HH-02-Societies250BC-500

First Societies

Years BC	Title
200,000	Stone Age
100,000	Human Migration
40,000 to 12,000	The Ice Ages
10,000	Path to first Societies
7,000	Putting Down Roots
5,000	Dawn of Civilizations
	Invasions & Innovations
3,300	Ancient Sumer
3,300	The Birth of Writing
2,500	Civilization in the Indus Valley
	The Lost World of the Minoans
	Egypt’s Journey to the Hereafter
5,000	China's Origins Unearthed
	The Tomb of Tutankhamun
1,200	The Olmet of Mesoamerica
	The Birth of Monotheism
2,000	Phoenician Sea Farers
	Indo- European Languages
1300	The Kingdom of Israel
1400	Hinduism: At One with the Universe
750	Celts: Europe’s Metal Smiths
3,000	The Nubian Kingdom of Africa
800	Etruscans: Lovers of Life
	Explorers of Oceania

Stone Age

The first known period of prehistoric human culture, is so named for the use of stone tools. Striking one stone against another to shape a chopping instrument, early hominids fashioned the oldest known tools more than two million years ago in Africa, In time they chipped and struck off flakes to produce sharp points. They made scrapers and blades for food preparation, spear points and arrowheads for the hunt. Once hominids understood how to cultivate plants, they mad agricultural tools such as axes to fell trees, sickle-like-blades to cut cereal grasses, and hoes to till the soil. Some tools also served as protection against large animals and other predators.

200,000 year old chipped tools

Human Migration

Although the story of human evolution and the peopling of the planet A still holds many mysteries, the most widely accepted theory states that modern humans came out of Africa. Piecing together humanity's history from clues found in rocks and bones, paleontologists and archaeologists have come to the general agreement that Homo erectus, or upright‑walking humans, evolved in Africa from other more primitive ancestors about 1.7 million years ago, From this precursor, modern humans ‑ Homo sapiens ‑ evolved about 250,000 years ago and eventually replaced the earlier species.

An increase in population and competition and the ability to shape sophisticated tools, hunt big game, and build permanent shelter may have spurred the first wave of migration of Homo sapiens from Africa to the Middle East about 100,000 years ago, From there, people slowly made their way into Central Asia and onward. A new push into Southeast Asia occurred about 75,000 years ago, and as Ice Ages cooled the earth and water was concentrated in massive glaciers, the earth's oceans receded and exposed land bridges between continents. Taking advantage of the new routes, humans resumed their migration and established communities along what are now the islands of Indonesia and New Guinea. By 60,000 BC some groups had also crossed from New Guinea to Australia. Homo sapiens began to arrive in Europe about 40,000 years ago, and the temporary land bridge between Siberia and Alaska allowed humans to cross into the Americas around 16,000 BC. By 11,000 BC. humans had reached the southernmost tip of South America.

Adding to these insights is a recent effort to trace humanity's ancestry by analyzing changes in DNA. Geneticist Spencer Wells took blood samples from thousands of men living in isolated tribes around the world and followed the path of the Y‑chromosome, which is passed from father to son unchanged, and noted any changes. Wells discovered that all humans alive today can be traced back to a tribe in Africa. He established a map of the spread of the Y‑chromosome and its mutations, mirroring the map of human migration that paleontologists and archaeologists have established.

From the formation of the earth five billion years ago to modern times, there have been at least four major Ice Ages, periods when ice sheets covered at least part of the northern and southern hemispheres.

The present Ice Age began 40 million years ago with the growth of an ice sheet in Antarctica and intensified about three million years ago with the spreading of more ice in the Northern Hemisphere. From the south, ice sheets eventually stretched over large parts of South America, covering Patagonia and the Andes; from the north, they reached across Greenland, northern Europe, Canada, and as far south as Pennsylvania, along the Ohio and Missouri Rivers to North Dakota, Montana, Idaho, and Washington. Because the Greenland and Antarctica ice sheets still exist, we are still technically in this Ice Age.

During this time, however, the earth has undergone several cycles of glaciation, where the ice sheets advance, and interglacial periods, where milder climates cause the ice sheets to retreat. These cycles generally occur in 40,000-100,000 year periods. The most recent period of glaciation ended about 12,000 years ago, at the end of which the climate was much colder and wetter than at present-as much as 27°F cooler-so that areas that are now desert were lush with vegetation. Large lakes and rivers also formed as ice melted.

Left: Ice Age Carving Mid: “Venus of Willendorf” found in Austria, 24,000‑22,000 B.C. E. Right: Sumerian Cuneiform clay table

The Ice Ages

This last glaciation made possible the spread of modern humans to all the world's habitats. Because glaciation lowers sea levels, humans were able to move not just from Mrica to the Middle East, Asia, and Europe, but also to previously isolated Oceania and North America across temporary land bridges. Once the ice retreated, climate change created favorable conditions for a great variety of food stuffs, and humans adapted both their diet and lifestyle to this abundance. The beginning of agriculture was soon to come, and with it the development of more permanent human settlements.

Path to the First Societies

Stonehedge predates Pyramids

Humans owe their phenomenal ability to alter the world for good or ill to a process of evolution that began in Africa more than four million years ago with the emergence of the first hominids: primates with the ability to walk upright. Early hominids stood only three or four feet tall. On average and had brains roughly one third the size of the modem human brain, which limited their capacity to reason or speak. But their upright posture and opposable thumbs (used to grip objects between fingers and thumb) allowed them to gather and carry food and process it using simple tools.

