Ancient Civilizations

1
Ancient Civilizations

• India, China, Mesoamerica

2
Indus Civilization

• Developed between 3000-2500 BCE
• Two largest cities were Harappa and Mohenjo Daro
• Well planned cities
• Running water, sewers, and brick buildings
• Grid pattern
• Pictographic writing (still undeciphered)
• Has 400 symbols
• Clear social classes
• Different types of houses wealthy 2-3 stories,
  common people one room

3
Economics

• Advanced Agriculture
• Wheat, rye, peas, rice (maybe)
• Domesticated animals chickens, cattle, goats,
  sheep
• Abundant crops led to job specialization in
  cities (like EM)
• Craftsmen less skilled than Mesopotamia (stone
  arrows, poor spears)
• Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro
• Connected by villages
• Major trading centers with China, SE Asia,
  Southern India, and Mesopotamia
• Jade and jewels from SE Asia and China
• Wheeled carts for transportation
• Mesopotamia for olive oil, wool, and leather
• Persia for gold, silver, and copper

4
End of Indus

• By 1500 BCE civilization had declined (unsure as
  to why drought, earthquakes changed course of
  river, overuse of land, disease)
• 1500 BCE a Indo-European group, the Aryans,
  overtook India
• Culture of Aryans blended with the Indians
• Sanskrit literary language of India
• Vedas became major books of Hinduism
• Placed native Indians into inferior class
• People divided into 4 Varnas and each Varna into
  sub-classes called Jati
• At the bottom were the Pariahs or Untouchables

Scholars and priests
Rulers and warriors
Professionals
Servants
Pariahs
5
Huang He Civilization

• Most isolated of the river valleys
• Huang He (Yellow River) and Chiang Jiang
  (Yangtze) rivers flood quite often
• Xia (shah) Dynasty 4000 Years ago
• first, legendary dynasty
• Ruler Yu
• Irrigation and drained floodwaters
• Beginning of Chinese civilization
• No written records existence is by legend

6
Shang Dynasty (1766-1122 BCE)

• first to leave written records
• Writing Oracle Bones
• Written on bone and used to foretell future
• Farming society ruled by a king and an
  aristocracy
• bronze metallurgy
• Central rule to oversee irrigation and flood
  control
• Walled citied, elaborate palaces and tombs
• Ancestor worship developed

7
Zhou Dynasty (1122-256 BCE)

• Pronounced joe
• 800 years, longest dynasty
• Mandate of Heaven
• Claimed they overthrew Shang by will of gods
• Took steps to centralize government, but local
  leaders ignored central government
• Set up an agricultural system (nobles peasants)
  A.K.A. feudalism
• Culture
• Mandarin is standardized as language
• Laozi and Confucius both lived during Zhou
• Emphasis on veneration of ancestors
• If you honored family, society would function well

Confucius asking Laozi about etiquette
8
More Zhou

• Technology
• Chopsticks
• Iron Metallurgy
• Use cavalry crossbow
• Expanded Chinese territory to Yangtze River
  Valley (wheat rice growing areas added)
• Increased food production and use of iron
• Lost control of western half of empire, last two
  centuries known as era of warring states

9
Qin Dynasty (221-206 B.C.)

• Ruler Qin Shi Huangdi (1st Emperor) brutal
  ruler
• Qin name applied to countrys name
• Unified the Chinese world
• Legalism favored government force viewed human
  nature as evil
• A highly centralized government
• Standardized coinage, weights, and measures
• Irrigation

10
Qin Shi Huangdi

• Uniform writing system, a law code
• Manufacture of silk cloth is encouraged
• Nucleus of the Great Wall is constructed
• Burned books and attacked culture
• National census, tax, and labor service
• Downfall high taxes, attacks on intellectuals,
  killed men, brutal punishments, revolts after
  Qins death

11
Mesoamerica

• Not a river valley, small rivers and streams near
  ocean
• Did not have wheel or large animals for labor,
  llama biggest animal
• Olmecs
• 1500 BCE settled around Gulf of Mexico
• Made figurines out of jade and dressed based on
  status
• Polytheistic
• Built Colossal Heads
• Dont know why they declined
• Chavin, early civilization in the Andes
• Ceramics, textiles, gold
• Constructed religious shrines

12
Dailies Shang, Zhou, Qin

• Why did Qin Shi Huangdi burn books?
• What is feudalism?
• What was the importance of the Xia dynasty?
• Describe the Era of Warring States.
• Why did the Chavin not invent the wheel?