Dawn of Civilization
From Mbscientific_wiki
While there are some signs of settled living in the Mesolithic/Neolithic era period:
- 18000-10000 BC - Kebaran- mainly hunter/gatherers
- 12000–8000 BC - Natufian, hunting, gathering, some signs of farming and animal husbandry
We see increasing signs of settled activity with the advent of agriculture:
Early Kingdoms to 1000 BC
Around 5000 BC we can see the birth of civilization in Mesopotamia, specifically Sumer and Akkad, circa 5000 BC (Src: https://www3.nationalgeographic.com/genographic/globe.html):
And consider Babylon in the same geographic area- circa 1800 BC (Src: wikipedia:Babylon)
And to get some perspective consider this map of the world Circa 1300 BC (src:wikipedia:History_of_ancient_Egypt).
Morphological Markers
Now lets bringing in our morphological markers (for more details see Sumer and Akkad, Babylon, and Ancient Egypt.
1- Social Cohesion : Governance and Religion - For the first time in history, we see kingdoms covering geographic areas containing (what was by the measure of those times) a number of cities in a fair size domain. The practiced religions were polytheistic. Together, the unified command of kingdom and the unified social glue of religious beliefs and practices brought together a strong measure of social cohesion, codified in law (e.g. 282 laws of Hammurabi).
Having said that, these early kingdoms (kingdoms in general), have a pyramidal hierarchy (pyramidal morphology). At the top is the king, followed by the courtesans (including clan and military chiefs, usually the same), and the priesthood. Then you might have the nobility, followed by skilled labor set, followed by the unskilled labor set and slaves. So all the power and wealth pretty much resides on the top. That morphology is inherently unstable, for internal and external reasons. Simply put, other people want it. So a ruler could and did get upended internally, or invaded externally. So, such an arrangement needs a great deal of military support to survive.
That is why, as a rule, the priesthood is adjunct to the ruler and tied to the masses. Rulers come and go but the religion perseveres because of the masses that practice it. You see in this pyramidal structure, the top of the pyramid (the ruler and the military) is unstable, but the bottom of the pyramid, the population is. As you will see through out this chapter, the rulers, the dynasties, the regimes, all come and go. But the population, the bottom of the pyramid, they adapt and survive, as a rule.
It must be noted that this period gave rise to Monotheism, and specifically Judaism, leading to the Kingdom of David circa 1000 BC, and over time to Christianity and Islam.
2- Technology - Discovered Sumerian cuneiform tablets date back to 3500 BC. So written form of communication was prevalent. Egyptian written language used Cartouches. Their architecture suggests at least a rudimentary understanding of arithmetic and geometry. There is evidence of knowledge of astronomy, also suggesting fusion of astrology with religious practices.
Technological products: boats, lunar-solar calendar, gold, silver, bronze, leather, saws, chisels, hammers, braces, bits, nails, pins, rings, hoes, axes, knives and swords, harnesses, armor, quivers, war chariots, harpoons, boots and sandals, mills, precious stones, boats, sail boats, wooden-oared ships.
Agricultural Products: wheat, barley, chickpeas, lentils, dates, onions, lettuce, and anything else indigenous or acquired by trade. Animal Husbandry: cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, oxen, fowl, donkeys and (later) horses.
Agriculture depended heavily on irrigation, thereby relying on construction of canals, channels, dykes and reservoirs, requiring regular maintenance.
3- Economy - Above products gave rise to significant trade. We see evidence of the first form of banks, as repositories of wealth in terms of grain, and possibly animals and precious material such as gems and metals, etc. They had writing to record who has (or owes) what, and they had governance to enforce the rules of trade.
Trade networks covered northwards to Anatolia, westward to Afghanistan, African Interior to the South and Mediterranean. One can imagine that although the societies were in constant conflict along tribal lines, at least some trade could cross boundaries either directly, or through intermediaries.
Skilled workers: potters, painters, craftsmen, metal smiths, stone masons, etc.
High order skills: architects (buildings, land and waterworks), scribes, managers, merchants, religious keepers of rights and rituals, etc.
Storage of agricultural products, levied taxes, and trade of goods required record keeping on tablets and possibly papyrus.
4- military: Constant conflict over resources and instinctive drive for domination helped develop military capacity. Armies, though relatively small compared to later periods consisted of infantry with swords, spears and shields; and archers with short and longbows and quivers. Donkey drawn carts and later horses and chariots are in evidence.
Defensive strategies included use of walls, and possibly moats and marshes.
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