Over time, other species of hominids evolved that possessed larger brains and the ability to fully articulate their thoughts, craft ingenious tools and weapons, and hunt collectively. Homo sapiens, or modern humans, emerged in Africa perhaps 250,000 years ago, and they had a talent for adapting to changing circumstances that allowed them to occupy much of the planet. By clothing themselves in animal hide and living in caves warmed by fires, they survived winters in northern latitudes during the most recent phase of the Ice Age, which came to an end around 12,000 years ago. That glaciation lowered sea levels and enabled people to walk from Siberia to North America and reach Australia and other previously inaccessible land masses.

During the Ice Age, humans gather wild grains and other plants, but they owed their survival and success largely to hunting. So skilled were they as hunting in groups and killing larger animals that they probably contributed to the extinction of such species as the mammoth and mastrodon. Hunters paid tribute to the animals they stalked in wonderous cave paintings that may have been intended to honor the spirit of those creatures so they would offer up their bounty . From early times, the destructive power of humans as predators was linked to their creative power as artists and inventors.

Early hominids, who had much smaller brains than modern humans, endured for over three million years. They coexisted with two archaic human species with larger brains ‑ Homo habilis and Homo erectus ‑ but died out before the evolution of Homo sapiens, or modern humans.

Left: This two million year old skull, early hominids had a smaller brain cavity and a larger jaw than modern humans, they shared an upright posture that allowed them to carry food, tools, or weapons as they walked. Center: Hominids in Tanzamania left these 3.6 million year old foot prints. Right: The bronze figure may be a likeness of Sargon who sweeping down from Akkad, conquered the cities of Sumer, and formed the first empire in Mesometamia

Putting Down Roots

The warming of the planet that began around 10,000 BC forced humans to adapt, and they did so with great ingenuity. Many of the larger animals people had feasted on during the Ice Age died out as a result of global warming and over‑hunting. At the same time edible plants flourished in places that had once been too cold or dry to support them. Based on the behavior of hunter‑gatherers in recent times, women did much of the gathering in ancient times and probably used their knowledge of plants to domesticate wheat barley, rice, corn and other cereals. That allowed groups who had once roamed in search of sustenance to settle in one place.

The domestication of animals also contributed to a more settled way of life. Dogs were probably the first animals tamed by humans. People later succeeded in domesticating other useful creatures such as cattle and sheep, which furnished meat, milk, wool, and hide. This was most likely accomplished by men, did most of the hunting and learned gradually how to control animals.

Nomadic herders continued to follow grazing animals such as sheep and goats from place to place long after other people had settled in villages. The most productive societies those that practiced agriculture by controlling animals and cultivating plants. Agriculture provided food surpluses that allowed people to specialize in other pursuits and devise new tools and technologies.

Some of the earliest advances in agriculture occurred in the Middle East, where sizable towns such as Jericho developed. By 7000 BC Jericho had around 2,000 inhabitants, or more than ten times as many people as in a typical band of hunter‑gatherers. To protect their community from raiders, the people of Jericho built a wall that became legendary. Within Jericho and other such towns lived many people who specialized in nonagricultural trades, including merchants, metalworkers, and potters. The demand for pots to hold grain and other perishables led to development of the potter's wheel, which may in turn have inspired the first wheeled vehicles. Farmers here and elsewhere used wooden plows pulled by cattle or other draft animals to cultivate their fields and exchanged surplus food for clay pots, copper tools, and other crafted items.

By 5000 BC agriculture was being practiced in large parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Few animals were domesticated in the Americas because they had few domesticable species. (Horses had died out and would not be reintroduced until Europeans reached what they called the New World.) But the domestication of corn and other crops in the Americas led to the growth of villages and complex societies, marked by a high degree of specialization.

Dawn of Civilization

By 3500 BC the stage was set for the emergence of societies so complex and accomplished they rank as civilizations, a word derived from the Latin civis, or citizen. All early civilizations had impressive cities or ceremonial centers adorned with fine works of art and architecture. All had strong rulers capable of commanding the services of thousands of people for public projects or military campaigns. Many but not all used writing to keep records, codify laws, and pre serve wisdom and lore in the form of literature.

People in these highly complex societies possessed superior technology, but they were no better or wiser than those in simpler societies. Civilizations embodied the contradictions in human nature. They were enormously creative and hugely exploitative, enhancing the lives of some people and enslaving others. Their cities fostered learning, invention, and artistry, but many were destroyed by other so‑called civilized people. The glory and brutality of civilization was recognized by philosophers and poets, who knew that anything a ruler raised up could be brought down. "When the laws are kept, how proudly his city stands!" wrote Sophocles. "When the laws are broken, what of his city then?"

Corridors of Power

Several ancient civilizations arose along rivers: the Tigris and Euphrates in Mesopotamia, the Nile in Egypt, the Indus in what is now Pakistan, and the Yellow River in China. People living in these fertile corridors needed strong leaders to coordinate irrigation projects or flood‑control efforts and collect surplus food for those engaged in public works and other vital tasks. Leaders often demanded heavy sacrifices from people in labor and taxes or required a portion of the harvest, but communities as a whole grew more productive and powerful as a result.

In this way, towns developed into cities that controlled outlying farms and villages. The world's first cities emerged in Mesopotamia around 3200 BC and grew to contain as many as 50,000 people. Surplus grain was stored at temple complexes, and scribes there developed writing called cuneiform, inscribed on clay tablets, to keep track of goods received and distributed. When conflicts arose with outsiders over access to land or water, the city appointed a chief to wage war. Successful chiefs clung to power and became kings. Some royal families built palaces near temples and demanded human sacrifices. At the Sumerian city of Ur around 2500, some people lost their lives and were buried with deceased rulers to serve them in the next world.

