Civilization: Case Study of Ur in Sumer

1. Civilization: Case Study of Ur in Sumer Chapter 1 Section 3

2. I Villages Grow into Cities • Agriculture allowed nomadic people to make permanent settlements & organize agricultural communities • Farming & invention of tools made daily work easier  allowed communities to support more peoplecaused populations to rise • From these villages emerges cities together with more complex social relationships

3. A. Economic Changes • Ancient people built irrigation systems to produce extra crops • Extra food freed up people to pursue other jobs and develop other skills

4. Craftspeople began making products like pottery, woven cloth, & metal objects • Traders profited from exchanging these products, grain, and raw materials

5. These most important inventions allowed for transportation of goods across long distances

6. B. Social Changes • Large irrigation systems require cooperation & labor of many in the village • Groups of workers formed social classes with different wealth, power, & influence emerged • As cities grow, social classes would be clearly defined

7. Religion becomes more organized • Old Stone Age religioin centers around nature, animal spirits, & afterlife • New Stone Age saw people worshiping gods & goddesses who had power over forces of nature • City dwellers develop rituals around these beliefs

8. II What is Civilization? • Civilization= complex culture with 5 Characteristics: • Advanced cities • Specialized workers • Complex institutions • Record keeping • Advanced technology

9. A. Advanced Cities Ur City is not determines by a large population but by the fact that it is the center of trade for a larger area Like todays city residents, they depended on trade and developed goods of their own

10. B. Specialized Workers • As cities grow, so does the need for specialized workers • Food surplus allowed opportunity for cultivating skills and specialization of work • Specialization= development of skills in specific kind of work • Artisans= skilled workers who made goods by hand • Made jewelry, tools, weapons, etc. which helped make cities the center of trade

11. C. Complex Institutions • Growing population made institutions like gov’t necessary • Government= a system of ruling • Institution= a long lasting pattern of organization in a community • Religion became a formal institution with building of large temples • Sumerians believed every city belonged to a god that lived in the temple and governed the cities activities • Temples became city’ economic center

12. D. Record Keeping • As institutions became complex people needed to keep records • Tex collections, laws, grain storage • Most civilizations developed system of writing • Sumerian scribes, or professional record keepers, invented a form of writing called cuneiform

13. Cuneiform means “wedge shaped” • Ealierwumerian writing consisted of pictographs • Pictographs= symbols of the objects or things they represented • Scribe used stylus to press into wet clay tablets • Tablets dried in sun to preserve writing • Eventually used writing to keep accounts of wars, natural disasters, kings

14. The beginning of civilization in Sumer also signaled the beginning of written history

15. E. Advanced Technology • Farmers began to use power of animals and nature • Ox drawn plows to turn soil • Created irrigation system • Artisans used technology such as the 1st potter’s wheel

16. Sumerian workers also discovered that melting copper & tin made a stronger metal called bronze • Bronze Age= the time when people began using bronze rather than copper and stone to make tools and weapons

17. III Civilizations Emerge in Ur • Ur, one of the earliest cities in Sumer, is locate din modern day Iraq • Ur was flourishing city in which people lived in well defined social classes

18. A. An Agricultural Economy • Ox driven plows cultivate fieldirrigation ditches carry water into fields from resovoir miles away

19. B. UR’s Thriving Trade • People in Ur do not use coines because they were not yet invented • People barter • Barter=the way of tradeing goods and services without money

20. The Temple: Center of City Life • Ziggurat= massive pyramid shaped monument within the temple gates • Temple houses storage areas for grains, fabrics, & gems

21. D. A Religious Ritual Recorded • Cuneiform tablets reveal Sumerian burial rituals and beliefs in afterlife • Foods mentioned in rituals suggest they grew wide range of crops • Ur is model of first early cities • Others were prospering in other civilizations in Egypt, China, & other countries