NATS 1775 Lecture 2: Technology and Civilization Unit Two
25 Aug 2016
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Unit two: technology in ancient and greco-roman civilizations: early civilizations. At least six different centers around the world: mesopotamia (after 3500 bc); Egypt (after 3400 bc); indus river valley (after 2500 bc); yellow river in china (after 1800 bc); mesoamerica (500 bc); south america (after 300 bc) Characteristics: high populations, centralized political and economic authority, regional states, stratified societies, complex architecture, higher learning. Had to do with geography: near mountains, rivers, valley that forced population together; losing battles meant joining a society. A stratified or hierarchal society resembles a pyramid structure (inverse relationship between power and number of people) At the very top you have the fewest people with the most power. In the middle are those with some power usually because of family or occupation. At the very bottom of the pyramid you have the largest segment of your population with the least amount of power. Larger populations required intensified agricultural production, as simple agriculture replaced by field agriculture.
