First Civilizations

The First Civilizations

The first civilizations. Sumer and Egypt, flourished beside great rivers between 5000 and 500 BC. Sumerian village prospered on the flat plains watered by the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, while the flooding waters of the River Nile left fertile silt for Egyptian farmers to sow their crops.

These large societies organized their resources. They developed irrigation systems to direct and control the floodwaters, and store them for later use. They invented the plow and the wheel, which they used for chariots and to make pottery. People made laws to govern society and developed their knowledge of subjects such as mathematics.

New groups in society, such as priests ans skilled craftspeople, began to emerge. The Egyptians and Sumerians exchanged local produce at regional centers, but they also traded outside their own countries for goods they needed, such as timber. They began to keep records of their trade, and early systems of writing developed. The fist civilizations were large and successful. They were the basis for the way society is organized today.

Jewels from afar

Trade in precious stones gave Sumerians jewelers new materials to use. This necklace is made from lapis lazuli from Afghanistan and carnelian from the Indus Valley.

Royal Skin

Egyptian royalty and priests sometimes wore the skins of exotic animals. Princess Nefertiabt wore the skin of a leopard.

Human Civilization. Photo by Elena.

Wind Power

By about 3200 BC, the Egyptian had invented sails to pwer their boats, rather than relying on oars. This enabled them to explore father for trade.

For the Queen's Court

The Egyptian Queen Hatshepsut sent a trade expedition wodn the Red Sea to the ancient land of Punt. The Egyptians loaded their ships with frankincese trees, elephants' tusks, ebony, gold, spices and exotic animals such as panthers.

Written Words

Ancient people inscribed pictures on stone and clay to record events, actions, or details of trade. This stone tablet is a very early example of record keeping in Sumer. Its pictures show how much grain was traded. Pictographs, however, soon became more abstract symbols. The Sumerians developed wedge-shaped cuneiform (from the Latin for wedge) characters, which they wrote on clay tablets with a pointed instrument called a stylus. The ancient Egyptians wrote on papyrus or inscribed their tombs and temples with a picture writing called hieroglyphs.