1. Arts and Education.
1.1. Sumerian
1.1.1. Sumerian arts was religious themed. the materals they used where shells, capis lazuli, limestone and gold. created a form of writing called cuneiform.
1.2. Shang/Zhou:
1.2.1. The Shang/Zhou mastered bronze technology. Shang was the first culture to have a fully developed writing system. the Shang dynasty is the earliest period in china for which textual and archaeological evidence.
2. Science and Technology.
2.1. Sumerian
2.1.1. The Sumerians invented the wheel and the pottery wheel. also invented cuniform writing system. they divided the hour into 60 minutes and the minute into 60 seconds. other examples of Sumerian technology include bags, harnesses, harpoons, quivers, scabbards and math systems.
2.2. Shang/Zhou
2.2.1. The Shang/Zhou had a large verity of sciences and technology. Some examples of their technology and their science are as followed. glass production, dyeing of yams and woven materials, like silk and linen. They calculated using chips and tallies. for math they had geometry and trigonomerty. they used fertalizers and pestasides. along with description of healing methods
3. Government and Leaders.
3.1. Shang/Zhou
3.1.1. The government was a monarchy in which the king was both lawmaker and judge so no-one dared to argue with him. He ruled by force, and anyone who transgressed the king's laws would be killed immediately by his soldiers. The decision on who should be king was usually taken by force of who had the most power.The last king of the Shang dynasty, Shang Chou, was a cruel man known for his methods of torture. Shang Chou was ousted by the rebel leader Wu-wang in 1111 B.C.E.
3.2. Sumerian
3.2.1. The Sumerian government was principally a bureaucracy. The monarchy effectively held power over great areas of land and diverse peoples by having a large and efficient "middle management." This middle management, which consisted largely of priests, bore all the responsibility of surveying and distributing land as well as distributing crops. There was never a Sumerian empire and power constantly shifted between cities. There were many leaders like Hammurabi who made the code of laws very sucessful
4. Social Structures and Family Life.
4.1. Sumerian
4.1.1. - Upper class contained nobles, priests, government officials and warriors. - Merchants, traders and artisans made up a Middle or "Freeman" Class. - Slavery
4.2. Shang/Zhou
4.2.1. Like many other ancient cultures, the Shang created a social pyramid, with the king at the top, followed by the military nobility, priests, merchants, and farmers. Burials were one way in which the social classes were distinguished.
5. Economy and Trade.
5.1. Shang/Zhou
5.1.1. The serfs and slaves preformed all economic functions of society. Main income came from farming or the harvest of crops. Many farmers also knew how to cultivate the silkworm and weave its tread into beautiful cloth which would be used for clothing. Silk later became China’s main export. The artisans formed another group of the economic structure. Many artisans manufactured weapons, ritual vessels, jewelry, and other items of interest.
5.2. Sumerian
5.2.1. Jobs included pottery makers, stonecutters, bricklayers, metal smiths, farmers, fishers, shepherds, weavers, leather-workers, and sailors. The wheel was invented for carts, chariots, and pottery making.Iron was smelted about 2500 BC. Seals had been used to stamp a carved insignia on clay before cylindrical seals became widespread for labeling commodities and legal documents. Pictographic writing was first used by the Sumerians about 3400, and by 3000 BC this had evolved into cuneiform words and syllables. The Sumerian economy was based on agriculture, which was influenced by major technological advances in Mesopotamian history.Early Sumerian homes were huts built from bundles of reeds, which went on to be built from sun-baked mud bricks because of the shortage of stone.
6. Religion.
6.1. Sumerian
6.1.1. Sumerians have their roots in the worship of nature, such as wind and water. They found it important to bring order to what they didn't understand, and concluded a greater force was at work.
6.2. Shang
6.2.1. In the inscriptions we find the names of deified ancestors - former kings - that were worshipped and asked for help by the ruling kings of Yin. An integral part of the Shang religion was the ancestor worship that became later the core of Confucianism and Chinese thinking.
7. Geography and Agriculture.
7.1. Sumerian
7.1.1. 6000 B.C., Sumeria was settled in Mesopotamia between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers for its water supply
7.2. Shang
7.2.1. Approximately, Shang controlled areas on the North China Plain, with tis capital, Yin, after 1384 BCE