Resources and Early Civilizations

Bellwork:

• On a piece of paper, write the top 10 things you would hate to live without.

• Together, let’s narrow the list of things that humans cannot TRULY live without to 5 things

• You have 2 minutes in groups to narrow that to 3 things

• What’s the #1 thing that humans can’t live without? • If you don’t settle near water, you MUST have a

system for irrigation: bringing the water to you!

Resources

• Resource: available material that can be used for survival or economic gain

• Natural resources: water; rocks and minerals (gold, limestone, marble); oil; natural gas; trees; land

• Resources (and the struggle for control of them) are at the heart of almost every major conflict in the history of the world.

Earliest Villages• Jericho:

– Small city in present-day Palestine– Built between 10,000 and 9,000 BCE– Size of a few soccer fields– A few thousand people– Surrounded by a huge wall

• Çatalhüyük: – Small city in modern-day Turkey– Developed around 7000 BCE– Population: 6,500 people– Three times more land than Jericho– Contained hundreds of connected, mud-brick houses

Major Centers of Developing Civilizations

• Major civilizations in Asia and Africa all developed around river valleys• River valleys provided–Fertile land–Sources of fresh water–Transportation

4 River Valley Civilizations

• Sumer: Between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in the Middle East• Egypt: Along the Nile River in East Africa• Indus: Along the Indus River in India• Shang: Along the Yellow River in China

Chalk Talk

• You have just landed on a distant world. Your government has assigned your group the job of determining whether or not the people you come in contact with are “civilized.”

• What criteria will you use to decide? What basic characteristics will the people or their society have to have to be “civilized?”

Rank these cultural activities as civilized or uncivilized5: very civilized 1: not at all civilized

• Peeing in the street• Chewing gum and sticking it under the table• Assisted suicide• Cannibalism• Picking nose and eating the boogers• Human sacrifice• Polygamy• Farting loudly in public• Marrying young girls• Young children working rather than going to school• Killing the whole family of enemies• Fasting for God• Whipping bad kids• Having slaves• Death penalty

Basic Features of Civilization

• “Having cities” isn’t enough• Seven other features:

1. Organized governments2. Complex religions3. Job specialization4. Social classes5. Arts and architecture6. Public works (water, roads, bridges, etc)7. Writing

Organized Governments

Complex Religions

Job Specialization

Social Classes

Arts and Architecture

Public Works

Writing