Such institutions emerge in conjunction with larger, denser populations where consensual methods of decision making do not work effectively.

Institutions become self-serving so that those who are privileged remain so.

Increasing inequality in wealth and power is a hallmark of civilized societies.

By specially marking the offspring of the privileged from birth, the number of heirs is limited.

In Eurasia and Africa, beasts of burden could distribute goods inexpensively, leading to the development of large-scale and specialized craft industries.

As societies increase in size and complexity, the mechanisms of exchange shift to tribute and marketing.

The sequences of transition are not uniform and the specific organization of different states varies markedly.

Eridu

Uruk

Harappa and Mohenjo-daro

Hierakonpolis

Giza

An-yang

Xianyang

Angkor

Jenné-jeno

Great Zimbabwe

Settlements consisted of small, packed mud or clay structures that must be rebuilt every 50-75 years.

Over thousands of years, structures have been rebuilt on top of earlier ones, gradually leading to mounds of accumulated mud and clay.

Thousands of these mounds, called tells, rise above the landscape in Southwest Asia.

Ancient irrigation canals also cover the landscape of the area.

The rivers provide water that makes irrigation possible in an area where rainfall is inadequate for farming.

Farmers today can cultivate a variety of crops.

No early agricultural villages have been found on the flat plain between the rivers in Mesopotamia.

Communities were generally composed of several houses, containing a few rooms.

By 5,500 B.C., the Halafian pottery style spread throughout a wide area of northern Mesopotamia, suggesting that the villages were linked.

Shortly after the appearance of Halafian ceramics in the north, the focus of Mesopotamian settlement shifted to the south, an area known as Sumer.

By 5,300 B.C., an economy based on fish, irrigation agriculture, and domestic cattle arose in Sumer.

The ‘Ubaid period (5,300 – 4,100 B.C.) begins the sequence and was marked by the establishment of the temple.

The first villages in southern Mesopotamia were small, about 2.5-5 acres.

Although most of the structures at Eridu were houses, a significant nonresidential structure was also present.

This building, measuring 12 x 15 feet, may have been an early temple with a possible altar facing the entrance.

The possible temple suggests that the organizational capacity for the construction of minor public architecture was present.

Similar structures have been found at other locations in Mesopotamia.

The origins and antecedents of the temple institution have important implications for understanding the development of cultural elements in Sumer.

The communities were based on irrigation farming and the economy produced enough food to support the growing population and a surplus that supported craft producers and decision makers.

Eridu may have covered 25 acres at this time and could have had a population of several thousand people.

The temple at Eridu was rebuilt and expanded numerous times.

The most elaborate residential dwellings were situated immediately around the temple.

This period was identified by a widespread monochrome pottery decorated with geometric designs.

Most of the ceramics appear to have been made on a slow-turning potter’s wheel, in use for the first time.

Few luxury items are found at ‘Ubaid sites.

Eridu remained an important place for more than 1,000 years following the end of the ‘Ubaid period.

During the Uruk (4,100 – 3,100 B.C) and Early Dynastic (3,100 – 2,370 B.C.) periods, urban settlements and the earliest states were first established.

Uruk became a major city of more than 10,000 people, covering 250 acres by 3,100 B.C.

Residential architecture was made of whitewashed mud brick.

During the fourth millennium B.C., the use of clay tablets for writing emerged.

The structure is composed of a series of building levels, the earliest going back to ‘Ubaid times.

The stepped pyramid is named for the primary god (Anu) in the Sumerian pantheon.

The White Temple was built on top of the Anu Ziggurat.

The Anu complex is estimated to have taken 7,500 man-years to build, indicating the presence of political power to control a large, organized labor force.

As temples became more elaborate, the individuals associated with them were separated from the general population.

During Uruk times, pottery was largely unpainted.

Widespread use of the potter’s wheel developed during Uruk times.

Undecorated utilitarian vessels were made in great volume using the wheel or molds.

Ships sailed up the rivers from the Persian Gulf, carrying food and raw materials.

Copper, which appeared in the early fifth or sixth millennium B.C., was imported into lower Mesopotamia around 3,500 B.C.

Metal took on an important role in agriculture and warfare.

Coppersmiths were present in Mesopotamian cities by 3,000 B.C.

The wheel was introduced during the fourth millennium B.C., and wheeled vehicles gained widespread use.

This increased agricultural yield.

