1.5 The first Civilisations

• History
• Middelbare school
• havo, vwo
• Leerjaar 1

AGE 1: The Time of Hunters and Farmers

1.5 The first civilisations

www.historyshistories.com

Write in your notebook the title of this lesson
Go to the website:
http://www.historyshistories.com/mesopotamia-5-traits-of-civilization.html

Write in your notebook the five traits (characteristics) of a civilisation

What is this lesson about?

The first farmers settled around rivers in the Middle East. Because of the fertile ground around the rivers, the farmers were able to get an agricultural surplus. This abundance of food allowed people to specialise in other jobs: like traders, craftsmen or priests. Villages in Sumer and Egypt grew to become cities with a highly developed level of culture.

What you can explain /  do after this lesson

• how Egypt and Sumer could develop around rivers
• how an agricultural surplus could lead to a highly developed civilisation
• explain what an agricultural-urban society is and how it developed
• give the characteristics of the first civilisations and explain them

Word Duty

Mesopotamia: fertile area in the Middle East; Greek for ‘land between two rivers’

Irrigation: artificial way to spread water across farmland to make it fertile

Agricultural surplus: when farmers produce more food than they can eat

Specialise: when someone becomes very good at one thing

Craftsman: someone who makes products with his hands and tools

Bartering: exchange goods or services directly for other goods or services

Markets: places where people come to barter their products

Agricultural-urban society: society in which the majority of people live as farmers, while the minority live in cities

Culture: things people think and do, such as religion, traditions, art, clothes and language

Civilisation: highly developed society

Pharaoh: the king of ancient Egypt

KEY WORDS

The land between two rivers

• Uruk (modern-day Iraq) was once a big city with thousands of people, nowadays it is lost in the desert.
• the first inhabitants were farmers 
• To grow crops you need fertile soil and water
• They build their city between the rivers the Euphrates and the Tigris and it was later named: Mesopotamia > 'The land between two rivers'.

 

 

Source 1.5.1

Map of the Fertile Crescent

Source 1.5.2

This Standard was found in the Sumerian city of Ur. It showes farmers and shepherds with their cattle and harvest (c. 2600 - 2400 BC).

Teacher's Tip:

If you need to write DIFFERENCES in your answer it is important that you ALWAYS mention BOTH things that you are comparing.

For example: What is the difference between a fish and a bird?

WRONG ANSWER: "a bird has feathers"

CORRECT ANSWER: " a bird has feathers and a fish has scales"

Fertile floods

• Once in a while the rivers would overflow, destroying everything in it's path
• Besides destruction also more fertile ground > the rivers would leave clay (silt) behind
• Clay is extremely fertile > farmers called the rivers life-giving miracles.

Source 1.5.3

Three steps in the flooding of the Euphrates River (present-day drawing).

The Sumerians studied the stars to understand the changing of seasons and to predict the floods of the rivers. They tried to calculate when the floods would occur. This is how they started calculating time. The number twelve was important to them. Nowadays one day is still two times twelve and a year has twelve months.

Fertile floods

The three steps in the flooding of the Euphrates River

1. Water slowly rises and overflows 
2. Water covers the riverbanks. 
3. The rivers leave pools of water and fertile ground behind. The farmers can grow their crops.

Source 1.5.3

Three steps in the flooding of the Euphrates River (present-day drawing).

The Sumerians studied the stars to understand the changing of seasons and to predict the floods of the rivers. They tried to calculate when the floods would occur. This is how they started calculating time. The number twelve was important to them. Nowadays one day is still two times twelve and a year has twelve months.

4. Drag the texts to the correct pictures.

Because of heavy rainfall, the water level in the river rises. This causes it to overflow and cover the land.

When the water level drops, the river leaves silt. The farmers use this to make their land fertile. They store some of the water in pools.

The river is at a low point.

There is not enough fertile soil for crops to grow.

An abundance of food

• Farmers dug small canals to spread the water further inland > this is called irrigation
• Because of irrigation and fertile silt (clay), farmers produced more food than they could eat > not throwing the agricultural surplus away but trading it. 

An abundance of food

• Not everyone needed to be a farmer > people specialized in what they were good at
• These craftsman trade their goods for food 
• A gold necklace for grain > this is called bartering

Source 1.5.6

A craftsman made these basket shaped hair ornaments of gold (around 2000 BC).

Source 1.5.7

Sumerian craftsmen working

6. Drag the following events in chronological order, from first to last.

Because of this agricultural surplus some people could 

specialise.

Some farmers learned that they could dig small canals to make more land fertile.

The craftsmen and farmers traded their wares at markets for food.

Some of these craftsmen started to live in cities; this is how agricultural-urban societies arose.

Because of irrigation and floods, farmers grew more food than they could eat.

These people became craftsmen when they specialised in making products with their hands.

The river overflowed and left fertile silt. Farmers grew their crops there.

Teacher's Tip:

If a question asks you to "use the source" it is important that you do that. 

If the source is a picture, you can describe what you SEE. You can start your answer with: 

"In the source I see......", or: "The source shows...."

If the source is a text, you can copy a passage from that text. You can start your answer with:

"The source says:......."

Villages become cities

• Trading and bartering happened at markets
• Craftsman built their workplaces and houses near the market > followed by shop owners, innkeepers and priests
• Villages became cities > not everyone worked as a farmer, some people worked and lived in the city > agricultural-urban society

Source 1.5.8

A trader tells a scribe (schrijver) about the products and amounts he is trading. In the back is a Sumerian Ziggurat (a temple tower). 

(present-day drawing).

Sumer and Egypt: the first civilisations

• Cities in the region had the same culture > same language, writing, laws, art and religion
• Civilisation > highly developed society
• A culture can spread through war and trade

 

Source 1.3.2

Artist’s reconstruction of the Sumerian city of Ur

(IMAGE by Artefacts Berlin)

Sumer and Egypt: the first civilisations

• Egyptians and Sumerians were civilisations.
• The Sumerians were ruled by different leaders and the strongest one would become king of Sumerian.
• Egyptians had a king called a Pharaoh.

 

Source 1.3.2

Artist’s reconstruction of the Sumerian city of Ur

(IMAGE by Artefacts Berlin)

only in Sumer

only in Egypt

in both

9. Read: "Sumer and Egypt: the first civilisations"

pharaoh

highly developed civilisation

 ruled by a king

Euphrates and Tigris

every city had a king

arose around river(s)

Write down one question about something from this lesson that you find difficult.

congratulations