CIVILIZATION Definition, Characteristics and . . . Where

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CIVILIZATION

• Definition, Characteristics and . . .

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Where from?

• From Latin civis, meaning citizen or townsman
• and so
• Seen as people who live in cities but the
  definition(s) more complex--maybe

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Civilization defined

• SIMPLE complex society
• COMPLEX where many people live in cities, get
  their food from agriculture
• BROADER can refer to any distinct society,
  whether complex and city-dwelling, or simple and
  tribal

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What characterizes?

• government or a bureaucracy
• formal social institutions
• trade
• technologies
• arts including some form of written communication

• agriculture
• generally permanent settlements
• division of labor - specialization of labor
• control environment
• social hierarchy

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EARLY CIVILIZATIONS
The earliest known civilizations originated in
the Nile valley, China's Peiligang culture
(discovered in 1977), Fertile Crescent, the Indus
Valley (namely Mehrgarh and Harappa) and West
Africa, where ancient peoples grouped together to
form the first developed societies between the
10th and 4th millennia BC. However ongoing
excavations reveal that an ancient civilization
may also have originated in Jomon (Japan) at
around the same time or before.
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Early Cities
POPULATION AROUND 3000 CIRCA 8000 BCE

• Jericho (Palestine)
• Catal Huyuk (Turkey)
• Loulan (China)

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What Brought About?

• Woman?
• Effeminate Men?
• Beer?
• Prostitutes? (Lilith)

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LATER SETTLEMENTS

• Mesopotamia (Fertile Crescent)
• Ancient Egypt
• Minoan
• Indus (Harappa Mohenjo-daro)
• Yellow River Valley (Longshan Yangshao)
• MesoAmerican Andean