Transcript essential elements of early civilizations

Wednesday, August 13, 2014
 Bell Assignment
 Complete Map
 Essential Elements of Civilization
 Examples of Essential Elements in Auburn
 Essential Elements of River Civilizations
Bell Assignment
 Pretend that it is 2,000 years from now and that
you are an archaeologist. Choose four items in this
room that might be found and explain what they
would tell future archaeologist about education in
the 21st century.
Map
 Label the following:
 Atlantic Ocean
 Pacific Ocean
 Indian Ocean
 Europe
Indus River
Nile River
Huang He River (Yellow River)
Tigris and Euphrates
 Asia
 Africa
 Australia
Use pages RA 4-5, Nile, Tigris, Euphrates page 99, Huang He
page 279
Reconstructing the Past
PART I OF TODAY’S LESSON
Why is History Important?
 History explains why things are the way they are.
 Learning about the past helps us understand the
present.
 Studying history helps us understand how we fit into
the human story.
Understanding the Past
 Understanding the past is very difficult. One of the
main reasons is that there isn’t enough evidence
(artifacts and written evidence).

Artifacts and written evidence provides us with the
information necessary to understand the past.
 Therefore, understanding the past requires a lot of
different talents and abilities.
Disciplines (Areas of Study)
 There are many areas of study that help us
understand the past. Four major:
 Archaeologist – Study artifacts to reconstruct the
past (They do the “dirty work”.)
 Paleontologist – Study fossils to learn about the past
 Anthropologist – Study the origin of human life and
development of people and their societies.
 Historians – study written accounts and artifacts.
Disciplines (Areas of Study)
 But it doesn’t stop there!
 Sometimes historians, archaeologist, and
anthropologist need additional help to uncover the
past.
 The receive help from:

Chemist, zoologist, GEOGRAPHERS, botanist, geologist, etc.
Historians Reconstruct the Past
 Historians are like detectives and must evaluate
evidence to determine its reliability.


Primary Sources
Secondary Sources
 Sometimes the written information that historians
study is not reliable because of the personal
experiences, cultural background, or political
opinion of the writer.

Bias - Having a certain opinion about something based on
your experiences
Essential Elements of
Civilizations
PART II OF TODAY’S LESSON
Geography and Early Civilizations
 Early civilizations, developed during the time period
known as the Neolithic Age (New Stone Age).
 During this time period, different cultures across the
globe begin to settle along rivers that provided fertile
farmland, which allowed them to build successful
farming communities.
 As the population of the farming communities grew,
the farming settlements united together, thus
creating some of the worlds earliest civilization.
Success of Early Civilizations
 Many civilizations developed during the New Stone
Age; however, some civilizations were not as
successful as others.


Why did some civilizations survive and others did not?
Many civilizations did not survive because they were lacking
key elements that allow civilizations to be highly organized and
able to provide for the security and welfare of its citizens.
Essential Elements of Civilizations
 What are key elements to have a successful
civilization?
 According to scholars, there are ten essential
elements for a successful civilization.

Cities and organized government, religions, social classes (job
specialization), art (architecture) and writing, and public
works, geography, and legacy
Partner Work
 With your partner, read about the essential elements
in Ch. 3 Lesson 2 (pg. 68 – 69). Then, write a
sentence stating the importance of each essential
element and provide an example of how that element
was used in an ancient society.
Examples to get you started. . .
 Cities were important to early civilizations because
they provided a central location for government and
trading.

Example: In early Mayan civilization, cities were a center of
government and religion. In addition, people created trading
markets near the city.
 Religions were important because they provided a
code of ethics and they unified people because of
their similar beliefs.

Example: Egyptians were unified through their belief that the
pharaoh was considered a king and their living god.
Thinking about early civilization and fairness. . .
 Answer the following questions with your neighbor:
 As early civilizations began to increase in
population, do you think fairness became an issue
for many people? What type of problems do you
think occurred in early civilizations?
 Which key elements do you think helped promote
fairness in early society?