Major crops were wheat, barley, flax, and dates.

Cattle and fish were important food sources.

Made on clay, the tablets date to 3,400 B.C.

The principal function of the writing appears to be economic, since the clay tablets record lists of commodities and business transactions.

Over 1,500 symbols have been identified.

Smiths began to alloy copper with tin to create bronze, which is harder than copper.

The development of bronze is linked to an increase in warfare.

Armies were equipped with wheeled chariots and wagons.

Rulers started to control subjects through military strength, religious sanction, and taxation.

Uruk grew to 1,000 acres and may have contained 50,000 people.

Great defensive walls were constructed around major urban centers, including Uruk.

Ur became Uruk’s economic and military rival.

Ur is renowned for its Royal Cemetery, where more than 2,500 burials were unearthed.

By the end of the Early Dynastic period, bureaucratic organization and social stratification were highly developed.

The history of the third and second millennia B.C. is extremely complicated, with political realignments, military conquests, and dynastic replacements occurring frequently.

The earliest known sites in the area date to the late fifth and early fourth millennia B.C.

These sites were scattered across the plains in major agricultural areas or along important trade routes.

The early Indus Valley settlements consisted of small, mud-brick houses.

The size of settlements varied, and a few included monumental construction.

Plow-based agriculture and craft technologies were present.

Fifteen hundred Harappan sites have been reported; Harappa and Mohenjo-daro are the best-known urban centers.

The two sites are surprisingly similar.

Both cover approximately 370-620 acres and contained populations of 40,000-80,000 people.

Both were built with massive mud-brick walls and platforms that raised the towns above the surrounding floodplains.

Harappa and Mohenjo-daro consisted of several mounded sectors.

The sites have a high rectangular mound on the west and other large mounds.

The "granary" was 11,000 square feet and may have been constructed over brick supports so that air could circulate under the stored grain.

The Great Bath may have been used for ceremonial ritual bathing.

Hundreds of houses made of baked mud bricks lined the streets.

Some houses had two stories.

More spacious dwellings were laid out around central courtyards.

At Mohenjo-daro and other major urban centers of the Indus Valley, there were designated living and working quarters for various craft specialists.

Although the Indus Valley covered a larger area, it had a smaller number of major centers.

Whereas Mesopotamia had many city-states, the similarities between Harappa and Mohenjo-daro suggest that Indus centers were closely linked economically and culturally.

Indus civilization may have had a more equitable distribution of wealth.

Indus material culture was simple compared to that of Mesopotamia.

The Indus elite engaged in fewer lavish public displays and built no rich tombs, elaborate palaces, or fancy temples.

Indus settlements were closer to natural resources than Sumerian sites.

Over 4,000 seals with Indus script have been found.

Since many animals are depicted on the seals, these animals may be totems representing specific kin groups.

Archaeologists now believe that this may have been due to decentralization.

Many elements of Harappan civilization still remain in Hindu traditions today.

What is known is that the civilization along the Nile River was different in its long-term history from the ancient civilizations that developed in other parts of the world.

The Nile flows to the north from its source in equatorial Africa.

Its final 800 miles cut through Egypt before fanning out into an enormous delta.

Lower Egypt to the north has rich cultivable floodplains that are extremely fertile.

Annual temperatures are ideal for the cultivation of a wide range of crops.

Soon after 5,000 B.C., food production was established.

Most of what is known about predynastic Egypt comes from the south, where the earliest occupations are called Badarian.

Badarian settlements consisted of clusters of skin tents or small huts.

Many of the dead were buried carefully in pits in which grave goods were placed.

This tradition is characterized by the appearance of more developed craft industries.

Amratian metalworkers used copper to make various items.

The origins of Egyptian metallurgy have not definitively been determined.

Most of the inhabitants lived in rectangular, semisubterranean houses of mud brick and thatch.

Near the site was a large cemetery with part of the burial area reserved for elaborate tombs that varied in size and contents.

At least 15 Amratian kilns have been identified, the largest of which covered over one quarter of an acre.

Two types of pottery were made: one for everyday use and the other for grave offerings.

The large kilns must have produced a surplus, beyond local needs.

These included pottery production, metallurgy, and the manufacture of stone bowls.

Trade with Southwest Asia intensified in volume.

However, differences in ceramic styles and burial customs continued to distinguish Upper and Lower Egypt.

