between the Tigris & Euphrates Rivers q Mesopotamia=Land Between Two Rivers q Both Rivers Flooded Mesopotamia Once a Year q Rich, New Soil Every Year After Floods q Irrigation Ditches Carried Water to Fields (Modifying the Environment) q Wheat & Barley Harvested Each Year (Surpluses)

Mesopotamia: The Fertile Crescent q Dry Region, but Very Rich Soil (Hence: Fertile) q Farmland Covered with Silt After Floods q Located Between Persian Gulf & Mediterranean Sea Flooding Leaves Behind Rich Soil for Farming

Mesopotamia: Technological Advances q Advanced Architecture (Ramps, Arches, Columns, Ziggurats) q Oldest Wheel Ever Found q Record Keeping (Cuneiform-Clay Writing Tablets) q Math (Base 60 and Standard Operations) q Improved Technology (Bronze=Tools and Weapons) q Invented Sail, Plow, the Screw (Simple Machine)

Mesopotamia: Government (Priests then Military Rulers) q At the Start of Civilization, Temple Priests Were in Control q Time of War: Military Leaders took Control Temporarily q As Civilization Evolved, Military Leaders Assumed Control Permanently…and Eventually Popular Leaders Would Pass Power Down to Their Sons Ziggurat Human Sacrifice was a part of Mesopotamian Culture

Mesopotamia: Religion q Polytheistic (Human-Like, Immortal, All-Powerful) q Epic Of Gilgamesh (Mesopotamian Myths, Legends) q Worked to Earn Gods Protection q Ziggurats Built for Sacrifices to Gods (Wine, Animals, etc. )

Early River Valley Civilization: Cloze Passages Slides 4 -6 Fill in the blanks using the words provided: fields, plains, landforms, Agricultural, culture, organized, civilizations, environment, region, unstable, predict, cradle, classes, populations, parts, Nile surplus, hills, government, physical, wet, sediment, bring, dug, barley, changed, flood, permanent, earlier, unpredictable, ditches, gathering, animal, hunting people, China, collect, villages, harvested. The first history of human civilization took place in Mesopotamia, the land between the Tigris and Euphrates River, is modern-day Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran. Mesopotamia has been called the _______ of civilization’ because agriculture, _____ herding and domestication developed there ____ than anywhere else, almost 8, 000 years ago. Though the early ______ people lived in a complex, _____ and frequently hostile ____ here, their civilization came into existence because; instead of ______ and ______ their food, they began to rely heavily on agriculture. It was the development of irrigation agriculture that allowed their civilization to take root. Irrigation _______ allowed for water to be delivered to ______ which led to an abundance of crops that could feed a large number of ______. Mesopotamia developed in an ______ physical environment. It was the development of irrigation agriculture that would enable a _______ settlement to develop in this dry ______. They were able to grow a ______ of wheat and _______ every year because the rivers would _____ once a year. The problem however, was that they couldn’t _____ when the rivers would flood. Another problem was that the rivers in the region sometimes ____ course taking precious ______ (water) away from settlements. To solve these problems, irrigation ditches were _______ that would _______ water to their fields and water the crops. Flood ____ allowed for fertilization of crops when new ______ is deposited from higher elevations. The land in Northern Mesopotamia is filled with plains and ______ whereas in Southern Mesopotamia the _______ environment is flat, _____ and marshy. The climate, _______ , soil and vegetation are physical features that either allow civilizations to emerge and expand, cause them to decline.

Early River Valley Civilization: Cloze Passages Slides 7 -8 Fill in the blanks using the words provided: evolved, manage, wheel, calendar, family, burials, City-States, multiplication, bronze, population, kings, family, king, human, collectors, Priests, silver, wealth, Mesopotamia, metal, boundaries, laws, medicine, records, education, fields, tablets, workers, cuneiform, payments, purposes. Mesopotamia developed ____ which was a system of ____ performed on clay writing _____. The first written texts were for economic _______. For example, lists were written that identified the ____ of crops harvested in certain ______ and by certain field ____ , as were lists that kept track of ____ for crops. Most reading and writing centered around the training of priests but _____ was a big part of Mesopotamian ____ (society). Reading, writing, religion, law, _______ and astrology were important educational fields and many city-states had a library at the center of their educational pursuits. They were among the first people to create ______ work with metals, study the stars, and keep written ____. Large civilizations can be created and expand much easier if it has a writing system that prevails across their _____. They created a number system, 12 month lunar _____ , 60 minute hour, and advanced ______ tables. They also worked with _______ and developed the _______ , and found many uses for it. For example, Assyria conquered Babylon through the use of chariots, battering rams made of _______ and horses covered in bronze armor. _____ were ruled by individual _______ who established alliances with other city-states inside of ____. At first priests served as these kings, but leadership evolved in Mesopotamia over time as power transitioned from ______ to military leaders. The _______ and power that these kings held can be seen today in the elaborate ____ that have been unearthed. Some of these burials include ____ sacrifice as well as objects such as gold and ______ . Leadership would often stay in the hands of a particular _______ as power would be passed down to the king’s son or another popular _______ family member. As civilization ____ , a system of government developed under each ruler which relied on governors and tax ____ to manage the economy of each city-state. They formed the skeleton of a huge government structure that could _______ and control a large ____.

Early River Valley Civilization: Cloze Passages Fill in the blanks using the words provided: Religious, communication, gifts, friendship, hero, ruler, city, angry, Gilgamesh, own, many, disc, earth, heavens, death, connection, structures, actually, bricks, worship, ability, leaders, life, evil, air, descended, mud, Sargon. Slide 9 Mesopotamians believed the world was a flat ______ that was surrounded by space and above them was the ____. They were polytheistic meaning that they believed that there were ______ gods. They had 4 main gods: the god of heaven, god of ______, god of water, and the god of ____. Each city-state in Mesopotamia had their _____ god and that god owned everything inside the ______. They believed that their kings and queens ______ from the gods, but they did not believe that they were _______ gods. Kings were expected to look after the people and they often gave themselves prestigious names like “great king. ” King _______ is regarded as the greatest ____ and he was called “Sargon the Great”. _____ is a long narrative poem that describes the deeds of a _______ in his quest for identity and the meaning of _____. Part man and part god, Gilgamesh deals with such universal themes as the meaning of _____ ; fear of sickness, ______ , and the forces of ______ ; and the search for immortality. Ziggurats were built of ______ or clay ______ and were very high to help them establish a _____ between heaven and earth. It served as the place of ______ and a training facility for priests. ______ events were also held here. As the religious ____ , only priests and priestesses had the _____ to talk to the gods and constant _____ was important because Mesopotamians felt like the gods were often ____ at them. Thus, it was important to lavish the gods with ______. Ziggurats and other religious _____ became bigger and more elaborate as time went on.