Civilization (Standard American) (Standard British, civilisation) is a kind of human society or culture; specifically, a civilization is usually understood to be a complex society characterized by the practice of agriculture and settlement in cities.
The earliest known civilizations (as defined in the traditional sense) developed from proto-civilized cultures in Mesopotamia between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in modern-day Iraq, the Nile valley of Egypt, while other civilizations arose in Elam in modern-day Iran, (Especially those parts considered to be the "Fertile Crescent"), the Mehrgarh and Sindhu Valley region of modern-day Pakistan and Northwest India, and the parallel development of Chinese civilizations in the Huang He River (Yellow River) and Yangtze River valleys of China, and on the island of Crete and in Mycenaean Greece in the Aegean Sea, Persia in modern-day Iran, as well as the Olmec civilization and the Caral civilization in modern day Mexico and Peru. The inhabitants of these areas built cities, created writing systems, learned to make pottery and use metals, domesticated animals, and created complex social structures with class systems. Proto-civilized cultures developed as a late stage of the Neolithic Revolution, and pioneered many of the features later associated with civilizations. The oldest granary yet found, for instance, dates back to 9500 BC and is located in the Jordan Valley. The earliest known settlement in Jericho (9th millennium BC) was a Pre-Pottery Neolithic A culture that eventually gave way to more developed settlements later, which included in one early settlement (8th millennium BC) mud-brick houses surrounded by a stone wall, having a stone tower built into the wall. In this time there is evidence of domesticated emmer wheat, barley and pulses and hunting of wild animals. However, there are no indications of attempts to form communities (early civilizations) with surrounding peoples. Nevertheless, by the 6th millennium BC we find what appears to be an ancient shrine and cult, which would likely indicate intercommunal religious practices in this era. Findings include a collective burial (with not all the skeletons completely articulated, jaws removed, faces covered with plaster, cowries used for eyes). Other finds from this era include stone and bone tools, clay figurines and shell and malachite beads. Despite considerable urban development in the Early and Middle Bronze Ages, these sites only became part of the fully civilized world around 1500 to 1200 BC when the pre-literate sites of Jericho and other cities of Canaan had become vassals of the Egyptian empire.
In Anatolia, the first urban complex has been identified at Çatalhöyük, having many of the characteristics found in later cities and towns in the Near East. It has been hypothesized that this culture came to an end when nearby forests were depleted of timber, a fate similar to that of the Anasazi in America. At Mersin, an early fortress has been identified guarding the Cicilian Gates trade route through the Taurus Mountains. At Hamoukar in Syria, evidence of an early battle has been found circa 4,500 BC, with those benefiting from the struggle being members of the Uruk culture from Southern Iraq. From Uruk comes the Epic of Gilgamesh, one of the earliest known literary works, which pairs the beastial Enkidu with the demigod king Gilgamesh in a story reflecting civilization's advent. Whilst civilization at Hamoukar and nearby Tell Brak previously had been independent from Southern Iraq, henceforth Southern Iraq developed more rapidly with a higher population density.
Various literate and pre-literate civilizations and proto-civilizations also developed in southern Sahel, Sudan and East African regions prior to European contact (for example, the Ghana Empire, the Mali Empire, the Songhai Empire, and the Empire of Great Zimbabwe).
2007-12-27 00:48:47
·
answer #1
·
answered by Maggie 3
·
1⤊
0⤋
The first clear signs of fixed settlements come from an area of mainly southeast Asia termed the Fertile Crescent. It spreads roughly from Iraq across to Egypt, and pushes north into Turkey. This is where many of the most important crop plants and domestic animals were first exploited, as it also happened to be where their wild forms were available. Villages were appearing from somthing like 9,000 years ago, and you could start talking about cities by at least 5,000 years ago.
However, other civilisation centres arose partly fuelled by some of the same domesticated food sources and partly using other resources. For example, the new crops and animals spread east into China to some extent, but people there also added domesticated rice to the inventory. The Indus Valley of India was also hosting cities around five thousand years ago.
The development of Central and South American cities was a later episode, and entirely unrelated to events initiated in the Fertile Crescent. Civilization there dates back perhaps 2,500 years. Those civilizations, the Maya provide a well known example, were 'created' independently. Consequently, it could be well argued that thinking in terms of a single origin is too simplistic.
As it happens, Father Christmas brought me a book of relevance to this a couple of days ago. So far, I've only read around 100 pages of it, but they leave me looking forward to the next 400. It examines the whys and wherefores of the development of civilizations, and seeks to find reasons for power becoming concentrated in civilisations with Eurasian origins. For example, why did Spaniards overwhelm the Incas, and the Incas completely fail to even consider the possibility of invading Spain? Obviously, they had no idea Spain existed, but why where they unable to develop the means to find that out? Spain built fleets of ocean going ships but, despite having the physical resources for such things, South American peoples didn't cross the Atlantic.
Wikipedia
Jared Diamond (1997), Guns, Germs and Steel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guns,_Germs,_and_Steel
2007-12-27 01:00:50
·
answer #2
·
answered by KTDykes 7
·
0⤊
0⤋