In artistic representations, key individuals are depicted wearing different crowns, suggesting that several different polities may have developed along the Nile.

This is evident from tomb size, grave design, and burial inclusions.

Written records and stone monuments indicate that warfare increased at this time.

The unification of Upper and Lower Egypt was depicted on a carved stone palette found at Hierakonpolis.

The Egyptian state was far larger and more complex than any city-state in Mesopotamia.

The royal court centralized wealth and power.

The unification of Egypt was closely timed with the earliest hieroglyphic writing, which is very different from Southwest Asia writing.

Widespread adoption of irrigation occurred, which allowed for large surpluses.

Memphis remained the political center for 1,500 years.

The symbol of the pharaoh was the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt.

A series of pharaohs during the first (3,100 – 2,890 B.C.) and second (2,890 – 2,686 B.C.) dynasties ruled under the double crown.

Apart from a few large cities, most Egyptians lived in self-sufficient villages.

A massive heredity bureaucracy developed, devoting energy to tax collection, harvest yields, and the administration of irrigation.

Trade links were established to other parts of Africa.

Between the third dynasty in 2,686 B.C. and the Persian conquest in 525 B.C., Egypt was ruled by at least 23 dynasties.

The first pyramid was a stepped stone structure constructed by Zoser.

Step pyramids were soon followed by pyramids with smooth faces.

Like all royal tombs until 1,000 B.C., the pyramids were constructed in the desert on the west side of the Nile.

The Pyramid of Khufu there stands 500 feet high and covers 13 acres.

This pyramid was constructed from over two million stone blocks weighing an average of over one ton each.

Construction involved thirteen million man-days of labor.

Two other large pyramids were constructed by Khufu’s successors.

The famous Great Sphinx is located close to the pyramids.

Pyramids built after this dynasty were relatively small.

These rulers controlled economic exchange, served at the top of the bureaucracy, and acted as the heads of the state religion.

Towards the end of the Old Kingdom, royal power declined and the Old Kingdom collapsed.

A period of decentralization followed and provinces became competitive and fought with each other.

The rulers pacified southern Egypt and overthrew the dynasty in power to the north.

The capital was brought back to Memphis.

During the first half of the second millennium B.C., central authority weakened again.

The kings established far-reaching domains of control, and the centralized government depended on large amounts of external tribute for its maintenance and support.

During the New Kingdom, kings were considered quasi-divine.

They adopted new burial customs; their mummies were buried in rock-cut tombs in the Valley of the Kings.

Strong provincial leaders and local army commanders increased their regional power.

A period of foreign intervention followed.

The Nile Valley was ruled by the Assyrians, Persians, and Alexander the Great.

Between 5,000 and 3,000 B.C., the Yellow River region of North China was settled by millet and pig farmers who resided in large villages of up to 100 houses.

During the Longshan period (3,000 – 2,205 B.C.), significant changes took place in North Chinese social organization, including increases in social ranking.

For the first time, Longshan settlements were walled, and the largest communities were much bigger than before.

Similar developments were also occurring in other parts of China.

The era following Longshan in North China is known as the San dai, or Three Dynasties.

Scapulimancy, the practice of interpreting cracking patterns on heated bones, was practiced.

Bronzeworking became an increasingly important activity.

Warfare and ritual were important as well.

Palatial house foundations found at Erlitou were associated with ritual burials.

The decline of the Xia dynasty roughly corresponded with the rise of the Shang dynasty (1,755 – 1,122 B.C.).

The last capital of the Shang period was at An-yang.

Another important site was Ao, which covered about 1.3 square miles and had a central precinct that was enclosed by a huge earthen wall 30 feet high.

Ao had hundreds of skilled craftworkers and the area contained more than a dozen kilns.

An-yang was a large ceremonial and administrative center with monumental architecture surrounded by craft areas.

Residential areas surrounded the center of the site.

An-yang consisted of three groups of buildings, the largest of which was about 200 feet long.

Kings were at the top of the hierarchy and were considered divine.

The king and his court received grain and other forms of tribute, that they used to support a lavish lifestyle.

Elaborate burials of kings occurred.

The lower class consisted of farmers and craftworkers.

At the bottom of the lower class were the war captives, who were kept as slaves or served as sacrificial victims for rituals and temple dedications.

Bronze was used to make food and drinking vessels, weapons, chariot and cavalry fittings, and musical instruments.

Large ceremonial vessels were also made.

