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The Beginnings of
Human Society
The Beginnings of Civilization
The Beginnings of Civilization
The remains of one early civilization can be found at Skara Brae.
Archaeologists think that people settled here around 3500 B.C.
People used stone to build shelters for themselves and their animals.
Advantages of a Settled Life
When people hunted and
gathered, they were constantly
searching for food. When
people began producing their
own food by farming, they
could stay in one place because
they had a steady supply of
food. When they had more
than enough food, they had a
surplus, and could store the
extra food and use it another
time.
Farming Becomes More Advanced
When people began farming,
they discovered ways to
improve their crops. They
began to build irrigation
systems, which directed
water from one place to the
crops in the fields.
In Ancient Egypt, people
directed water from the Nile
River out to the fields so that
they could grow more food
than they could have
otherwise.
The Population Grows
When people began having surplus (extra) food, their
families grew. When humans were hunting and gathering,
they could not have many children, because they did not
have enough food to feed a lot of children. When humans
began farming, they had enough food to feed many
children. Therefore, families became larger.
The world population began growing rapidly. 10,000 years
ago the world population stood at about 10 million people.
7,000 years ago, the world population was about 66 million
people. Today, the world population is around 6 billion
people.
World Population - The Past 12,000 Years
Population (in millions)
7000
6000
Millions of People
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
10,000 BC
2000 BC
1000 BC
1 AD
1000 AD
1800 AD
Year
1930 AD
1960 AD
1975 AD
1987 AD
1999 AD
Early Villages and Towns
People lived in New Stone Age
farming settlements for a long
time before towns developed.
When the population increased,
the settlements grew larger, and
became towns. When there were
surpluses of food, some people
could stop farming and do other
things. Some people became
artisans, who were workers that
were skilled at making items such
as baskets, leather goods, tools,
pottery, or cloth.
The Growth of Cities
Cities could grow where
there was rich soil. The rich
soil meant that large
surpluses of food could be
maintained. Cities also could
grow where there was a
dependable source of
drinking water, and materials
to build shelter.
Many early cities developed
around rivers, such as the Nile
River in Egypt.
Harappa was an ancient city that was built along the
Indus River in what is now Pakistan.
The Earliest Cities
In villages, most people
were farmers. In cities,
however, workers had a
wide variety of
occupations. Most
worked at a craft. Cities
also differed from villages
in that cities had large
public buildings, places
for people to worship
their gods, and places to
buy and sell food.
Locations of the First Cities
Area
Date Founded
Southwestern Asia
3500 BC
Egypt
3100 BC
Pakistan
2500 BC
China
1700 BC
Central America
200 BC
Governments Form
As the population grew, and
people began living together in
cities, they began to need rules.
Someone needed to be
responsible for keeping the
order. People developed
governments to keep order and
to provide services. Workers in
the government settled disputes.
They also managed things like
irrigation projects.
The First Civilizations
Over time, some New Stone Age
societies grew into civilizations.
A civilization is a society that
has cities, a central government,
and workers who specialize in
various jobs. Civilizations also
have social classes. A
civilization has writing, art, and
architecture.
The Beginning of the Bronze
Age
As civilizations began to
develop, artisans
discovered that they could
get copper by melting
certain rocks at high
temperatures. This was
around 6600 BC.
By 3000 BC, artisans learned
to mix copper with tin to make
bronze. Bronze was much
harder than copper, so it was
used for making tools,
weapons, helmets, and shields.
Civilizations Spread With Trade
People began to bring their
valuable items to cities. They
brought pottery, tools,
weapons, cloth, spices, and
baskets to trade them in cities.
As new people began meeting
each other, they exchanged
ideas as well as goods.
People used carts built on
wheels (invented around 3500
BC) and ships to bring their
items to cities.
Social Classes Develop
A social class is a group that someone belongs to. A
social class is made up of people with similar
backgrounds, wealth, and ways of living.
In large cities, the king
was the most powerful
person. The next most
important class of
people were the priests
of the city’s religion.
The noble class was made up
of government workers and
military officers.
Traders, merchants, and
artisans were in a class below
the nobles.
The lowest class was made up
of common workers and
farmers.