Indus River Valley
Culture
- They made terracotta figurines of girls in dancing poses out of gold and stone
- terracotta figurines of animals like cows, bears, monkeys and dogs
- gold jewelry
- in the mature period the animal depicted was part bull part zebra with horns
- crafts like shell working, ceramics,agate and glazed steatite bead making, used in making necklaces, bangles, and other ornaments
- had make-up and toiletry items
- skilled in pottery, weaving and metal working
- bowls made of silver and bronze
- toys: small carts, bird shaped whistles, and toy monkeys that slide down a string
Name of People
- Harappan Civilization
- Brahmins (priests and the king)
- Kshatriyas (warriors and aristocrats-rulers)
- Vaishyas (cultivators, artisan, merchants)
- Shudras (peasants and serfs)
Writing System
- Between 400-600 distinct Indus symbols found on seals, small tablets, ceramic pots, and a sign board which is hung over the gate of the inner citadel of the Indus city of Dholavira
- The were a literate society
- typical Indus inscriptions are 4-5 characters in length
What they wore
- Men and women both wore colored robes
- Women wore gold and precious stones for jewelry
GEOGRAPHY-
- Southwest Asia
- Present Day Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Iran, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Bhutan
- Largest ancient civilization
- Natural Borders of the Himalayas and the Arabian Sea sheltered the flat plains from attacks and disease
- The Indus river system branched out into 7 more great rivers, of them exist today
- The summer monsoon season provide the river and the valley with much needed moisture
- It was green and heavily forested
- Perfect for growing wheat and barley, developed distinct copping techniques
- The Indus River Valley is a diverse region when it comes when it comes to the geography of the area.
- The region spans from deserts, mountains, jungles and forests.
- It can be extremely dry or really wet during the monsoon season.
- The Himalayas provided protection from invasions from the north and other mountain ranges protect in the east and the west.
- The river provided an excellent source of transportation and trade.
- The river provided fertile soil to grow crops
-the Indus had well organized cities, some of the best known to date
-houses were one or two stories high, made of baked brick, with flat roof, and were just about identical. each was built around a courtyard, with windows overlooking the courtyard. the outside walls had no windows. Each home had its own private drinking well and its own private bathrooms. Clay pipes led from the bathrooms to sewers located under the streets. These sewers drained into nearby rivers and streams.
-homes were set up in perfect grid patterns comparable to that of present day New York City
-contained the world's first sanitation system
-The advanced architecture of the Harappans is shown by their impressive dockyards, granaries, warehouses, brick
Mesopotamia
- greek for the land between 2 rivers
- Pythagorean Theorem and 1st government
- Tigris and Euphrates
- trade and commerce
- baskets & pottery
- Euphrates-calm
- cities on bank
- irrigation crops minerals, grazing animals
- flooding, cities along river would abandon, change courses without notice
- tigris- fast and violent
- 3000 gods, write on clay, buriying people with items, gods decided what crops to grow
- 1st religion to be recorded, believed the world was flat, believed water covered the entire earth
- monthly festivals based on phases of the moon, phase of the annual agriculture cycle
- geograpy-located in fertile crescent, is centered around Euphrates west and tigris east
- boardering countries iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Turkey
- water and warm climate and fertile soil
- lack of resources few trees little rain fall, traded their surplus for stone wood and metal
- fertile land seasonal rain
- worlds 1st cities began around 4000-3500 BC
- started with the emergence of ancient urban societies
- Ashur modern day iraq used for religious capitol
- nineveh oldest assyrian city
Nile River
- 4,160 miles long
- located in africa flows through egypt, sudan, uganda,
- greek word neios means river valley
- life depended on the river, birds, and crocodiles, provided resources, looked as the highway of transportation.
- trading was easy, they set up trade routes with cyprus, crete,
- egyptians, lived along both sides of river, 3 society classes
- dark skin, dark hair, men wore skirts and robes, women wore skirts and dresses, if you had money you wore sandals,
- religion based on nature sun god re or ra, god of nile hapi
- believed in life after death
- 40 million people
Yellow River
- Northern border of China
- supports people today as well as back then
- yellow clay "loess"
- 3000 miles long empties into pacific ocean
- The river was very prone to floods
- great food producing areas 10 percent of land in china is suitable for farming
- Couldn't sell and trade very well because of mountains. self sufficient
- Cradle of Chinese civilization
- many gods
- women couldn't own property
- Shang King, city of Anyang
- Separate territories
- Family was very important, father was the head
- chose marriages and occupations of children
- Didn't have a written language for a very long period of time
- Yin was the capitol of the Shang Dynasty
- river was very useful to city
- Shang, a walled city to protect from attacks
Emperors and Kingdoms
- Started out on rivers
- Indus River, none known
- China Yellow River, First known dynasty is the Xia. known for black pottery
- Shang dynasty, most known. well known for bronze work. Human sacrifices, brother to younger brother
- Western Zhou Father son kingdom passing
- Eastern Zhou relocated when western Zhou was attacked
- Mesopotamia, river had high banks
- Babylon nation and dynasty, Hammurabi
- Hammurabi created Babylon empire, didn't last long, he died
- Neo Babylonia empire, taken over by Roman Empire
- Egypt, pharaohs were buried in pyramids easy to rob
- Middle kingdom was the golden age, arts trade and literature flourished, hidden tombs
- The new kingdom, expansion period became a world power buried in the valley of kings
The Decline and the Early River Valley Civilizations
Fall of Mesopotamian Empires
- they were known as the Akkadian Empire-Babylonian Empire
- fell in 1950BC, they were attacked by Amorites, unknown why they couldn't defend themselves
- Babylonian Empire/Dynasty
-when there leader, Nebuchadnezzar died he had many successors that didn't last long and Babylionian empire callapsed to the Romans
End of Ancient Egypt Empire
- Along Nile River
- most powerful during the Ramesside Period
- invaded & conquered by foreign powers such as the Libyans, Nubian...
- fell to the Romans
Early Yellow River Valley Civilizations
- The Xia Dynasty was the first ever recorded chinese civilization. Their culture subsided due to famine and being overrun by Shang Synasty....the king was killed by leader of Zhou Clan
Indus Valley Civilization
- Floods destroyed the irrigation system and the buildings
- constant flooding caused the people to stop taking care of their civilization and crops
- they built dams which flooded cities and plains has no more crop land
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