Around 2330 Ur, Uruk, and other prosperous cities of Sumer, situated near the Persian Gulf, fell to a conqueror from northern Mesopotamia named Sargon. His successors lost control of that empire, but the region was later reunited under Hammurabi, who ruled at Babylon. He issued the law of his realm in writing, making it clear and consistent. Writing also enabled Babylonian scribes to transform legends into literature such as the Epic of Gilgamesh, the story of a fabled king who sought immortality.

In Egypt cities were slower to develop, but the Nile helped unify the country. People rode boats down stream to the Mediterranean and used sails or oars to travel upstream. Rains falling in the highlands far to the south caused the Nile to overflow its banks in summer and replenish what would otherwise have been a desert. The miraculous emergence of fertile land from the flood waters helped instill in Egyptians hope that they too might return to life after they died. Their early kings, or pharaohs, who consolidated power around 3000 BC and ruled at Memphis, were preserved after death through mummification and buried in tombs that grew grander over time. The Great Pyramid of Khufu, built at Giza in the 26th century BC, required tens of thousands of laborers and symbolized the lofty aspirations of Egypt's rulers, who identified with the sun god Re. One text promised that the pharaoh's spirit would rise from the pyramid and " ascend to heaven as the eye of Re" (an image that endures today on the American dollar).

The Fertile land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, called Sumer

Monumental architecture was not confined to Egypt or other centers of civilization. Construction of the Great Pyramid was preceded by the building of Stonehenge in Britain, which may have been used for religious ceremonies related to phases of the sun and moon. Such massive stone monuments in Europe demonstrate that agricultural societies there were capable of concerted efforts under the direction of priests or other authorities. But Europe had no cities as yet and no rulers who held sway over vast areas and left their mark on history as the pharaohs did. Around 2000 BC power in Egypt shifted from Memphis to Thebes, whose kings expanded their domain southward into Nubia (present‑day Ethiopia).

Along the Indus River and its tributaries, irrigation efforts fed the growth of remarkable cities that were flourishing by 2500 BC and reflected careful planning, with broad streets, large granaries to store surplus crops, and elaborate sewage systems. The two largest cities were Mohenjo Daro, which had almost 40,000 inhabitants, and Harappa, for which this Harappan civilization is named. Artisans in the cities produced cotton fabric and jewelry, and merchants shipped crafted goods and raw materials to Mesopotamia. Harappan writing has not been deciphered and may have been rudimentary. But this was one of the most‑well‑organized societies in the world before its cities declined after 2000 BC, most likely as a result of flooding or other natural causes.

In China, agricultural and technological innovation took place in many areas, including the lower Yangzi River, where rice was cultivated as early as 5000 BC. Food surpluses in communities there and elsewhere helped support Chinese artisans skilled at crafts such as pottery, the sculpting of jade objects, and the casting of bronze ‑ an alloy of copper and tin that provided ancient societies in various parts of the world with stronger weapons and tools than those made of copper alone.

Around 2200 BC crucial political developments occurred along the Yellow River. Villagers there did not have much need for irrigation. They usually received adequate rainfall and raised millet and other grains in loess: fertile yellow soil deposited by winds blowing from the north. That same soil, however, clogged the Yellow River and caused floods. Chinese chronicles credit a legendary king named Yu with taming the river's floods and bringing order to the world. Rulers of the Xia dynasty founded by Yu mobilized laborers for flood‑control projects such as dredging the river or building dikes and gained power and prestige in the process.

Around 1750 BC the Xia dynasty was succeeded by the Shang dynasty, whose rulers built defensive walls of rammed earth around their capitals and raised armies, expanding their domain to embrace a large area in northeastern China. Veneration of ancestors was an ancient tradition in China. Shang rulers made offerings to their ancestors in ritual vessels of bronze and tried to divine the future by communicating with their ancestors using oracle bones, which Cracked when heated, revealing answers to their questions. Those questions were inscribed on oracle bones using an elaborate writing system involving thousands of characters. Here as in other ancient civilizations, society became highly stratified, with great differences in wealth and power between rulers or nobles and peasants or slaves. Slaves captured in battle were sometimes put to death and buried with deceased Shang kings in their tombs.

Invasions and innovations

Beginning around 1600 BC invaders from the north swept down into Egypt, Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley, and other parts of the ancient world. Most of these invaders were of Indo‑European origin. Over the centuries, wave after wave of Indo-Europeans migrated from the Eurasian steppes above the Black Sea and Caspian Sea, where they were among the first to domesticate horses and use them to haul vehicles. Their horse‑driven chariots made them formidable warriors. Through their migrations, they influenced the development of many languages, including Sanskrit (the classical language of India), Persian, Greek, Latin, and English, all of which belong to the Indo‑European family of languages.

By 1600 BC one group of Indo‑Europeans called Mycenaeans had descended into Greece, where they built hilltop fortresses and majestic tombs for their kings, who were buried amid hoards of gold. Before long those restless Mycenaeans took over the island of Crete and ousted its Minoan rulers, who had grown rich through maritime trade and constructed palaces decorated with vibrant wall paintings. In centuries to come, Celts of Indo‑European origin would spread westward across Europe as far as the British Isles, building lofty strongholds like the Mycenaeans and burying their nobility amid treasure.

In the Middle East, an Indo‑European people called the Hittites invaded Mesopotamia and used war chariots to conquer Babylon in 1595 BC shattering the empire founded by Hammurabi. Assyrians later dominated the Middle East by adopting chariots and war horses, perfecting the use of cavalry, and crafting sturdy weapons of iron, which was cheaper than bronze and stronger when combined with carbon from charcoal during forging ‑ a process that led eventually to the production of steel. Assyrians boasted of their cruelty to enemies. "I put out the eyes of many of the soldiers," one king proclaimed in writing after a victory. Those who submitted to the Assyrians became part of their empire and provided fresh recruits for their army.

