The document provides an overview of the emergence of early civilizations. It describes how early humans lived as hunter-gatherers and then developed agriculture during the Neolithic Revolution around 10,000 years ago. This allowed for permanent settlements and the rise of civilizations along major river valleys, including Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, and China. These early civilizations made advances in areas like irrigation, government, religion, and writing systems. The document also discusses the ancient Hebrews and the development of the monotheistic religion of Judaism.

1. THE EMERGENCE OF
CIVILIZATION
N E O L I T H I C R E V O L U T I O N &
R I V E R V A L L E Y C I V I L I Z A T I O N S

2. EARLY HUMAN SOCIETY
• Because humans had ways of communication,
remembering and making things, they were able to
pass on what they learned and their way of doing
things from one generation to the next. In a way,
the first human cultures developed.
• Culture – refers to a people’s way of life. Culture
includes such things as language, types of clothing,
homes, family organization, government, and
methods of obtaining food. Culture also includes
crafts, arts, music, and religion.

3. HUNTERS & GATHERERS
PALEOLITHIC PEOPLES
• Earliest human societies were hunters and gatherers;
they did not now how to grow their own food.
• They relied on hunting, fishing, and gathering wild plants
for food.
• They learned to make fires, spears with pieces of bone or
stone, and to make canoes and boats out of logs (Stone
Age)
• Since they spent most of their time hunting for food, they
migrated to areas where food could be found. They did
not live in permanent settlings.

4. THE NEOLITHIC REVOLUTION
• About 10,000 years ago, one of the greatest turning
points in world history occurred…
• People stop hunting & gathering and started FARMING
• People learned how to grow food and domesticate animals
• Anthropologists believe this change first occurred in the
Middle East, where wild wheat and barley were plentiful.
• They also learned how to herd farm animals such as
goats, sheep and cattle.
• These advances are referred to as the Neolithic
Revolution.

5. EFFECTS OF NEOLITHIC REVOLUTION
• Once agriculture was introduced, people no longer had
to wander in search of food.
• Instead they could build permanent homes and villages
and establish a fixed way of life.
• Populations grew!
• Although it all started in
Southwest Asia, it also took
place in Southeast Asia,
Africa, and the Americas.

6. NEOLITHIC REVOLUTION
The Emergence of Social Classes
• Pros & Cons: People could grow more
food than when they hunted and
gathered. But they were more
vulnerable to attack by other peoples.
• These changes is economics led to
social and political changes: new
social classes
• Warriors – defense of village was a
concern
• Priests – to conduct religious rituals in order
to promote good harvest and protect from
danger

7. RISE OF RIVER VALLEY CIVILIZATIONS
• Around 3,500 B.C., the first civilizations arose.
• Civilization – form of human culture in which people live in
cities, have complex social institutions, use some form of
writing, and are skilled at using science and technology.
• The first civilizations developed in four separate river
valleys.
• Each of these river valleys offered mild climate and a water
highway.
• Water from rivers was also used for cooking food and drinking.
• Along the rivers there was also fertile soil, great for growing crops
and led to abundant harvests and food surplus.

8. 1. MESOPOTAMIA
(3500 B.C. – 1700 B.C.)
• First river valley
civilization
developed in
Mesopotamia
between the Tigris
and Euphrates Rivers
(present day Iraq)
• Mesopotamia was a
Greek term meaning
“land between two
rivers”

9. MESOPOTAMIA
(3500 B.C. – 1700 B.C.)

10. MESOPOTAMIA
Agriculture
• Mesopotamia was hot and dry so people learned
to irrigate the land by diverting water from the Tigris
and Euphrates Rivers.
• This allowed farming settlements to flourish and
people were able to create a surplus of food
• Other people began to specialize in other activities
including potters, weavers, metal workers, warriors,
or priests.

11. MESOPOTAMIA
Government
• People of Mesopotamia built several cities; at first
each city-state, such as Uruk, Ur, and Babylon, had
its own ruler.
• Later several of these city-states
were united together under a
single ruler.

