1. Geography and Agriculutre
1.1. Sumerians
1.1.1. People were already farming in the flat swampy areas of southern Mesopotamia which was well suited for their agriculture.
1.1.2. A down fall to farming in Mesopotamia was the lack of rainfall. Therefore the water level in the Tigris and Euphrates depended on rainfall, if unexpected rain came it could flood crops and villages. If there was no rainfall crops would die out over time.
1.1.3. Tigris and Euphrates river often over flooded in the spring therefore leaving behind a fertile mud called silt. Often would grow wheat and barley. With eventually made the food population increase.
1.1.4. Over time they figured out how to deal with the rainfall problems and dug basins to store water, canals to carry water, and dikes to control flooding. These jobs called for organization and lead to the formation of leaders and government.
1.2. Shang/Zhou
1.2.1. Their villages and crop growing took place in china's river valley. The two major water sources were the Chang Jiang and the Huang He which both flowed east from Plateau of Tibet to the Yellow Sea.
1.2.2. There were annual floods from the river which made the soil very fertile due to the type of soils the river picked up, called loess.
1.2.3. Eastern China was covered with fertile soils,some regions being better than others. Southern China receives plenty of rainfall which is great for growing rice.
1.2.4. The rivers were then used for irrigation and the fertile soils for crop growing, which all helped China thrive. The mountains, desserts, and hills surrounding China also protected China from invasion.
2. Social Structure and Family Life
2.1. Sumerians
2.1.1. Upper class contains priests, nobles, government officials and warriors. Middle class also called the "freeman" class contains merchants, traders and artists. Then there was slavery.
2.1.2. Sumerian men and women developed distinct roles. Men made political decisions and laws while women stayed home and took care of the children.
2.1.3. In the houses of sumerians the husband and the son would be considered the minister of the house. If the husband were in debt with and wealthier men than himself he would often sell his family as slaves. The husband also has the right to divorce his wife.
2.1.4. The husband made the major decisions around the house including who the son or daughter marry.
2.2. Shang/Zhou
2.2.1. Most people spent their time in fields tending crops, from time time they were called in to fight in the army or to work on a project with the slaves such as building tombs, palaces or walls.
2.2.2. Shang ruling elite has free time do to thing such as hunt for sport, wealthy members often would collect expensive thing.
2.2.3. The upper class includes aristocracy and military, artisans and craftsman were considered the middle class, and peasants were at the bottom.
2.2.4. The oldest man in the house was considered head of household. Children were to be obedient and never talk back, if one person in the family did something wrong the whole family would be in disgrace.
3. Arts and Education
3.1. Sumerians
3.1.1. The writing was often in flux. Their writing was 'from bottom to top, but later changed to right to left layout. All orientations then were rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise.
3.1.2. Slowely changed from all linear letters to then having curves in the letters later called cunieform. Eventually some words looked/were very closely related to others.
3.1.3. Before writing there were clay token art pieces which were wrote on abstract shapes of clay. Also on tablets wrote works of literature and often poems in cuneiform.
3.1.4. They also had tained scribes who were educated to write who were mostly men and sometimes upperclass women. They were well trained and not something everyone could do. It moved their social class up.
3.2. Shang/Zhou
3.2.1. Bronze technology was a big part of art. Along the yellow river that ened up being the most advanced and liiterate cultures
3.2.2. One of the most distinctive and characteristic images decorating the bronze vessel was called taoti. It was an animal like mask. Used vessels in religious ceremonies.
3.2.3. Common animals used for the vessels were dragons,birds,bovine creatures, and a lot of geometric patterns.
3.2.4. Also used jade for art, but were lacking in the metal tools. Craftsman had full command of technicial language developed in late Neolithic cultures.
4. Economy and Trade
4.1. Sumerians
4.1.1. Sumerians lacked a lot of raw material such as many woods and metals. They would trade their woven textiles for metals, timber, and some stone.
4.1.2. The men and women often developed roles based on what group they were in. Men were often held political powers/made laws while women took care of the home and children. There were a few upper class women who received the educations and served as priestesses in the temples.