After centuries of conquest, these masters of war were overthrown by Medes and Babylonians, who regained Babylon only to lose that prize to invading Persians in 539 BC Persian rulers identified with the god Ahura Mazda, a supreme deity engaged in a cosmic struggle with the forces of evil, according to the teachings of the Persian holy man Zarathustra, who inspired Zoroastrianism.

Those Persians descended from Indo‑Europeans who called themselves Aryans (noble people) and had occupied Iran (meaning Aryan) more than a thousand years earlier. Some had remained in Iran while others had swept on through Afghanistan into the Indus Valley, arriving around 1500 BC, by then, Harappan civilization had collapsed. The local villagers were no match for the invaders, who imposed a strict hierarchy in which Aryan priests and chieftains, aided by merchants and landowners, dominated a vast underclass of peasants and laborers. In time, they expanded southeastward toward the Ganges River. Their class system hardened into a caste system, which gave people almost no chance for advancement. Their rituals and teachings, however, were challenged and modified as priests came in contact with beliefs native to the Indian subcontinent. From that great religious ferment arose Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, whose followers practiced nonviolence.

During this tumultuous era in which many kingdoms collapsed, China and Egypt endured, but not without struggle. The Chinese acquired horses and chariots through contact with nomadic people to their north and west and learned to forge iron. These developments spelled trouble for rulers of the Zhou dynasty, which supplanted the Shang dynasty around 1100 BC. The Zhou were unable to prevent local rulers under their authority from amassing iron weapons and other assets. By 700, those lords were rebelling and China was fragmenting. But the old ideals of unity and harmony were kept alive by Confucius, a philosopher born around 550 BC whose teachings inspired later rulers of China.

Left: King Tutankhamun of Egypt is anointed with perfume by his wife, Queen Ankhesenamun, in a scene portrayed on his Golden Throne, one of many treasures buried with the young pharaoh when he died in the late 14th century B.C.E.

Right: Olmec artists sculpted massive stone heads of basalt from distant quarries, heads probably represent Olmec rulers, who oversaw the construction of temples and earthen pyramids at ceremonial centers near the Gulf of Mexico.

Egyptian rulers, for their part, overcame a fierce challenge from invaders called the Hyksos by adopting their weapons and horse‑drawn chariots. This victory, achieved around 1550 BC marked the rise of the New Kingdom, during which Egypt reached the height of its power. Some of that authority was exercised by women, including priestesses of the goddess Harbor, who symbolized fertility and motherhood. One Egyptian queen, Hatshepsut, ruled on behalf of her young stepson and clung to power after he reached maturity. But here as in most ancient kingdoms, men generally dominated society. One ruler who personified this patriarchal trend was Ramses II, who fathered more than 100 children by his various wives and flexed his muscle abroad by leading his forces into Syria, where they clashed with Hittites in an epic chariot battle at Kadesh in 1285 BC.

Among those who came under Egypt's influence or control during this era were Hebrews of nomadic heritage who told in their scriptures of being enslaved in Egypt before Moses led them to the promised land of Canaan, where they forged the kingdom of Israel around 1000 BC. Those Hebrews traced their origins to the patriarch Abraham, from Ur in Mesopotamia, and some of their customs and legends were influenced by Sumerian or Babylonian traditions.

Unlike the Babylonians, however, they rejected all other gods in favor of Yahweh, who entered into a covenant with Abraham and his descendants and revealed his laws to them through Moses. Among those laws, recorded in Hebrew scripture, was the commandment: "You shall have no other gods before me." Theirs was not the first kingdom devoted to monotheism, or the worship of one god. Around 1350 BC, the pharaoh Akhenaten had proclaimed the supremacy of the solar god Aten and outlawed the worship of other deities. But while that cult died with Akhenaten, Judaism endured and inspired both Christianity and Islam.

Egyptians also had a strong impact on the Lybians to their west and the Nubians and other black Africans to their south. Nubians adopted the Egyptian writing system, worshiped Egyptian gods, and built Egyptian inspired pyramids to house the remains of their kings. Over time, Nubian rulers grew stronger and bolder and stopped paying tribute in gold to Egyptian kings. Around 750 BC, Nubians took power in Egypt and ruled as pharaohs until Assyrians invaded the country in the following century.

An Increasingly Complex World

Contacts with civilizations sometimes hastened cultural development, but many complex societies evolved largely on their own. Such was the case in Southeast Asia, where prolific rice harvests helped support expert potters and bronze workers employed by nobles who grew rich through trade and warfare. In the Americas, complex societies emerged in complete isolation from the established civilizations of the Old World. In the Andes, the cultivation of potatoes, corn, and other crops yielded food surpluses that allowed people to devote great energy and skill to budding ceremonial centers such as Chavin de Huantar, where work began on temples around 850 BC. Along the Gulf Coast of Mesoamerica, meanwhile, the Olmec people were performing similar architectural feats at sites such as San Lorenzo and La Venta under the direction of strong rulers, whose stern features may appear on the great stone heads carved by Olmec artists. Olmec achievements laid the foundations for Maya civilization.

Some of the world's most dramatic cultural advances occurred where complex societies interacted. Around the Mediterranean between 1000 and 500 BC, Phoenicians from what is now Lebanon and Greeks from rising city ‑ states such as Athens founded scores of colonies and spread literacy through phonetic alphabets consisting of only two dozen or so characters, compared to the hundreds or thousands of characters that scholars elsewhere had to master. This enabled men and women who were not priests, rulers, or scribes to learn to read and write. The growth of literacy helped transform people such as the Romans, who ousted their Etruscan overlords around 500 BC, from subjects into citizens, capable of governing themselves. Literacy did not alter the combative nature of humans, for whom words could be deadly weapons. But it enhanced their capacity to cultivate fields of knowledge and create works of literature, philosophy, and science that would outlast the triumphs of conquering armies.

