Complex Societies 

Learning Objectives

For this unit, students will be able to:
  • Understand the role that global climate change played in the changes to human societies during the Middle Holocene.  As our planet became drier: 
  1. Humans began to partner with animals (i.e. horses, donkeys, dromedary camels, Bactrian camels, yaks, llamas, and alpacas) that were adapted to these new conditions
  2. Humans became more efficient in using their resources [secondary products: plants (i.e. olive oil from olives, wine from grapes, and linen from flax) and animals (i.e. wool, silks, milk products, animal transportation, and animals power).
  3. Humans began to gather around sources of water (circumscription).  These early population densities led to the development of the first complex societies.  These early states needed to maintain order and distribute resources in order to survive.
  4. Humans began to sail across more open oceans as global wind patterns became less intense.    
  5. Humans began to use their drought-tolerant domestic animals partners to the expanding grassland and desert landscapes in order to create networks.
  6. Humans' discovery of the use of tin to make bronze became the driving forces in the making of the first hemispheric exchange system.       

Project



Middle Holocene Climate Change (5,500 to 5,000 years ago)

During the Middle Holocene, as our planet became drier, humans began to gather in large numbers in the river valleys of Afro-Eurasia.  With these high concentrations of people in small geographic areas, these complex societies had to deal with two main problems:  How to get the necessary resources to everyone? And, How to maintain order?  

Early Holocene
  • Global Climate: Warm and Moist (in most places-- Glaciers melting and more solar radiation)
  • Good for plant growth: the development of agriculture.  Agriculture developed around the world in regions where humans access to the greatest variety of plants and animals (often where two biomes intersected).  The Lucky Latitudes.  

The Change
  • The subtropics (the area around 30⁰) became must drier.
  • People living at in the subtropics crammed into the regions with the greatest abundance of water: the river valleys.  At approximately the same time, largest settlements developed around the Nile River (Egypt), the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers (Mesopotamia), and the Indus River (Harappan).  As populations grew, people had to develop new ways of living in close proximity to each other.

Objective: To investigate the ways that people were adapting to the new conditions in the river valleys.

The Groups: 
  • The Egyptians in the Nile River Valley
  • The Mesopotamians in Tigris and Euphrates River Valleys
  • The Harappans in the Indus River Valley

 Remember, all of these groups belong to a well-developed network that we will call the Central Civilization.  

Also, archaeologists have discovered a complex society that was developing at the same time in the Americas.  If you are up for the challenge, you could investigate what was happening at Caral (Norte Chico) on the coast of Peru.  It appears that a complex society developed in this area to coordinate the exchange of resources between the coast and the highlands as conditions became drier. 

Topics of Discovery

  • The Climate and Geography of Each Region. [The area where they lived.]  Examine the conditions within the valley (esp. the flood patterns and the sources of the rivers) and the routes that were used to connect to other regions.  Also, include natural resources they had and what they lacked.
  • Subsistence Economy [How they lived on a day-to-day basis]: Examine how the inhabitants acquired food, clothing, shelter, and water from the natural environment.  Place the greatest emphasis on the types of crops they grew and how they managed water.
  • Political Economy (Internal) [How they interacted with each other in the valley]: State Building.  Examine TWO of the following of how these groups operated within the valleys: their methods of transportation and communication; the methods used for controlling people’s behavior (i.e. laws, religions, customs, etc.); use of labor (i.e. improving public works, monumental buildings, etc.).
  • Political Economy (External) [How they interacted with people living outside the valley]: Empire Building and Long-distance Exchange Networks.  Examine ONE of the following on how these groups interacted with different people living outside of the valley: long-distance exchange networks; war and conquest; colonizing efforts; missionaries; migrations (in and out).  

Controlling a Society 
  • Food-Production Systems: large societies need a way to produce food on a grand scale.  Managing water, i.e. irrigation, is critically important.  
  • Stratification/Hierarchy: the society develops ranks based on differences in wealth, prestige, and power.  
  • Mechanisms for Enforcing Rules and Customs: these levels are often enforced (through military and police) and encouraged (through laws, customs, and religion).  Eventually, these structures become institutionalized through administrative technologies, such as such writing and bureaucratic forms of government. 
  • Specialization: even though the majority of pre-industrial people lived as farm (agrarian) labor, the surplus they produced could support a small population of non-agriculture workers.  Often, these workers included priests (religious class), government works (bureaucrats), military (soldiers and sailors), skilled craftspeople/artists (makers of pottery, jewelry, architects, sculptures), merchants/traders, etc.   
Evaluation: You will be graded based on the following:
  • Focus Question: The Driving Force of the presentation/paper.  The main goal that was trying to be accomplished.  Was the purpose of this paper/project clearly identifiable to all observers.  
  • Organization: Does the paper/presentation have a logical order?  Did all the sections connect in order to create a narrative?  
  • Content: Did you come across as an expert on the topic?  Did you know the material well enough to speak as an authority?  Was the information included well-researched?  Did you know enough on the topic to understand the main points and why it is relevant?    
  • Design/Presentation: Was it visually rich?  Were you able to engage the class with the information and ideas you were presenting? Did you demonstrate creativity and imagination?   

Levels: 
  • 4: Excellent (Highly Professional)
  • 3: Good (Enjoyable and engaging.  However, there was some room for improvement.  Needs a little more work to reach perfection.)
  • 2: Average (The assignment was completed, but it could have been significantly improved in several areas.)
  • 1: Needs Improvement (Parts of this assignment were incomplete, or significantly lacking.  More work needs to be provided.)
  • 0: Non-existent or non-evident.  (It was not completed or included.)   


Project Evaluation Rubric
The History of Urbanization, 3700 BC - 2000 AD

Links

Introduction

Intro to Agrarian Civilization

Agrarian Civilization
​
Egypt: Nile Valley

PBS: Explore Ancient Egypt
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British Museum: Ancient Egypt 

BBC: Egypt

Discovering Ancient Egypt

​Ancient History Encyclopedia: Egypt

History Channel: Egypt