4.1.3. The Sumerians and Mesopotamians city-state wasm to a larger extent then most and was a very self-sufficent unit.
4.1.4. The city-state was viewed as a household for the Patron god which meant, in practice the temple had immerse degree of most control over economic activity.
4.2. Shang/Zhou
4.2.1. The shang economy was mostly based of their farming.
4.2.2. There was a lot of tension between the city Chengzhou and the Zhou
4.2.3. The supremacy was very good for the time china decided to split into 3
4.2.4. The Zhou divied into the Western Zhou when the capital was near xian, and the eastern zhou when the capital was near Louyang
5. Religion
5.1. Sumerians
5.1.1. They had more than 2,000 gods and goddess that have been identified this practiced polythesim.
5.1.2. The chief/main god varied from time to time. The Sumerians main god at the time was Enlin(the sky god).
5.1.3. The mesopotamians thought the "material" world as being deeply divine. Every city/town had their own god.
5.1.4. They worked very hard to build temples or ziggurats where the priest often drank/eat during house ceremonies.
5.2. Shang/Zhou
5.2.1. Each Shang tomb held many valuable items of bronze and jade. Along with the valuable items tombs also held many of sacrificed prisoners who were buried with the ruler.
5.2.2. The Shangs believed in afterlife, in which their ruler would still need his riches and servants. Therefore that is why they had to sacrifice prisoners.
5.2.3. They centered their personal and whole group religion around their ancestors. The offered gifts to their deceased ancestors in order to be happy and fulfilled in afterlife.
5.2.4. As apart from their worship they often asked their dead ancestors for advice. They did this by communicating through oracle bones, inscribed bits of animal bone or the shell of a turtle.
6. Government and Leaders
6.1. Sumerians
6.1.1. The priest of the Sumerians held great power in Sumer and initially governed the city states. As city states began to battle for dominance the war Chiefs began to rule as kings.
6.1.2. Many of the city-state Kings began to make dynasty's. These kings were the gods Chiefs representatives. Their government was based on monarchy and believed the Kings established rule through divine right.
6.1.3. In every city-state there was a building called a ziggurat, ziggurats were a place of worship and gatherings.
6.1.4. As Sumerians grew each city-state was not governed by one priest, one priest would rule multiple. Here you see a shift from independent cities to a unified nation.
6.2. Shang/Zhou
6.2.1. A strong monarchy ruled this era, at the capital the shang kings were surrounded by court or gathering of wealthy nobles who performed rituals to protect kingdom.
6.2.2. In order to for china to stay in order the king appointed governors to rule distant part of the kingdom. The king had at his disposal a large army.
6.2.3. When Zhou took over Shang their leaders came up an with an idea that they were ruled by the Mandate or Heaven, which means god supports a just ruler and would not allow anyone corrupt to hold power
6.2.4. Zhou was based on the feudal system. The emperor divided the land into fiefs which were ruled by his relatives.The ones who ruled the fiefs basically owned the farmers who worked their lands.
7. Science and Technology
7.1. Sumerians
7.1.1. The sumerians created several different new "technology" that helped them survive. One of the things that helped them most were the plow, the sail, clay bricks, the potters wheel, lamp making and metal working.
7.1.2. They developed a good amount of knowledge just by study the aspects of the earth. Plants,animals, and minerals have all come down to us which helped the sumerians with creating all there new technology.
7.1.3. The mesopotamians also showed a huge part in chemical processes in the fields.
7.1.4. With the chemical processes the learned how to make recipes and pigments.
7.2. Shang/Zhou
7.2.1. The shang/zhou were the most advanced in bronze technology but the Yellow River was a present day Henan province which emerged as the center of the most advanced and literate cultures.
7.2.2. The came up with the creation of making chinese bronzes which were made by the method known as piece-molding.
7.2.3. Although they were not confident with some of the things they created bronze working developed
7.2.4. After the years passed the japanese created pokemon and fuel efficient cars.