1. Social Structures and Family Life
1.1. Sumeria
1.1.1. Men would work while the women stayed home and took care of the children and things around the house such as cleaning.
1.1.2. Some of the upper-class women would get educations and serve as priestesses in the temples.
1.1.3. Both men and women both had very strict roles.
1.2. Shang/Zhou
1.2.1. Shang:China was ruled by a strong Monarchy.
1.2.2. Started growing crops about 9,000 years ago.
1.2.3. Earliest chinese was ruled by a dynasty called Xia.
1.2.4. No one has found evidence about the Xia so no one knows that it even existed.
2. Economy and Trade
2.1. Sumeria
2.1.1. Sumerians gathered most of their materials for their buildings and art through trade.
2.1.2. They lacked materials such as wood and metals. To get these materials they had to trade with people from Southwest Asia and beyond.
2.1.3. Sumerian men and women developed certain roles they did. Men worked and had the power while women stayed home and took care of the children they had.
2.1.4. Upper class women got to get an education and served as priestesses in temples.
2.2. Shang/Zhou
2.2.1. Worried that the Chinese people would not accept them. To be accepted they needed to introduce the idea that they were ruled by the Mandate of Heaven.
2.2.2. They would only accept and support a just ruler, And not anyone who has the power.
2.2.3. Shang was overthrown because they had lost the gods favor.
2.2.4. Later the Chinese used the Mandate Heaven to describe the Dynastic cycle.
3. Religion
3.1. Sumeria
3.1.1. Sumerians practiced Polytheism. The worship of many gods. They believed that the gods controlled all the natural forces.
3.1.2. The Sumerians believed that a god protected each city-state.
3.1.3. The Sumerians believed that the gods were like humans in many ways. They ate, drank, fell in love, and married; but at the same time they held massive power. They could cause natural disasters or bring rich harvests.
3.1.4. The Sumerians wanted to please the gods. People built Temples and Ziggurats where Priests and Priestesses offered the Gods food and drinks and held ceremonies.
3.2. Shang/Zhou
3.2.1. Believed that gods supported their ruler
3.2.2. Shang believed in an after life in which a ruler would still need his riches and servants.
3.2.3. Historians knew about the Shang from studying royal tombs.
3.2.4. Shang religion centered around the idea of ancestor worship. They offered gifts just to keep the ancestors happy and fulfilled in the afterlife.
4. Geography and Agriculture
4.1. Sumeria
4.1.1. People started farming in southern Mesopotamia as early as 5500 B.C In the spring, Tigris and Euphrates rivers flooded leaving behind a fertile mud.
4.1.2. Both the Tigris and Euphrates river in Turkey flow south through Iraq to the Persian Gulf. The area between these two rivers can be called Mesopotamia, which means "Between the rivers" in Greek.
4.1.3. Farming in southern Mesopotamia was sometimes challenging because that region received very little rain.
4.1.4. In southwest Asia has fertile land that forms an oasis in the midst of deserts and mountains; Which can also be called Fertile Crescent.
4.2. Shang/Zhou
4.2.1. Located in the Huang He Valley.
4.2.2. Farmers learned new techniques that increased the size of harvest.
4.2.3. Shang often asked their ancestors for advice if they needed it.
5. Arts and Education
5.1. Sumeria
5.1.1. Sumerian writing is called cuneiform To write Sumerians would use sharp objects called Styluses. It produced wedge shaped symbols on clay tablets.
5.1.2. Cuneiform was first used to make Business accounts and other records.
5.1.3. They wrote works of laws, poems, songs, and stories. Sumerians paid scribes, or writers, to create written documents. To be a scribe took many years of schooling but raised your social class. Most were men, but there were few woman.
5.1.4. The Sumerians learned Geometry which was used to build houses, made wheels to use for cars. They learned to make a plow and learned to made new, stronger tools out of bronze.
5.1.5. Sumerian architecture included arches, ramps, and columns which were very clear on the ziggurat.
5.2. Shang/Zhou
5.2.1. Oracle bones were used while writing.
5.2.2. They used picture symbols to represent objects or ideas.
5.2.3. They were able to build big structures such as tombstones.
5.2.4. Shang also created one of the systems for money, they used it.
6. Science and Techology
6.1. Sumeria
6.1.1. Sumerians used a math system based on the number 60. They learned Geometry for building structure purposes.
6.1.2. Sumerians invented the wheel for Pottery and new vehicles.
6.1.3. Sumerians also learned how to use bronze to improve their tools and make their weapons stronger.
6.1.4. Sumerians kept track of their medical knowledge and even performed basic surgery.
6.2. Shang/Zhou
6.2.1. Learned new techniques for bigger harvests which led to food surpluses.
6.2.2. Growth of big cities led to the creation of roads and canals.
6.2.3. Shang began the use of chopsticks that are now used in china.
7. Government and Leaders
7.1. Sumeria
7.1.1. Priests governed the city-states at one point and held a high status.
7.1.2. As the city-states battled for dominance, war chiefs began to rule as kings.
7.2. Shang/Zhou
7.2.1. Shang: China was ruled by a strong monarchy.
7.2.2. They were afraid that the chinese would not accept them.
7.2.3. Shang was a large society, they spent most of their time tending to their crops.
7.2.4. On their free time activity they would sometimes hunt for sport.