12. MESOPOTAMIA
Religion
• Mesopotamians were
polytheistic, believing in as
many as 2,000 different gods.
• Some historians claim
Mesopotamian religion to be
the oldest faith.
• Rulers were often priests.
• A society governed by religious
leaders is known as a
theocracy.
Stone Sumerian Priest

13. MESOPOTAMIA
Building
• Mesopotamians were the world’s first city-builders.
• They made their building from mud, bricks and
crushed reeds.
• They built walled cities, temples with arches, and
stepped pyramids known as ziggurats.
Ziggurat in Baghdad Reconstruction of Ziggurat at Ur

14. MESOPOTAMIA
Cultural & Scientific Contributions
• The Sumerians invented the wheel and the sailboat.
• Figured how to reroute water to irrigate fields located
further from the river.
• Developed tools and weapons of copper and bronze.
• Sumerians devised a calendar, dividing the year into 12
months.
• Later Babylonians developed a number system based
on 60, providing the basis for our seconds and minutes
today.
• They also invented the world’s earliest writing system,
cuneiform, symbol writing on clay.
• Only the elite could read and write in cuneiform, generally
priests and scribes.

15. A cuneiform writing tablet.

16. MESOPOTAMIA
Legal System
• Babylonians developed the
earliest written code of laws
– the Code of Hammurabi.
• It covered most occurrences
in daily life.
• Goals were to ensure justice
and protect the weak.
• Strict – “An eye for an eye, a
tooth for a tooth”

17. MESOPOTAMIA
Women in
Mesopotamia
• Most girls stayed at home with mothers where they
learned cooking and housekeeping
• Women were responsible for raising children and
crushing grain.
• Only wealthy women were able to go to marketplace
and buy goods, complete legal matters when husband
was absent, and could even own property. They could
engage in business and obtain divorces.

18. 2. EGYPT
(3200 B.C. – 500 B.C.)
• Located in Northeast
Africa.
• The world’s longest river,
the Nile, runs through it.

19. EGYPT
Agriculture
• Each year the Nile floods and
makes the soil along its bank very
rich and fertile.
• With bright sunshine, long
growing seasons, rich soil, and
fresh water, Egyptian farmers
were able to grow large
amounts of food.
• Farmers were able to support
craftsmen, warriors, priests, and
nobles.

20. EGYPT
Government
• Most powerful person in Egypt was the pharaoh
(king).
• The pharaoh was an absolute ruler – owned all
land, commanded the army, made laws, controlled
irrigation and grain supplies, and defended Egypt.
• The pharaoh was considered to be a god.
• Egypt was a monarchy, a system of government in
which political power is inherited, power is passed
down from father to son.

21. EGYPT
Society
• The pharaoh was at the top of the social order.
• Below the pharaoh came the priests and nobles,
• Then warriors, scribes, merchants, and craftsmen.
• At the bottom were peasants and slaves; they spent
their time farming, herding cattle, and working on
building projects.

22. EGYPT
Religion
• Egyptians believed the body should be preserved
after death to participate in the afterlife.
• When pharaohs died, their bodies were embalmed
(mummified) and buried in a special room under a
pyramid. They were surrounded with gold, jewels,
and other precious objects.

23. EGYPT
Accomplishments
• Medicine – developed
knowledge of human
body through
embalming (preserving).
Performed surgical
operations.
• Hieroglyphics –
developed one of the
earliest writing systems,
based on picture
symbols.

24. EGYPT
Accomplishments
• Building & Art – built magnificent pyramids, palaces,
and temples of stone. Decorated building with
paintings and sculptures.
• Geometry & Astronomy – developed geometry to
build projects such as pyramids. By observing the stars
they developed a calendar based on 364 days.

25. 3. INDIA
• More than 5,000 years ago the Indus River Valley
became another center of human civilization.
• Much like Mesopotamia and Egypt, the region had
rich soil due to its annual flood.

26. INDIA
Agriculture
• Farmers grew barley, wheat, dates and melons.
• Food surplus allowed people to build large cities like
Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro; each city had more
than 30,000 people.

27. INDIA
Building
• More than 1,000 cities and settlements belonging to the
Indus River Valley have been excavated.
• The artifacts that have been discovered show that the
settlements were technologically advanced.
• There were dockyards, granaries, warehouses, brick
platforms and protective walls.
• They were the first “urban planners” with almost all their
houses connected to public sewers and a water supply
• The Harrappans were also the first people known to make
cotton cloth.

