NOTE: Free essay sample provided on this page should be used for references or sample purposes only. The sample essay is available to anyone, so any direct quoting without mentioning the source will be considered plagiarism by schools, colleges and universities that use plagiarism detection software. To get a completely brand-new, plagiarism-free essay, please use our essay writing service.
One click instant price quote
Centuries of study coupled with modern technology have enabled historians to provide our modern society with a relatively clear in-depth image of the conditions, which caused the emergence of civilization on earth. There is evidence that civilization began in Mesopotamia with the abandonment of the hunter / gather lifestyle around 4000 BC, though there are suspicions that earlier civilizations may have been present in India. The exact reason why people abandoned the hunter / gather lifestyle is unknown, but there are many theories as to the contributing factors. We do know that people lived in bands or groups prior to the emergence of civilization and that people that lived in these groups worked in concert with each other to improve the welfare of the group. Though cooperation and group living arrangements do not constitute a civilization. A true civilization employs the use of agriculture, tools, script, religion, establishes cities, and has a division of labor.
Civilizations are able to support a non-food producing population, such as nobility, religious officials, artisans, and architects. China, Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Indus River Valley have been identified as true early civilizations. These early civilizations shared many similarities, as well as many distinct differences. The most predominant characteristic shared by the four civilizations is that they were all riverine: Chinese civilization emerged near the Yellow River, Mesopotamian civilization along the Tigris and Euphrates, Egypt along the Nile and in the Indus River valley the population lived in relative close proximity to the Indus River. Access to water was an essential element for the mass production of food crops.
All four civilizations were forced to deal with flooding and droughts, because of the weather patterns of their regions of the world. To be able to produce food in these lands the ancient people had to develop flood control, irrigation systems and to learn to use the silt from the riverbed as fertilizer. Although each civilization had to contend with the same issues, floods and droughts, they each had different obstacles to overcome pertaining to the particular conditions of the region. In Egypt, the flooding was annual and predicable, which allowed the people to plan the planting of crops at a time that would allow the food to be harvested prior to the flooding.
In Mesopotamia the people were not as fortunate, the Tigris and Euphrates flooded in a unpredictable nature. In the Indus River Valley, not only were there annual floods but monsoons wreaked havoc over the fields, the Chinese were able to establish a system of flood control to protect their cities from the dangers of floods. Each of the civilization developed intricate irrigation systems to help keep the soil moist during the dry seasons. Crops grown were generally native crops to the respective areas, but there is evidence that each of the civilizations were in contact with other groups, because there is evidence that exotic foods were grown in each area. The only way in which these exotic foods could have been brought to the various locations was through contact or exploration. Either way it shows that the people in the early civilizations knew that other people lived in different areas, they had to know that they were not alone on the earth.
Ancient scripts are an invaluable tool that educates modern day man about the lives of the people of the earliest civilizations. The forming of text occurred in each of the four early civilizations. Chinese texts date back to roughly to 2000 BC, during which time the Lung Shan used both pictographic and ideograph script. Chinese script is clearly distinct from the other three areas, which leads historians to believe that the Chinese were not in contact with Mesopotamia, or at least had developed their script prior to contact with their western neighbors. India, as well, developed a very distinct script, again this indicates that India must have developed and practiced their script prior to contact with Sumer. In Mesopotamia, Cuneiform was developed, and quickly spread to Egypt because of superiority in the writing style.
If China or India had been without script when the first contact with Mesopotamia was made; it is believed that they surely would have adopted the superior cuneiform writing. Script was primarily developed to keep track of business transactions and historical events. Each civilization quickly developed commerce once food production allowed for a non-food producing class. Because of the need to keep records of transactions, script and numerical systems had to be developed. Script was also found to be helpful in recording the important details of lives, and eras.
This tells us that the ancient people wished to learn from their mistakes, and relate their experiences to others. The earliest rock carving were found in Egypt and date back to 6000 BC, presumably this records on the rock are not transaction records but are instead related to the lives of those that lived there. The tools used to help build the early cities varied in each area. For the most part tools and building materials were developed using only the material close at hand. The Chinese were able to use bronze, and later they began to make stronger tools by alloying different metals together.
Egypt and Mesopotamia were both located in arid regions, which lead them to form their cities and temples out of sun dried bricks. In the Indus River Valley, metals were used to make a variety of tools. Building materials in India consisted both of wood found upstream and of sun and kiln dried bricks. Early people in India are known for their extensive city planning, much care was enacted when the early cities were built, and although there was a division in labor, it is clear that in India the division of labor did not cause a drastic division in social status. This has been derived from the fact that Indian cities were built with identical row houses, as if there was one class. In Egypt there was no middle class, hence the remains uncovered are mostly from the wealthier upper class.
The slave and populous class people in Egypt were not fortunate enough to afford expensive tombs, or homes. Since the civilizations were able to master the art of agriculture, they were able to support a large non-food producing population. This population consisted of Artisans, nobility, scholars, religious officials, and merchants. The beginning of civilization in turn was the beginning of leisure activities, and the exploration of fields that were not vital to survival, such as creation of artwork.
Artisans were able to spend massive amounts of time designing sculptures, toys, decorations, and other nonessential items. The artwork produced in Mesopotamia, and Egypt is similar, perhaps because the same mediums were available in both desert regions, along with the fact that those two cultures shared an active trade for quite some time. China was vastly isolated from the other three early civilizations hence the artwork, script, and religious beliefs in China varied greatly from the others. India too had its own style of artwork, even though they were in contact with Mesopotamia, they choose to produce art that was uniquely their own. Presumably Indias lack of willingness to adopt the practices of Mesopotamia could be a clue that India was an established society centuries before contact with Mesopotamia. Historians have accounted for the differences and similarities between these four ancient civilizations by recognizing that although there was some contact between them, it was the amount of contact and the viability of information shared that can explain why some practices were adopted and others rejected.
China is by far the most isolated region, and therefore they had to develop many of their own methods to progress. But China was not completely isolated which accounts for the exotic crops such as rice, and animals such as the water buffalo. Mesopotamia and Egypt are the most similar of the four civilizations presumably due to the large amount of interaction between the two. Comparable to the societies of today, information and technology shared between countries is only adopted by a country when the technology proves to be useful to the receiving nation. Isolated countries, for instance Cuba do not advance as fast as countries that are in contact with many others. Today as in the beginning of civilizations the differences and similarities between nations can be accounted for by the amount of contact with other societies, and the viability of the information shared amongst those societies.
Bibliography:
Free research essays on topics related to: differences and similarities, irrigation systems, river valley, division of labor, building materials
Research essay sample on Differences And Similarities Division Of Labor
