Prehistory – River Valley
Civilizations
Key Question:
How do environmental factors affect
Politics, Economy & Social Patterns?
I. Paleolithic (Old Stone Age) (2 million
to 12000 BCE)
A. As humans progressed, advanced humans …
B. Mostly hunters/gatherers and …
1. People …
I. Paleolithic (Old Stone Age)
(2 million to 12000 BCE)
CONT
2. Groups migrated to …
3. This migration led to…
C. Greatest accomplishment was …
1. Caused by ???
a)
Enabled by ???
D. 14,000 years ago end of last GREAT ice age
providing better living conditions  ???
Real Quotes from AP Essays
• SNOOBS of the developed nations of the
USA
• The COSTUME family has been changed
into the nuclear family
• Two documents in this selection prove to
be irrelevant to the topic
• Funds of desire
II. Neolithic (New Stone Age) (10,0004000 BCE)
A. Agricultural Revolution
1. Invention of agriculture a)
b)
c)
End of ice age resulted in:
1. ???
2. ???
People began to …
Animals …
2. Initially developed in the Middle East and independently
arose in India, N. Africa and Europe
3. Transformation …
a)
b)
Required ???
1. Who did the hard work?
???
1. As farmers cleared land they …
Neolithic (New Stone Age) (10,0004000 BCE) CONT.
4. Allowed for ??? WHY???
a)
Discovered uses for copper (4000 BCE) and development of
bronze (3000BCE)
1. Advent of tools allowed for …
2. This meant …
5. What happens to the role of women with advent of
agriculture?
More Quotes from real AP Essays
• The Green Revolution was introduced as a way
to feed the world’s PERVERTED people
• They observed some RURAL URBANIZATION
• Ecological illness
• Many subsistence farmers and also poor
people stopped looking for food. All this free
time allowed people to attend schools, like in
the Neolithic Revolution.
III. Civilization – Discussion
• Is the term Civilizations a synonym for good?
– For each of the following words, tell me whether
or not they are representative of civilized peoples:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Gender inequality
Slavery
Warlike
Divisions in social-class – have/have nots
Diseases
Ruler and ruled
Destruction of environment
III. Civilization CONT
A. Why Civilization?
1. Need groups of people to …
B. What defines a civilization?
1. Must contain all of the following:
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
???
???
???
???
???
C. Scholars still debate the “true” definition
IV. Characteristics of River Valley
Civilizations
A. The “Big” 4
1.
2.
3.
4.
Mesopotamia
Egypt
India
China
(Tigris and Euphrates)
(Nile)
(Indus)
(Hwang He / Yellow)
B. North American Civilizations
1. Olmecs
2. Chavin
(Central America)
(South America)
Mesopotamia
Egypt
India
China
IV. Characteristics of River Valley
Civilizations
CONT
B. Mesopotamia and China developed ???
Egypt and India ???
1. All developed a distinctive society and culture
despite…
IV. Characteristics of River Valley
Civilizations
CONT
C. Similarities
1.
2.
3.
4.
Use of …
Creation of …
Complex …
What else???
a) Why are these common to all?
Writing
Papyrus Sheets
Cuneiform Tablet
Hieroglyphs
Writing Forms
Sumerian Writing
Hieroglyphics
Writing Forms
Sanskrit
Ancient Chinese
IV. Characteristics of River Valley
Civilizations
CONT
D. Differences
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Egyptian economy was …
Mesopotamian science and writing were…
All created distinctive ….
Egypt had …
China developed …
IV. Characteristics of River Valley
Civilizations
CONT
E. Decline of River Valley Civilizations
1. Most in decline by … WHY???
V. Conclusion
A. RVCs created…
B. Civilization created ??? BUT led to ???
1. Increasing contacts vs. local identity
C. The 4 major RVCs shared … but were radically
different … HOW??? WHY???
Even more quotes from real AP
Essays
• Thus the action in the year 1945 penalized
starvation and challenged it with a revolution.
• The Green Revolution brought to the Punjab:
Gang wars, dog fighting, and, of course, arson
• In Harry Truman’s document he states that we
are approaching misery and must do
something about it. But we all know that
almost all presidents say a bunch of crap and
don’t really care.