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8000 BCE
The Paleolithic People
Paleolithic people were nomads. They made a life-changing discovery when they found out how to tame fire. Archaeologists think that they made the fire by rubbing two sticks together. They lived during the ice age. They had to adapt to this cold environment by keeping warm with fire/clothing, change their diet and build better shelters. They developed a spoken language, Art, and Religion. Paleolithic people were the first to use technology They used needles to sew baskets and clothing. -
Period: 8000 BCE to 4000 BCE
The Neolithic People
After the Ice Age ended, people began to change their way of life. They began to domesticate animals/plants. They began to be able to specialize n different jobs instead of hunting. Over time farming replaced hunting and gathering. People who farmed could stay in one place. They could live in villages. They made weapons out of copper. -
Period: 8000 BCE to 5700 BCE
Villages
During the Neolithic time, many villages started in Europe, India, Egypt, China, and Mexico. One of the oldest known communities has been found in the middle east. One of the oldest is Jericho. This city dates back to about 8000 B.C. Another well-known community is Catal Huyuk. Little of it remains but it was home to about 6000 people between 6700 B.C. and 5700 B.C. -
2000 BCE
The City of Babylon
Most of the Chaldeans were descendants of the Babylonian people who made up Hammurabi's empire about 1,200 years earlier. Babylon became the worlds largest and richest city. It was surrounded by a brick wall so wide that two chariots could pass on the road on top. There were large palaces and temples in the city center. Another beautiful thing was the hanging gardens. There was immense greenery. -
900 BCE
The Assyrians
About 1000
years after Hammurabi, a new empire arose in Mesopotamia. It was made by the people called the Assyrians who lived in the north near the Tigress river. Assyria had fertile valleys that made other people want it. To defend their land, the Assyrians built a large army. Around 900 B.C They began taking over Mesopotamia. The assrians were so stong becuase they were well ograinzed. -
620 BCE
life in assyria
The Assyrians lived a lot like other Mesopotamians. Their writing was based on Babylonian writing, and they worshipped many of the same gods. Their laws were alike but if you broke the law there was a big punishment. They were great builders because they built many large temples and palaces that they filled with wall carvings and paintings. They also produced and wrote literature. One of the worlds first libraries was in Nineveh. It held about 25,000 tablets of stories and songs to the gods -
600 BCE
Assyrian Government
Assyrian kings had to be strong to rule their empire. By about 600 B.C. the empire stretched from the Persian Gulf in the east to Egypt's Nile River in the west. Assyrian kings divided their empire into provinces. The Assyrian kings built roads to connect all parts of their empire. -
539 BCE
Why did the empire fall?
As time passed, The Chaldeans began to lose their power. They found it hard to control the people they conquered. In 539 Persians from the mountains to the northeast captured Babylon. -
Period: 605 to 562
The Chaldeans
The Chaldeans wanted to build an empire. Led by Nebuchadnezzer ,they controllded all of mesoptotamia from 605 B.B. 562 B.C. -
The rise of Sumer
The earliest known civilization arose in what is now Iraq on a flat plain bounded by the Tigris River and the Euphrates River. This place was later called Mesopotamia. It had a hot and dry climate and in the spring the rivers often flooded witch was good for the farm land. -
Sumerian cities.
Sumerian cities were isolated from each other by geography. beyond the areas of settlement lay mudflats and scorching desert. That made travel and communication very hard. Each Sumerian city and the laand around it became a city state. -
Sumer People
Kings of Sumer lived in nice palaces and ordinary people lived in small mud-brick houses. Most of the people in Sumer farmed but there were other jobs too, like artisans and merchants. These people were in the middle class. People in the lower class were enslaved people. The people of Sumer invented a writing called cuneiform.
