1. Social Structure & Family Life
1.1. Sumeria
1.1.1. Children generally, well cared for, also could be sold into slavery for debt payments
1.1.2. Women could do most of the things men could do
1.1.3. Marriage was usually an arranged event between family elders
1.1.4. Music was an important part of daily life. Sumerians used many instruments including harps, pipes, drums, and tambourines
1.1.5. Sumerian instruments
1.2. Shang/Zhou
1.2.1. If one member of a family did something wrong, the entire family was in disgrace
1.2.2. Women could not do as much as men and could not be a leader
1.2.3. Inside the walled cities lived the rulers, priests, and warriors. Merchants and craftsmen lived in mud houses built up against the outside walls of the cities. Farmers lived in nearby villages.
1.2.4. The young would obey anything the elders say without saying a word
1.2.5. Shang/Zhou city
2. Economy & Trade
2.1. Sumeria
2.1.1. Jobs included pottery makers, stonecutters, bricklayers, metal smiths, farmers, fishers, shepherds, weavers, leather-workers, and sailors
2.1.2. The Sumerians used slaves, although they were not a major part of the economy
2.1.3. The Sumerian economy was based on agriculture
2.1.4. The Epic of Gilgamesh refers to trade with far lands for goods such as wood that were scarce in Mesopotamia
2.1.5. Sumerian Agriculture
2.2. Shang/Zhou
2.2.1. The main source of income came from farming or the harvest of crops
2.2.2. Many farmers also knew how to cultivate the silkworm and weave its tread into beautiful cloth which would be used for clothing
2.2.3. Most of the work was done by the peasants, the nobles just ordered them around
2.2.4. Shang rulers attached great importance to agriculture
2.2.5. Silk weaving
3. Science & Tech.
3.1. Sumeria
3.1.1. They invented the wheel to help with both vehicles and pottery
3.1.2. They collected medical information and even preformed surgery
3.1.3. First people to use a plow
3.1.4. Invented bronze which was used in machines and tools
3.1.5. A wheel made by the sumarians
3.2. Shang/Zhou
3.2.1. The first people to discover magnitism
3.2.2. The fist people to gather silk from silkworms
3.2.3. Acupuncture was a medical practice used by the Zhou
3.2.4. Made most of their tools out of iron. The most important resource to them
3.2.5. Acupuncture
4. Arts & Edu.
4.1. Shang/Zhou
4.1.1. made oracle bones, which were inscribed bits of bone or shell
4.1.2. metal work in china was mostly done in bronze before the zhou dynasty, until they discovered iron, which became the backbone of their economy
4.1.3. early shang texts used picture symbols to represent ideas or objects
4.1.4. shang astronomers made a very acurate calender of the moon
4.1.5. Famous Shang and Zhou art
4.2. Sumeria
4.2.1. cylinder "seals" to sign things
4.2.2. architecture includes the use of arches ramps and collums all visible on the ziggurats
4.2.3. Famous Sumarian artwork
4.2.4. schooling was associated with the priesthood and took place in temples
4.2.5. Based their math of of the number 60
5. Gov. & Leaders
5.1. Sumeria
5.1.1. sumerian preists had become skilled scribes, and joined a counsel of elders that sometimes conflicted with the king
5.1.2. Sargons empire was established around 2200 BCE
5.1.3. a king called Ur-Nammu created the first know code of laws around the year 2050
5.1.4. Many times a dynasty was formed which is a series of rulers from one family
5.1.5. sumerian preists
5.2. Shang/Zhou
5.2.1. during the shang period, china was ruled by a monarchy, but the king divided areas to appoint to goveners
5.2.2. shang kings were surrounded by a court, or a gathering of well known nobles
5.2.3. when the Zhou conquered the shang the leaders introduced the idea of the gods not giving power to the corrupt, thus explaining why the shang were taken over by the zhou
5.2.4. the zhou dynasty was split in two periods: the western period being peaceful and the eastern period being violent
5.2.5. chinese dynasty
6. Religion
6.1. Sumeria
6.1.1. because of their beliefs, Sumerians worked had to please their gods
6.1.2. practiced polytheism
6.1.3. built ziggarauts for priests to offer things to the gods
6.1.4. they believed that their gods were like them and acted like them in many ways, such as eating, drinking and falling in love
6.2. Shang/Zhou
6.2.1. confusianism- people treated one another humanley
6.2.2. came from the teachings of a scholar called kongfuzi, better known as cofusious
6.2.3. Daoism urges people to yield to the laws of nature
6.2.4. daoism incorporates yin and yang,representing the two sides of things in natre: male-female, dark-light, etc...
6.2.5. yin yang
7. Geo. & Agriculture
7.1. Shang/Zhou
7.1.1. china provided long rivers, fertile soil, temperate climates and isolated valleys
7.1.2. two major rivers were the Yellow river and the Yangzi river
7.1.3. the valley of the yellow river was very fertile because of a fine dusty soil called loess carried by desert winds
7.1.4. yellow river
7.1.5. most of china is had fertile soil, but certain ares of it were better for growing specifics crops
7.2. Sumeria
7.2.1. their diet had to change from wheat to barley because of evaporation of the land
7.2.2. the area of land that the sumerians settled in was called the fertile crescent
7.2.3. settled in the fertile crescent in a place called mesopotamia, the sumerians were right between two rivers that provided fertile land
7.2.4. mesopotamia
7.2.5. floods provided fertile soil often