By this definition, Mesopotamia was indeed a true civilization. Beginning around B. Agriculture drew the earliest people to the banks of Mesopotamia's rivers. But as they figured out how to reroute some of the water through canals, they were able to irrigate fields farther away. With a food supply capable of sustaining large numbers of people, cities began to develop. We might imagine these early city dwellers were visionaries. But the truth is much less dramatic.
Mesopotamia became a civilized powerhouse largely out of necessity. Take, for example, their writing. The Sumerians produced some of the earliest writing discovered, on baked clay tablets. These tablets captured the more mundane aspects of life, such as accounting and tax records. This writing eventually led to phonetic writing , which uses symbols to represent sounds rather than objects.
This is a good example of how the civilization of Mesopotamia developed. Necessity bore invention, which after refinement, lead to the organized integration of these creations -- civilization. So now we know that the Sumerians and other Mesopotamians developed writing and literature. But not everything civilization brings to the world helps humanity.
Read about more innovations -- good and bad -- on the next page. People built huge temples, and a priestly ruling class took its place high up in the power structure. After all, these were the people who knew the intentions of gods like Enlil wind and Utu sun. Organized religion also produced moral codes of conduct, which gave birth to formal laws.
Legal concepts like restitution, retaliation and punishment for false accusations were streamlined. Freedom from the necessity of foraging for food also allowed early agricultural societies to engage in other pursuits with less tangible rewards. Chief among these is science.
The Babylonians are believed to be the first civilization to document time. They created minutes and seconds, and produced a calendar. This breakthrough provided the foundation for astronomy and math [ Britannica ]. But Mesopotamian civilization is also credited with negative innovations, like expansionism, empires, slavery and war. In B. The capitol city, Ur, was invaded and leveled by another Mesopotamian group, the Elamites, just a few hundred years later.
And epidemics and plagues were now viable, since, with so many people living together in a small area, they could be transmitted easily from person to person. For all the positive and negative contributions of Mesopotamian civilization, some archaeologists believe there are other groups in contention for the title of cradle of civilization. Access to water helped with farming and trade routes. Soon, its natural riches brought travelers in and out of the Fertile Crescent.
This led to an exchange of culture and ideas, and advancements in the region as writing cuneiform , math, and religion all soon developed there. As time has passed, however, challenges have arisen in the Fertile Crescent. Turkey, Syria, and Iraq all depend on the waters flowing from the region. Increased population and demands on the rivers from urbanization have depleted the once-fertile soil. The construction of multiple dams has also put more pressure on the area, leading to lower water output and quality.
As a result, much of the volume has declined to the point where nations utilizing the Euphrates River have to negotiate solutions to ensure each has access to needed water. The environmental strain on the once lush and thriving area has been cited as a secondary reason for tensions in the region, including the conflicts in Syria.
Political issues became entangled with geographical problems, and the result was a battle for control of the region, which began in the early s.
While the current state of the Fertile Crescent is awash with uncertainty, its status as the cradle of civilization remains intact.
The audio, illustrations, photos, and videos are credited beneath the media asset, except for promotional images, which generally link to another page that contains the media credit. The Rights Holder for media is the person or group credited. Tyson Brown, National Geographic Society. National Geographic Society. For information on user permissions, please read our Terms of Service. If you have questions about how to cite anything on our website in your project or classroom presentation, please contact your teacher.
They will best know the preferred format. Why is Sumeria regarded as the cradle of ancient civilization? Situated in a vast expanse of delta between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers, Mesopotamia was the wellspring from which modern societies emerged. Its people learned to tame the dry land and draw sustenance from it. For what two reasons is Mesopotamia called the cradle of civilization? Mesopotamia, the area between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in modern day Iraqis often referred to as the cradle of civilization because it is the first place where complex urban centers grew.
What is the oldest civilization on the planet? Sumerian civilization How do you start a civilization? Civilizations expand through trade, conflict, and exploration. Usually, all three elements must be present for a civilization to grow and remain stable for a long period of time. The physical and human geography of Southeast Asia allowed these attributes to develop in the Khmer civilization, for example. What are signs of civilization? To be considered a civilization, the 7 following requirements must be met: Stable food supply.
0コメント