Characteristics of Civilization (SS.6.W.2.3)
These are the 5 main characteristics that define a complex society or civilization.
What are advanced cities, specialized workers, complex institutions, record keeping, and advanced technology?
Humans lived this lifestyle during the Paleolithic Era, constantly moving from place to place in search of food.
What is a nomadic (or hunter-gatherer) lifestyle?
Having more food than a population immediately needs to survive is called this, and it was essential for population growth.
What is a food surplus?
Meaning "between the rivers," this region in the Fertile Crescent was home to the world's first urban civilizations
What is Mesopotamia?
These imaginary lines run east-west around the globe but measure distances north or south of the Equator.
What are latitude lines (or parallels)?
The invention of writing (like Cuneiform) fulfilled this specific characteristic of civilization used for tracking taxes, laws, and trade.
What is record keeping?
This major shift—the transition from hunting and gathering to farming—marked the beginning of the Neolithic Era.
What is the Agricultural Revolution (or Neolithic Revolution)?
This development allowed farmers to create stronger plows and weapons, replacing softer stone and wooden tools.
What is metallurgy (or metalworking / the Bronze Age)?
Developed by the Sumerians using wedge-shaped marks on clay tablets, this was the world's first writing system.
What is Cuneiform?
These imaginary lines run north-south from pole to pole but measure distances east or west of the Prime Meridian.
What are longitude lines (or meridians)?
Having extra food allowed people to abandon farming and train as craftsmen, priests, or government officials—a process known by this term.
What is job specialization (or specialized workers)?
Unlike hunter-gatherers who built temporary shelters, agricultural communities built these long-term housing structures because they didn't need to move.
What are permanent settlements?
Farming allowed populations to explode because a single plot of land could feed significantly more people than this previous method.
What is foraging (or hunting and gathering)?
This Babylonian king created one of the earliest and most complete written codes of law, famous for the principle of "an eye for an eye."
What is Hammurabi?
Located at $0^\circ$ latitude, this line divides the Earth into the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.
What is the Equator?
Government and organized religion are examples of these long-lasting patterns of organization in a community.
What are complex institutions?
Early agriculturalists gained a reliable food supply by taming wild animals and raising crops, a process known as this.
What is domestication?
The discovery of smelting copper and tin together created this strong alloy, giving a name to the era following the Stone Age.
What is bronze?
These massive, stepped pyramid-temples were built at the center of Mesopotamian city-states to honor their primary deities.
What are ziggurats?
Located at 0 degree longitude, this line passes through Greenwich, England, and divides the Earth into the Eastern and Western Hemispheres.
What is the Prime Meridian?
Unlike simple villages, these served as major centers of trade, culture, and governance for a large surrounding region.
What are advanced cities?
While hunter-gatherers had a varied diet and relatively equal social status, early agricultural settlers faced these two main new challenges.
What are disease spread (due to living close together/with animals) and social inequality (or susceptibility to crop failure/famine)?
This engineered process of bringing water to crops transformed dry landscapes into fertile farmland, allowing permanent settlements to flourish.
What is irrigation?
This Akkadian ruler became history's first empire builder by conquering and uniting the independent city-states of Sumer.
Who is Sargon of Akkad (Sargon the Great)?
When writing geographic coordinates (e.g., 33 N, 44 E to pinpoint ancient Babylon), this coordinate must always be listed first.
What is latitude?