Ancient Sumer

In ancient times-or Mesopotamia by the Greeks later on-brought forth abundant crops to support tens of thousands of people. About 5,000 years ago the Sumerians organized life in large cities of mud-brick buildings, surrounded by lush fields and gardens with groves of figs and date palms. Early on they began to settle into an orderly society. As hallmarks of their civilization, they set up a division of labor, marshaled hundreds of laborers for public works, invented a written language, devised a system of laws, educated their young, and prayed to a pantheon of gods. The gods included An of the heavens, Enlil of the air, and Enki of the waters, as well as gods of other natural phenomena, and patron gods for every city.

The Sumerians erected massive temples, topped by a shrine and rising in tiers to 150 feet or more, the most ancient one, shown below, in the city of Ur. These so-called ziggurats were administered by priests, who served the gods and received offerings from the people. Priests also collected food in storerooms surrounding the base of the temple and redistributed the goods, kept tax records, and oversaw the construction of other large-scale works such as irrigation canals. In their appeals to the gods to prevent disasters-flood, fire, or pestilence-people used stand-in figurines in their likeness, shaped of clay or stone, to be placed in the temple to pray for help. The Sumerians also believed in an afterlife, burying their kings with treasures and retainers and everything necessary to carry on the life to which they had grown accustomed.

Sumer woman’s appeal to heaven stepped ziggurat of Ur to honor Nanna the god of the moon

The Birth of Writing

The Sumerians' greatest accomplishment was the invention of writing, beginning as early as 3300 BC. Propelled by the need to record business transactions for stored or traded goods or to keep count of numbers of sheep, the Sumerians invented bullae - soft clay balls that were hollow inside. Buyers or sellers would press sharp tokens into the clay and place them inside. Deeper indentations meant larger quantities. In case of a dispute, the bulla could be opened and the tokens recounted. This record-keeping rapidly advanced to pictographs-simple representations of the object traded-incised on clay tablets. Merchants used cylindrical clay seals to roll on and impress their signature on a deal.

In time the Sumerians found ways to express more complex ideas by combining symbols, for example, using the pictographs for water and a mouth to express "to drink." Over the centuries the pictographs became ever more abstract and began to express syllables. Working with wedge-shaped reeds, the impressions became known as cuneiform, from the Latin word for wedge. This form of writing continued to develop and expand and eventually conveyed the first laws and literature.

Civilization in the Indus Valley

The Indus River Valley, located in modern-day Pakistan and western India, attracted herders and farmers as early as 6000 BC. A fertile valley then, its people achieved a surplus in agriculture that gave rise to villages and cities. By 2500 BC the two largest cities, Mohenjo Daro on the lower end of the valley and Harappa on the upper end, represented the apogee of a highly developed civilization now referred to as Harappan.

The cities were built on a grid of straight, paved streets lined with mudbrick houses, shops, and communal baths that may have served ceremonial purposes. Houses for the elite were larger, often two stories high, built around a courtyard where meals were cooked and served. Each house was equipped with a bathroom, and wastewater flowed into street sewers. The invention of sewers served public hygiene well and allowed for increased population density, up to 40,000 people. The Harappans created a complex script that has not yet been deciphered and traded widely with Mesopotamia, Iran, and other distant lands. By about 1500 BC. an influx of warriors from the north may have caused the Harappans to abandon the land.

The Lost World of the Minoans

An early civilization developed on the island of Crete in the eastern Mediterranean. The people were called Minoans, after the legendary King Minos. They fished and sailed and traded widely with Greece, Anatolia, Egypt, and Phoenicia.

Indus Valley Pakistan-India Indus valley priest or ruler

Crete lower right Minoan Fresco

About 2000 BC. they built cities and a series of grand palaces on Crete and extended their influence to other islands. The palaces served as administrative centers and storehouses for food stuffs and trade goods, such as grain, olive oil, wine, and finely crafted pottery. The Minoans also invented a script, called Linear A; although not yet deciphered, it seems to have served record-keeping in trade. About 1700 BC a series of earthquakes disrupted their mode of life, and a cataclysmic volcanic eruption on the nearby island of Thera rained volcanic ash on Crete and destroyed most of Thera.

Eventually the Minoans rebuilt their cities and palaces and added improvements such as indoor plumbing and sewer systems to their houses. But their wealth attracted invaders-most likely the warlike Mycenaeans-and by 1100 BC the island and their culture lay in ruins. Still, their legacy continued throughout the Mediterranean and among the inhabitants of Greece.

The Journey to the Hereafter

The ancient Egyptians believed in resurrection after death, as long as the body was prepared properly. When a person of importance died, the embalmers went to work swiftly on the corpse, discarding the brain as use less and removing the internal organs to be placed in canopic jars. The organs would be reunited with the body upon resurrection. Once the organ were kept safe, the embalmers dried out the body with natron salt and stuffed it with straw or cotton, then coated it with fragrant balm and resin and wrapped it in hundreds of yards of linen strips. When all was wrapped and secured, a process accompanied by chanting of spells and charms, the mummy was placed in a coffin and buried in a well equipped tomb, provided with all things necessary to start the journey through the underworld.