28. INDIA
Trade and Collapse
• Trade was important of
Harrappan economy.
• Harrappans also developed
their own form of writing,
although scholars are still
unable to decipher it.
• No one knows exactly why
the civilization collapsed,
but its end occurred
suddenly.

29. 4. CHINA
• About 5,000 years after the settlement of the Indus
River Valley, China’s first civilization emerged in the
fertile plains along the Huang He (Yellow River).

30. CHINA
Agriculture
• As in the Nile and Indus River Valleys, the fertility of
the soil along the Huang He was increased by
periodic floods.
• Around 4,500 B.C., people along the Huang He
began growing millet (type of grain).
• Later they learned to farm soybeans and raise
chickens, dogs and pigs.

31. CHINA
Government
• Around 1,700 B.C. a ruling
family, or dynasty, known as
the Shang, took power.
• They built the first Chinese
cities and established their
capital at Anyang near the
Huang He.
• The Shang ruled with the help
of powerful nobles.
• Shang kings were military
leaders, they were also high
priests that offered sacrifices
to their royal ancestors.

32. CHINA
Cultural Contributions
• The people living along the Huang He were very
skilled at many crafts.
• They created superior weapons and ceremonial
vessels with their bronze work.
• They were the first to make silk textiles from silkworm
cocoons.
• They developed a system of writing with
pictographs, known as characters. Each character
represented one word.

33. 5. ANCIENT HEBREWS
• Ancient Hebrews, or Israelites, lived south of
Phoenicia in the area occupied by present-day
Israel, Lebanon, and Jordan.
• Hebrews were deeply influenced by both
Mesopotamia and Egypt.
• According to tradition, the forefather of the
Hebrews, Abraham, grew up in Mesopotamia in the
city or Ur. Later Abraham moved to Israel.

34. THE HEBREWS
Religion
• Unlike other ancient peoples, the Hebrews did not
believe in many gods; instead they believed in one
universal God, who was both just and all-powerful.
• This new religion was called Judaism.
• Jews did not believe that God had human
characteristics or the head or body of an animal, like the
gods and goddesses of Mesopotamia and Egypt.
• Jews saw their God as an invisible but powerful force or
spirit that created the world and that demanded proper
moral conduct.
• Monotheism, the belief in one God, became the basis
for several religions, including both Christianity and Islam.

35. THE HEBREWS
The Ten Commandments
• The early history of the Hebrews and their God is told in
the first books of the Bible, known as the Old Testament.
• According to the Bible, the ancient Hebrews migrated to
Egypt to escape food shortages. They lived there for
hundreds of years and were enslaved.
• Moses, their leader, later took them out of Egypt and
freed them from slavery. According to the Bible, Moses
also presented them the Ten Commandments, which
came directly from God.
• The Ten Commandments forbade stealing, murder,
adultery, and other forms of immoral behavior.

36. TEN COMMANDMENTS

37. REVIEW – TEST #1
THE BIG IDEAS
1. The earliest humans survived by hunting and gathering
their food. They used tools of wood, bone, and stone.
They also learned to make fire.
2. About 10,000 years ago, people in the Middle East
developed the first agriculture and domesticated animals
during the Neolithic Revolution.
3. A civilization is a form of human culture in which some
people live in cities, have complex social institution, use
some form of writing, and are skilled at using science and
technology.
4. The first civilizations arose in fertile river valleys, where
favorable geography conditions allowed farmers to grow
a surplus of food.

38. REVIEW – TEST #1
THE BIG IDEAS
5. The Sumerians in Mesopotamia invented the wheel, sailboat and cuneiform
writing. The Egyptians developed an advanced civilization along the
banks of the Nile. They built large stone pyramids for the afterlife of their
ruler – the pharaoh – and developed a form of writing known as
hieroglyphics.
6. Other early civilizations developed along the Indus River on the Indian
subcontinent and along the Huang He (Yellow River) in China.
7. The earliest civilizations were theocracies and monarchies. In a theocracy,
religious leaders govern; in a monarchy, a hereditary ruler heads the
government.
8. Judaism, the religion of the ancient Hebrews (Jews), was the first religion to
worship only one God.
5. Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, china were all polytheistic, they believed in
many gods.

39. HISTORY OF THE WORLD IN 7 MINUTES
• Check out the video again…..
• http://worldhistoryforusall.sdsu.edu/movies/flash_lar
ge.php