Characteristics of Early Civilizations slideshow developed for 11th grade World History students.

1. Civilization
iTRACS

2. 1. Hunting Gathering Bands
2. Growth of Villages
3. Rise of Cities
4. City States
Note:
CE = Common Era dated from 1 CE (AD)
BCE = Before Common Era (BC)
The Peopling of the World

3. Characteristics of Civilization
institutions
Technology
Record-keeping
Agriculture
Cities
Specialization

4. Institutions
Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Tyrrhenian Group, Fallow Deer
Painter "Side A of Attic black figure"
"Institutions tell us
what to do, tell us
what or who to
worship and tell us
what to buy or value."
-BA
Examples:
government, military,
religion

5. Technology
"Necessity is the
mother of all
invention. Humans
always look for easier
ways of living."
Examples: the wheel,
the plow, sailboat,
bronze weapons,
armor
Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons,
by Dcrjsr "Ostia Antica Roman road
stones"

6. Record-keeping
Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons,
British Museum Assyrian Collections
"Accounting and
writing makes
business, war and
storytelling easier."
Examples: cuneiform,
heiroglyphics, Indus
seals, Aramaic

7. Agriculture
Photo Credit:Wikimedia Commons,
"Painter of the burial chamber of
Sennedjem"
"We no longer have to
chase down or
scavenge our
breakfast - we can
plant, grow and
harvest right here!"
Examples: goats,
grains, cattle, horses,
olives, maize

8. Cities
Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons,
"Temple of Bel, Palmyra, Syria" by
James Gordon
"The food is here, the
water is here, let's
settle here for good."
Example: Uruk,
Jericho, Rome

9. Specialization
Photo Credit:
Arthistoryspot.com
"The potter, the weaver
and the weapon-
maker...We have
enough food, so we can
start making things!"
Examples: merchants,
soldiers, priests,
potters, scribes,
weavers, metalworkers

10. Ancient Civilization & Empires We
Will Study...
● Sumer
● Babylon
● Persia
● Maurya
● Ancient Egypt
● Inca
● Classical Greece (Delian League)
● Rome
● Phoenicia
● Macedonia

11. Mesopotamia
● Environment
○ Tigris & Euphrates
○ Unpredictable
flooding
○ Lack of natural
barriers
● Power & Authority
○ Sargon of Akkad est.
world's first empire
○ Hammurabi's code
○ Zoroastrianism
○ Warriors
● Science & Tech
○ Arithmetic &
geometry
○ Arches, ziggurats,
ramps & pyramid
design
○ Cuneiform writing

12. Ancient Egypt
● Environment
○ "Nile River Valley silt
& soil"
● Power & Authority
○ "Pharaohs & Priests"
● Science &
Technology
○ "pyramids,
astronomy, medicine
& heiroglyphics"

13. Indus Valley
● Environment
○ "Highly planned cities near the river."
● Power & Authority
○ "Rulers organized the cities & work."
● Science & Technology
○ "sophisticated building & plumbing"

14. China
● Environment
○ "massive earthen walled cities near rivers"
● Power & Authority
○ "Dynastic cycle"
● Science & Technology
○ "paper-making & silk production"

15. iThe Big Idea
"Think Goats, Grains & Gilgamesh"
● Hunter-Gatherers to Villages to Cities
● Civilization = iTRACS
● River Valley Civilizations developed first:
○ CH = China
○ I = Indus Valley
○ M= Mesopotamia
○ E = Egypt
○ "CHIME"

16. References
Beck, Roger B., Linda Black, Philip C. Naylor, and Dahia
Ibo Shabaka. World History Patterns of Interaction.
Orlando, FL: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012. Print
Ellis, Elisabeth G., and Anthony Esler. Prentice Hall World
HIstory. Teacher's Edition ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2011. Print.