Beginning with the New Kingdom era, around 1550 BC royal tombs were cut into the rock of the Valley of the Kings. Consisting of long corridors and multiple chambers, the tombs held veritable treasuries of gifts. The rooms were painted extravagantly with prayers and spells for protection repeating the person's name many times over in colorful car touches and portraying the deceased as being received by the important gods and goddesses. The example at left shows New Kingdom pharaoh Horemheb in his tomb, bearing offerings to Osiris, ruler of the underworld. Osiris is depicted With his royal crook and flail, wrapped tightly in linen, his face an hands the color of death.

Left: Tomb painting, New Kingdom Pharaoh Horemheb is received by Osiris to the underworld. Right: The mummy of Pharaoh Seti I lies well preserved in its tomb in the Valley of the Kings.

The underworld was thought to begin in the west where sun set each evening, and tombs were usually placed on t west bank of the Nile. According to the Book of the Dead sacred 13^th century BC. Egyptian texts the body would travel by boat through the underworld to pass in tests of character. The heart of the deceased would be weighed against the feather of truth and Osiris would judge whether the person was worthy of eternal life. If judged true, t deceased would be reborn, to rise gloriously the next morning with the sun god Re.

Hail you, you august, great, and potent god, Prince forever. May you grant that I be among the living. Tomb inscription.

Bronze Age China Chinese bronze masks from Shu culture

China's Origins Unearthed

In the past 50 years, the rapid pace of archaeological excavations in China has radically revised long-held ideas about the origins of Chinese civilization. Once thought to have begun in the Yellow River Valley, archaeologists have uncovered evidence of Neolithic cultures as early as the sixth millennium BC in sites from the southern coast to the far northeast. Thus the origins of Chinese civilization are much more varied-regionally, culturally, and ethnically-than previously thought.

According to traditional accounts, sage kings in antiquity like the Yellow Emperor taught the Chinese people the arts of agriculture, writing, and medicine, and early dynasties-Xia, Shang, and Zhou-were founded by virtuous rulers and ended by tyrannical ones.

Modern scholarship now views these dynasties as not so much succeeding each other in ever larger geographical zones, but in part co-existing at the same time in different places. Rule in these dynasties evolved from a loose confederation under Shang kings to a decentralized territorial system under the Zhou. At times, archaeology has confirmed the written historical record. For example, the reign of Shang kings in traditional accounts has been verified by inscriptions on oracle bones and bronze vessels. Other bronze work has been discovered as far southwest as Sichuan province

King Tut gold mask Olmec athlete

The Tomb of Tutankhamun

Although the boy king Tutankhamun had little opportunity to achieve greatness in his short life of 18 or 19 years, he is well known to posterity because of his tomb, which was discovered intact in 1922.

As was the custom for pharaohs in Egyptian society, Tutankhamun was buried in the Valley of the Kings. He was embalmed, mummified, and enshrined in a series of coffins, the innermost one of solid gold and an outer sarcophagus of granite. His death mask alone was made of 22 1/2 pounds of gold. Some 50,000 other magnificent grave goods accompanied him to the afterlife, and the contents of the tomb, overflowing with bejeweled treasures, tell much about daily life among the elite in the 14th century BC.

Tutankhamun was probably the son of Kiya, a minor queen, and Pharaoh Akhenaten, who had attempted to supplant the existing priesthood and gods with a single deity, the sun god Aten. After Akhenaten's death, when Tutankhamun was still a child and under the influence of advisers, the priests reinstated the old order along with a pantheon of gods, and moved the capital back to Thebes.

According to artifacts and paintings, Tutankhamun and his young wife, Ankhesenamun, lived a luxurious life and spent their time leisurely. He is shown driving a chariot, swimming and playing other sports, and sometimes hunting and fishing. Although murder was suspected, modem tests showed that he most likely died from a fracture in his left leg that became infected with gangrene.

You waken gladly every day, all afflictions are expelled. You traverse eternity in joy. Tomb Inscription

The Rebel Akhenaten

Pharaoh Akhenaten inherited the title from his father, Amenhotep III, whose temples and palaces epitomized Egyptian art and luxury. His son, however, eschewed such ostentation and denounced the powerful roles played by the priests. Akhenaten rejected all temple cults in favor of only one god, the sun god Aten. He moved the capital from Thebes to Amarna, where he built a new city with a sunlit open temple, vastly different from the dark, mysterious older sanctuaries. Art styles changed during this period, too, portraying the king and his family with lifelike expressions. After his death, however, priests reinstated the old order.

Olmet of Mesoamerica

As early as 2250 BC people of the lowlands along the Gulf of Mexico planted corn and other crops and exploited the sea for fish and shellfish. They organized into chiefdoms and lived in agricultural communities. By 1200 BC the Olmec-meaning rubber people, for the rubber trees growing in the region-had organized into Mesoamerica's first civilization.

An authoritarian society with a complex division of labor, the Olmec conscripted thousands of laborers to build elaborate ceremonial centers on earthen mounds with temples, walled plazas, and ball courts. Other workers mined and transported huge boulders of basalt from the mountains to be sculpted into colossal heads, which may have represented leaders or deities. These centers were reserved for the elite and priestly class; ordinary citizens attended only on special occasions. The first center was built at San Lorenzo, followed by a second one at La Venta in 800 B.C.E., and a third at Tres Zapotes in 400 B.C.E. Olmec influence reached far beyond Mexico, and much of their culture, including an early script and calendar, was adopted by later civilizations.

Love thy neighbor as yourself, I am your God. Liviticus 19:17-18

Left: In Rembrandt's 17th‑century painting, Moses holds aloft the Ten Commandments. Right: Thee Torah holds the laws and history of ancient Israel, handwritten on a scroll of Parchment.

