River Valley Civilizations

Life in the Bronze Age

MESOPOTAMIA

Euphrates

Tigris

MESOPOTAMIA--people

Ancient Sumerians, who lived in the Mesopotamia area, settled in 3000 B.C. and

thrived until about 1700 B.C.

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MESOPOTAMIA--government

Mesopotamia was made up of city-states, which are individual cities that act like their own independent countries. Sumer was made up of many city-states like Uruk, Kish, and Ur.

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In the beginning, the priests ran the government. When Sumer went to war, however, the city chose a tough fighter to run the government and military. The commander was supposed to give the power back to the priests at the end of the war, but eventually, the commanders would not return the power. These commanders became full-time rulers or monarchs (kings). The power would pass down through their family who would continue to

rule.

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MESOPOTAMIA--religion

Sumerians believed in many gods. The belief in many gods is called polytheism. Sumerians

believed in about 3000 gods! They believed their gods had human-like qualities but also all

power. The people wanted to gods to help them in their day to day activities. To keep the gods happy, the people built ziggurats

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The ziggurat was the tallest and most important building for Sumerians. Priests would perform rituals at the top and they would give sacrifices of animals, food and wine to the gods.

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MESOPOTAMIA--record keeping

Sumerians had one of the earliest form of writing called Cuneiform. A scribe would use a stylus, a sharpened reed with a wedge-shaped point, and press the reed into wet clay tablets to create symbols. They would bake the clay tablets in the sun.

MESOPOTAMIA--specialized workers

Social hierarchy (levels):

Highest level-priests & king

Middle level-tradesmen, potters, metal workers, etc. (majority of society)

Lowest level- slaves, women and children:

Some children were sold into slavery to pay off parents’ debts

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MESOPOTAMIA--advanced technology

• Sumerians invented the wheel, the sail, and the plow.

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• They were the first to use bronze.

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• Sumerians had the first known maps, number system and writing system.

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• To build their walls, buildings and irrigation systems, the Sumerians developed arithmetic and geometry.

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INDUS VALLEY

Indus River

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This civilization

existed between

2500-1500 BC and then

mysteriously disappeared

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INDUS VALLEY--government

We don’t know a lot about their government.

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They did have a grid system (meaning their streets were set up in a grid just like they are in Utah).

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What might a grid system indicate about their government?

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INDUS VALLEY--religion

We have found religious artifacts that link the Indus culture to modern day Hinduism. These artifacts show that they believed in many gods

(polytheism) like Shiva.

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INDUS VALLEY--record keeping

There’s not much evidence to go on...

INDUS VALLEY--specialized workers

We know very little about Indus Valley and as a result must “infer” (or make an educated guess) as to what kind of workers Indus Valley had. If you know that Indus Valley citizens had pumbing, a religion and a grid system, what kind of jobs do you think that some people had in their civilization? List as many as you can

come up with!

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INDUS VALLEY--advanced technology

Anciently, they have faced the age old problem of plumbing: how to obtain water and remove human waste. Although we don’t know very much about Indus Valley, we do know that they had an advanced plumbing system. Every home had a bathroom and a toilet. This plumbing is comparable to the complex plumbing systems of the modern day 1800s!

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