1. Social Structure & Family
1.1. Sumerians
1.2. Upper class contained nobles, priests, government officials and warrior
1.3. Merchants, traders and artisans made up a Middle or "Freeman" Class
1.4. They used slaves to do their herd work
1.5. Men were political leaders while the women helped take care of the children and help out with there home
1.6. Shang/Zhou
1.7. The shang kings where surrounded by a court or wealthy nobles who performed rituals to protect the kingdom
1.8. Farmers and warriors are middle class. Farmers are sometimes called upon to fight or help make buildings and palaces
1.9. The low-class are slaves which do most of the building in society
2. Economy & Trade
2.1. Sumerians
2.1.1. They started to make roads which made travel easier and they started trading more
2.1.2. They traded for ivory, gold, silver, and precious stones
2.1.3. They traded nesseacary products such as wheat, barley, and copper tools
2.1.4. Sumerians lacked many raw materials such as wood and metals. They had to trade woven textiles for metals, timber, and stone
2.2. Shang/Zhou
2.3. They based their trade on buying and selling goods that they needed
2.4. They had many rivers to use as trade like the Yellow river and the Yangzi River.
2.5. The Shangs had many slaves do do there work
2.6. The currency was cowery shell which they traded for with jade, bone, or metal
3. Government & Leaders
3.1. Shang/Zhou
3.1.1. Government and leaders
3.1.2. Strong monarchy with many governors
3.1.3. Zhou used the mandate of heaven which means the gods wanted the Shang dynasty not there
3.1.4. Shang kings were surround with advisors
3.1.5. The King appointed governors to help keep order in more distant parts of the country.
3.2. Sumerians
3.2.1. They had dynasties, a series of rulers in one family that went from generation togeneration
3.2.2. There was a god pleasing King that held many ceremonies for the Gods
3.2.3. The priests had a high status in the civilizations and performed rituals for the gods
4. Art & Education
4.1. Shang/Zhou
4.1.1. Writing
4.1.2. They used oracle bones and wrote on them
4.1.3. Bronze design motifs were sometimes created with repetitive stamps
4.1.4. The reduction of human sacrifices found in tombs is one way Zhou culture departed from its predecessor
4.1.5. perhaps the most famous of these schools was founded by the Confucius
4.2. Sumerians
4.2.1. Writing
4.2.2. They developed "Cuneiform"
4.2.3. They used sharp tools called styluses to make symbols on clay tablets
4.2.4. Sumerians had scribes who would write poems and literature
4.2.5. Art
4.2.6. Sumerians used architecture like ramps, arches, and columns which you could see on the ziggarouts
4.2.7. They also used cylinder seals engraved all around with detailed designs
5. Geography & Agriculture
5.1. Sumerians
5.2. They used the Tigris and Euphrates for irrigation of water to their crops
5.3. There land was mostly flatlands
5.4. They grew crops like wheat and barley and domesticated animals like sheep, goat, and ox's
5.5. They used things like canals, and shadufs for there irragation
5.6. Shang/ Zhou
5.7. Zhou had the yellow river for irrigation and water
5.8. Both dynasties had fertile soils, temperature climates, and isolated valleys
5.9. Southern china could grow crops like rice because of heavy rainfall
5.10. In the north it was more suited for growing wheat and millet because of the cooler and drier climate.
6. Religion
6.1. Sumerians
6.1.1. Polytheism
6.1.2. Gifts To the Gods Food and Drink and Rich Harvest and Raging Floods
6.1.3. Gods controlled all natural forces
6.1.4. They believed that the gods protected the city-state
6.2. Shang/Zhou
6.2.1. They believed in an afterlife because the rulers were buried with all their jewelry and servants
6.2.2. They would have meals to please their dead ancestors
6.2.3. advise was asked of deceased ancestors through oracle bones
6.2.4. the Zhou religion was much more abstract than the shang peoples
7. Science & Technology
7.1. Sumerians
7.1.1. Math And Science
7.1.2. There Math system is based off the number 60 which we still use today
7.1.3. They used geometry which they needed to make all of their complex structures
7.1.4. irrigation systems
7.1.5. They created the wheel which helped them through crops and transportaion
7.2. Shang/zhou
7.2.1. Technology
7.2.2. Irrigation systems made it easier to make more and more crops
7.2.3. Started to make roads to allow path ways or easier travel for them
7.2.4. Math and Science
7.2.5. They used geometry and trigonometry building all of the structures
7.2.6. They calculated with chips and tallies