The Birth of Monotheism

According to the torah – the Jewish holy scriptures, which are also the five books of the Bible -- life on earth began in the Garden of Eden, a spot from which four rivers sprang. Two of them, the Tigris and Euphrates, still flow today in Iraq. From this land, called Ur at the time, God commanded Abraham in about 2100 BC to "get thee out of thy country ... unto the land that I will show thee ... and I will make of thee a great nation."

As per the Torah, God led Abraham and his clan of nomadic herders to Canaan, the land between Egypt and Lebanon. From that time on, Abraham was connected to God in a personal relationship, following His commands and having his faith tested. He and his people had journeyed from a region where multiple gods were feared and had to be appeased, and yet he began to believe in a single, supreme God, transcendent in power.

Abraham's grandson Jacob had 12 sons, from whom the 12 tribes of Israel are said to be descended. To escape a famine, Jacob and his family migrated to Egypt where other Hebrews traveled regularly as traders and itinerary metal smiths. Jacob died there, but the Israelites (so named because God called Jacob "Israel") were enslaved by the pharoaoh, possibly Ramses II, around 1300 B.C.E., Moses delivered them from bondage and led them safely out of Egypt.

At Mount Sinai, Moses received the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments, written in stone. Stating above all, "You shall have no other gods before me," the Ten Commandments laid the foundation of moral law for Judaism, which eventually became moral code for Christianity and Islam as well. According to the commandments, idolatry was forbidden; parents were to be honored; murder, adultery, theft, and lying should be punished; and the seventh day of the week should be reserved for rest‑a time for prayer and reflection. Virtuous living would be rewarded and wickedness punished.

Returning to Canaan, the Hebrews established the kingdom of Israel. Their belief in a single God set them apart from their neighbors and placed on them a heavy burden, but their religion has survived endless trials to this day.

Phoenician Sea Farers

By the end of the third millennium, Semitic tribes had settled on the coast of present-day Lebanon and Syria. The Greeks later named them Phoenicians, from the word "phoinix," or purple, because of their purple cloaks.

Phoenician coast Phoenician carved ivory

The Phoenicians established the cities of Tyre, Sidon, and Byblos at the crossroads of trade and began sailing along the Mediterranean coast. By 1200 they were known as preeminent sea farers, navigating by the stars and trading their cedar wood and cloth dyed in a unique purple made from Murex snails. They established a trading network that reached from Spain and North Africa to Turkey and Greece and made the first recorded circumnavigation of Africa. To keep track of their far-flung networks, they devised an alphabetic, rather than a pictorial, system of writing, which they passed on to the Greeks and on which the Western alphabet is based.

Never a unified kingdom, Phoenicia consisted of a handful of independent city-states. As Assyrian and then Persian power rose in the east, Phoenician cities were invaded. In 334 BC Alexander the Great destroyed the last one.

Indo- European Languages

The Indo-Europeans were herders and horse breeders, a hard-charging group of people who exploded out of the Eurasian steppes on horseback and in battle chariots to conquer new lands. Organized into rival tribes, Indo- Europeans spoke a language that gradually branched into many related tongues as groups like the Hittites and the Aryans spread out across a vast area ranging from Asia Minor to India and Europe, losing contact with one another but forming new relationships. Among the linguistic innovations were Sanskrit, the classical language of India, as well as Persian, Greek, Latin, the Germanic and Slavic languages, and the so-called Romance languages, including French, Spanish, and Italian. Today the Indo-European language family is the largest in the world, with more speakers than any other.

The Kingdom of Israel

Led from bondage by Moses, the Hebrews left Egypt around 1300 BC to settle in the "promised land, " the uplands of Canaan. Philistines, Phoenicians, and other sea peoples already occupied the coastal area. The Hebrews formed a loose coalition of 12 tribes, ruled by judges. By 1025 BC fear of the warlike Philistines caused the Hebrews to unite into the kingdom of Israel. They chose Saul as their first king. In 1000 BC David followed Saul and made Jerusalem the capital of his kingdom. David's son, Solomon, succeeded him in 960 BC and the kingdom thrived. Massive building projects were completed, most famously the magnificent Temple of Solomon. With Solomon's death in 925 B.C.E., a golden era ended. His sons split the kingdom into two feuding countries: Israel in the north and Judah in the south, a division that would prove fatal.

Kingdom of Israel Fertile Cresceant

The Assyrians to the north had been a long-time threat and in 721, they conquered Israel's capital of Samaria. Thousands of survivors, now known as the ten lost tribes of Israel, were forced into exile, scattered in small populations all over the Middle East. The assaults continued in 701, when Judah's major city of Lachish fell, but the Assyrians could not capture the capital, Jerusalem.

Subjected to constant power struggles between Babylonians, Assyrians, and Egyptians, Judah's fortunes ebbed and surged. Once Assyria declined and fell to the might of Babylon, however, its king, Nebuchadrezzar, took new aim at Jerusalem. He first appointed Zedekia to be king of Judah and sent some 10,000 prominent Jews into exile in Babylon. Then, when Zedekia proved unreliable, Nebuchadrezzar laid siege to Jerusalem. In 597 B.C.E., Babylonian forces breached the city's defenses and destroyed the former capital, bringing an end to what was left of the once united kingdom of Israel.

Left: King Soloman of Israel Right: The Hindu god Shiva shown as Nataraja, Lord of the Cosmic Dance, dances on a prostrate demon, surrounded by flames.

Hinduism: At One with the Universe

Of the world's great religions, Hinduism may be the oldest, its roots going back to the Indus Valley civilization in Pakistan and western India and mixed with beliefs brought into India by Aryan-speaking Indo-Europeans. Their orally transmitted religious hymns, prayers, and rituals were written down in the Vedas between 1400 and 900 BC.

