Ancient Civilizations

1. Indus

1.1. there's mountains a desert and a river.

1.2. There are too few examples of each symbol to be sure of its meaning. Most experts think that these marks are a form of writing.

1.3. Valley people had a strong central government.

1.4. no one knows if there was a king who ruled.

2. Egypt

2.1. Nile River that leads to an ocean a lot of sand and there are some mountains.

2.2. Egyptian writing used hieroglyphics. A Hieroglyphic is a drawing or symbol that represents a word or a sound.

2.3. two kingdoms developed in Egypt. Legends say that Narmer united the two kingdoms in about 3000 B.C. This made him the first Pharaoh, or king, of a united Egypt.

2.4. Egypt’s bureaucracy and system of taxation were a model for later governments, including those of today.

3. CONCEPTUAL QUESTION: What is one thing that all four civilizations have in common?

4. Sumeria

4.1. there is a rivers and mountains all around sumeria and the rivers lead to the ocean.

4.2. this way of keeping records developed into one of the world’s first systems of writing.

4.3. military leaders kept control of the city- states even after war ended. These military leaders became the first kings of Sumeria.

4.4. Sumeria is the name given to the civilization that developed in the Mesopotamia region as city-states.

5. Huang

5.1. there is Huang he or yellow river that leads to the yellow sea and forests and mountains.

5.2. The Shang did not use an alphabet for their written words, which are called Characters. Instead, some characters were Pictographs, that is, pictures that represent words or ideas. By 1300 B.C., the Shang had a fully developed writing system.

5.3. Rule passed from brother to brother and from the youngest brother to his oldest son.

5.4. Oracle bones are animal bones or turtle shells carved with written characters that the Shang kings used to try to tell the future.