Indications are that the origins of bronzeworking was indigenous.

By the late Shang era, Chinese written language had developed to include over 3,000 symbols.

Chinese writing was related closely to the political, military, and ritual activities of the upper class and had little to do with mercantile matters.

Millet, supplemented with rice and wheat, was the main crop in North China.

Stone hoes, harvesting knives, and wooden digging sticks remained the primary cultivation implements.

Irrigation may have occurred.

More people were engaged in farming, raising production per unit of land.

The importance of agricultural labor may have encouraged rural families to grow, leading to large-scale population growth.

Influence varied according to distance from the capital.

Shang rulers traveled widely and were assisted by a complex hierarchy of nobles.

Local lords were responsible for collecting taxes and supplying men for public projects.

Armies as large as 30,000 soldiers were assembled to fight "barbarians."

The Shang dynasty was overthrown by people living on its western periphery in the vicinity of Xianyang.

The society was highly stratified at its center.

Away from the core, areas were divided into partially independent provinces, and administration was enacted by lords who had great control over their domains.

During the Three Dynasties, the Chinese state was built on a hierarchical network of large lineages.

Great cities were built, the largest of which had over a quarter of a million people.

Large irrigation works were constructed, and wet-rice irrigation became increasingly important.

By 600 B.C., iron casting was practiced and iron agricultural tools were in use.

Changes in agricultural technology enabled rapid increases in population density.

By the third century B.C., the descendants of western Zhou kings ruled an increasingly small area outside their original homeland.

The Zhou polity weakened and other states rose in influence.

Eventually the Zhou was eclipsed by the Qin polity, along with five other contemporary states.

He inherited the throne of the Qin kingdom at the age of thirteen.

Shih Huang Ti frequently engaged in battle, eventually conquering six other major kingdoms.

He declared himself China’s first emperor.

Shih Huang Ti forced over 100,000 royal and wealthy families from throughout the empire to move to the city from their local areas, which weakened their power.

Luxurious palaces that were replicas of royal residences in their homelands were built in Xianyang.

The move also concentrated economic and political power in a single capital.

Some have suggested that the wall was constructed for defensive purposes.

Others have proposed that the wall was a means of preventing China’s heavily-taxed peasants from escaping taxes and conscription.

The 1,500-mile wall was built by 700,000 conscripts.

He established China’s first army, which may have contained more than a million people.

He destroyed the feudal structure to weaken regional autonomy.

Confucian philosophy was prohibited since it was seen as a threat.

The Chinese legal system was increasingly codified, and Chinese character writing was standardized.

The project took 36 years and was worked on by 700,000 laborers.

The architects of the tomb conceived of it as a miniature universe.

The burial tomb, called Mount Li, was at one time 150 feet tall, and the total complex covered 500 acres.

This symbolized the past practice of kings being buried with living warriors, women, servants, and horses.

Eight thousand figures have been exposed, along with wooden chariots and horses.

The soldiers are arranged in battle formation.

A rich artifact assemblage accompanies the army.

His oldest son was given a fake order to commit suicide so that the younger son could succeed as emperor.

Qin rule was succeeded by the Han dynasty, which lasted for 400 years (206 B.C. – A.D. 220).

During the Han dynasty, China became even more densely settled with an estimated population of over fifty million.

Southeast Asia was populated by hunter-gatherers until cultivated rice was introduced in the third millennium B.C.

When rice was introduced from south China, small agricultural villages were established throughout the area.

Rice rapidly became the staple crop across Southeast Asia.

Between 1,500 and 1,000 B.C., bronze casting was adopted.

After 500 B.C., iron was smelted to make weapons and agricultural tools.

Settlements began to grow in size, and more hierarchical forms of leadership emerged.

Before the end of the first millennium B.C., Southeast Asians began to engage in maritime trade with offshore islands, China, and the Indian subcontinent.

Ruling power was based in part on control of agricultural land, rice surpluses, and advantages in access to high-status imported goods.

Public displays of feasting were important aspects of maintaining power.

For hundreds of years, small competing polities were often in a state of flux.

After A.D. 550 in the Mekong Valley region of Cambodia, a series of kings tried to establish control over large areas; none, however, were able to hold the kingdom together for long.

The formation of the large state in A.D. 802 is attributed to Jayavarman II.

He joined a series of smaller competing polities into a large state by first defeating rival rules and then placing his followers in positions of authority.