As traditions developed further, they were again compiled in the Upanishads around 800 B.C.E. These sacred scriptures hold that everything is part of one cosmic spirit-infusing every living being-called Brahman.

Hinduism venerates thousands of different gods, ranging from house-hold and village protectors to the great Vishnu and Shiva, who have many incarnations. Vishnu, the protector of the world, also appears as Krishna. Shiva-often shown with four arms, indicating his power, and encircled by flames-is the god who destroys ignorance.

The many different gods present different pathways by which a person can approach the divine. Depending on what kind of life a person has lived, he or she will be reincarnated into a better or meaner existence. The ultimate right way of living will lead to liberation from the cycle of birth, death, and reincarnation.

The third-largest religion in the world, with almost a billion followers, Hinduism is unique among world religions in having no single founder.

Celts: Europe’s Metal Smiths

The people known to the Greeks as Keltoi, or Celts, were settled about 800 BC in the salt mining region of Hallstatt. in today's Austria. They formed agricultural villages and mined and traded salt, a precious commodity at the time, especially prized for preserving meats. Instead of the draped garments known to the Mediterraneans. Celtic men wore trousers, which the toga wearers viewed as ridiculous.

Of Indo-European origin, the Celts loose and shifting tribes. united only by language and religious beliefs, spread across central Europe. They brought with them a highly developed skill in bronze work for weapons and functional items. They had horses and four-wheeled wooden wagons, which later evolved into lighter, faster two-wheeled carts. They fortified their villages with huge earthen ramparts but never formed a unified nation. Burial mounds of chieftains held treasures of gold, amber, and other precious goods, indicating trade links to the Baltic and Mediterranean Seas.

With the advent of iron smelting in about 750 BC, the Celts became experts in the technology. Their highly skilled metalsmiths produced hoops for wagon wheels, agricultural tools, functional household items, and brooches and other jewelry, plus swords, lance heads, and shield bosses- Thus well armed, the Celts swiftly dominated much of Europe. From Austria, they spread into Switzerland-La Tene-Germany. France, and Scandinavia. By 500 BC they had moved into Spain and Britain, where they thrived for centuries before falling to the Romans.

The whole [Celtic] race. ..is madly fond of war, high-spirited, quick to battle, ...even if they have nothing on their side but their own strength and courage. Greek Geographer Straw

The Nubian Kingdom of Africa

Ancient Nubia-the area between the first and fifth cataract of the Nile that is today part of Egypt and Sudan - has a history as long as ancient Egypt. Between 3000 BC and 500 AD, Nubia was known variously under the names of Yam, Kush, Napata, Meroe, and Ethiopia. Prosperous as a result of agriculture and cattle herding, the Nubians were renowned for their archery skills and often served in the Egyptian armies as mercenaries. In trade they functioned as middlemen, distributing the riches of Africa as far north as Crete, offering much coveted African gold, ebony, ivory, exotic animals, and animal skins.

During Egypt's Middle Kingdom period, various pharaohs pushed into Lower Nubia to the second cataract. Around 1450 BC Egypt again invaded the kingdom of Kush up to the fourth cataract, and Nubian princes were sent to the court in Egypt, where they adopted Egyptian mores. In the eighth century BC, with Egypt in the throes of Red anarchy, turnabout was fair play: The Kushite King Piye marched downriver and conquered Egypt. He established a dynasty that would rule Egypt for nearly a hundred years, and the combined kingdom became the largest country in Mrica.

In 664 BC the Assyrians, then the Persians, and finally the Greeks of Alexander the Great and the Romans occupied Egypt. Independent Nubia continued on, building pyramids, smelting iron, and developing an alphabet that has not yet been deciphered.

Map showing the comparative extents of the Egyptian and Nubian kingdoms at their respective heights

Nubian woman with child Etrusan sarcophagus

Etruscans: Lovers of Life

Settled in hilltop agricultural villages between the Arno and Tiber Rivers of Italy, the Etruscans rose to swift prominence during the first millennium BC. The mineral wealth of the area-copper, tin, and iron-allowed for lively trade with neighbors and the seafaring Phoenicians. By the eighth century BC the villages grew into city-states with a stratified society.

The Greeks established colonies near the Etruscan realm and heavily influenced Etruscan arts and culture. Trade brought in luxury goods from Egypt, Syria, Anatolia, and Greece, while Etruscan influence spread north and south. In 616 Lucius Tarquinius Priscus became ruler of Rome. He established a dynasty that transformed Rome into an urban center, constructing monumental buildings, paving the forum, and establishing a sewer system. In 509 BC the Romans deposed the last Etruscan ruler and formed a republic, and Etruria became part of Rome.

Explorers of Oceania

Humans migrated to the land-mass of Australia and New Guinea and nearby islands around 60,000 BC, arriving from Southeast Asia in simple boats outfitted with sails. Around 8000 BC, rising seas caused by a warming climate separated Australia and New Guinea.

Shortly thereafter, Austronesian seafarers, speaking languages with roots in Malayan, Indonesian, Filipino, Polynesian, and Malagasy, began exploring and trading along the northern coast of New Guinea, introducing the farming of root crops such as yams and taro and the husbanding of pigs and chickens. They sailed the open ocean in outrigger canoes following slight cues such as wind direction, cloud formation, the stars, or the flight of a bird to find the next habitable island. In succeeding waves of discovery, they settled on the Solomon Islands by 4000 BC, Vanuatu in 2000 BC, Fiji in 1500 BC, Tonga and Samoa before 1000 BC, Hawaii about 300 AD, and finally Easter Island in 500 AD. and New Zealand in 700 AD. Other groups of Austronesians explored Micronesia and Madagascar, introducing crops and farming at each new settlement.