Defining Characteristics
This complex way of life, characterized by urban settlements and a division of labor, derives its name from the Latin word civis, meaning "citizen."
What is Civilization?
This skilled worker makes goods by hand, such as pottery or baskets, and their specialized crafts helped cities become centers of trade.
Who is an Artisan?
Roman engineers built these structures to supply freshwater to towns for improved sanitation and hygiene.
What is an Aqueduct?
This material, a hard volcanic rock highly valued as a cutting tool, was excavated and traded by Teotihuacano merchants as a major export.
What is Obsidian?
This Bronze Age civilization, located in modern Pakistan, India, and Afghanistan, suffered environmental collapse due to unpredictable monsoon rains and drought.
What is the Indus Valley / Harappan Civilization?
These large population centers, or cities, are the primary characteristic of a civilization, allowing other attributes to develop around them.
What are Urban Areas?
This title was held by the Ancient Egyptian kings who practiced divine kingship, claiming to be human incarnations or representatives of the gods.
Who is the Pharaoh?
Built between 1100 and 1450, these ruins served as the capital of the Kingdom of Zimbabwe and remain a key symbol of modern Zimbabwe’s political identity.
What is Great Zimbabwe?
The world’s oldest known form of this essential component of shared communication is Sumerian, dating to around 3100 B.C.E.
What is Written Language?
Known as the "cradle of civilization," this region in modern Iraq saw the rise of the earliest cities and the invention of writing.
What is Mesopotamia?
The consistent production of this resource, made possible by intensive agriculture, was necessary for people to specialize in non-agricultural work.
What is Surplus Food?
In medieval Europe, these people worked the land and belonged to the lowest economic class, having almost no money or land.
Who is a Serf?
This large temple complex in the Khmer capital of Angkor was originally constructed in the early 12th century as a series of shrines to the Hindu god Vishnu.
What is Angkor Wat?
The most familiar form of early Sumerian writing, made up of different collections of wedge shapes, used to keep track of laws and economic exchanges.
What is Cuneiform?
This city in modern Mali served as an important trading center where residents specialized in commerce involving gold, ivory, and enslaved people.
What is Timbuktu?
This is the complex characteristic where different people perform specialized tasks, such as being a scribe, doctor, or artisan.
What is Division of Labor / Specialized Labor?
Highly educated elites in Mesopotamia who recorded important information, such as laws and taxes, on clay tablets using cuneiform.
Who is a Scribe?
These massive structures were built by the Egyptians as monuments to deceased rulers and by early American societies as platforms for temples.
What is a Pyramid?
This complex system of knotted strings, varying in color and pattern, was used by the Inca civilization for accounting and conducting population censuses.
What is Khipu?
This event, potentially caused by the eruption of the Thera volcano, led to a massive wave that diminished the population and trading capabilities of the Minoan civilization.
What is a Tsunami?
This institution, relying on administration or bureaucracy, was necessary to keep order in soaring city populations and mobilize resources and labor.
What is Government?
This term refers to the Roman rulers, such as Hadrian and Constantine, who sometimes originated from the far-flung Roman territories, reducing conflict with Rome.
Who is an Emperor?
In Mesopotamia, these structures served as platforms for temples, distinguishing them from Egyptian pyramids.
What is a Ziggurat?
This language of ancient Rome, spread throughout southern Europe, is the root of the "Romance languages" like Spanish and French.
What is Latin?
The Ancestral Puebloan civilization developed apartment-like structures called cliff dwellings and large urban areas known by this Spanish name for town.
What is a Pueblo?