He established a succession of Khmer dynasties whose reign at Angkor endured for more than 600 years.

There are more than 60 temples at the site that were constructed by a series of Khmer dynasties between the 9^th and 15^th centuries A.D.

At its height in the 12^th century, the site may have had as many as one million residents.

Each new king at Angkor built a massive religious structure to commemorate his reign; at death it became his mausoleum.

The structure was constructed by Suryavarman II soon after he became king in A.D. 1,113.

The walled complex measures 5,000 x 4,000 feet and incorporates a large moat that is 660 feet wide.

The walls of the complex are covered with scenes in bas-relief that depict the king and his court, processions, and battle scenes.

Local labor was tied to the temples.

The labor provided temples with goods and labor for rituals and for maintaining the ruling elite.

Khmer civilization had no currency.

Through taxation, the royal courts received and distributed huge amounts of goods, including rice and other forms of subsistence.

A bureaucracy controlled most aspects of Khmer life.

Some have argued that the huge water reservoirs at Angkor were for irrigating the rice fields.

Others note that plenty of groundwater existed and that the reservoirs were for controlling drainage and flooding.

During the 12^th century, Angkor was sacked by a rival.

The Khmer rebuilt the center, erecting a large ceremonial center surrounded by an 8-mile long wall.

Angkor was abandoned in A.D. 1431 after it was sacked by the Thai following a long siege.

Prior to 10,000 B.C., the region was very dry and uninhabited.

Several millennia later, conditions improved and the Sahara consisted of shallow lakes and marshes linked by permanent streams where communities of foragers settled.

Livestock were added to the subsistence base in the fifth millennium B.C.

The central and southern Sahara continued to be occupied by pastoralists until about 2,500 B.C.

By 1,000 B.C., pastoralists adopted or domesticated cereals.

Early West African staples include sorghum and millet.

Wild foods continued to be important.

The great efficiency of iron tools led to the rapid spread of the technology throughout Africa.

The earliest identifiable iron-using society in West Africa is the Nok culture.

The site consists of a mound of successive settlements 2,600 feet long and 20-26 feet high.

Initial settlement dates to 200 B.C.

The early inhabitants were mixed agriculturalists who constructed circular houses of straw coated with mud.

Domesticated rice in the area dates to the first century A.D.

Craft skills were evident in the earliest materials recovered at the site.

Significant quantities of well-manufactured ceramics were present.

Villagers traded their agricultural, fish, and animal products for iron ore and grindstones from at least 30 miles away.

Camel domestication first occurred in Arabia and spread to the Sahara by early in the first millennium A.D.

Camel transport provided a means of regular long-distance trade across the desert.

Jenné-jeno developed into an important market center.

Jenné-jeno expanded to 80 acres and a city wall was constructed.

Brick architecture replaced the earlier mud technology.

Evidence of blacksmiths and coppersmiths is present.

The rulers of Jenné-jeno presided over an area of floodplain extending 100 miles downstream.

Defensive concerns and the spread of Islam may have been factors.

The modern city of Jenné was established nearby during the twelfth or thirteenth century.

The Inland Niger Delta has remained an important thoroughfare for exchange throughout much of the second millennium A.D.

Prior to the third century A.D., the area was occupied by hunter-gatherers.

Farmers first settled in south-central Africa, in what is now Zimbabwe, during the fourth century A.D.

They grew grain, raised goats and sheep, but continued to rely on hunted foods for meat.

People lived in small, permanent villages.

Small iron artifacts are found in every village.

Cattle became important both culturally and economically soon after their introduction.

The first buildings were constructed on Mapungubwe Hill early in the twelfth century A.D.

There were houses and richly adorned burials.

Mapungubwe quickly became one of the largest towns in the region, controlling settlements up to 35 miles away.

The base of power for the city came from its intermediary role in coastal trade and wealth of gold and animal products from the surrounding areas.

When Mapungubwe was at its peak, Great Zimbabwe was a smaller district center.

Great Zimbabwe is located in the central region of Zimbabwe, on a tributary that drains into the Indian Ocean.

The site is bounded by a narrow ridge of granite that forms a 300-foot cliff.

The first stone structures, built after A.D. 1,250, were positioned on top of the high cliff, possibly for defense.

Other buildings were constructed on the steep, rocky cliff.

Structures were also built on the valley floor.

Some larger buildings were constructed, perhaps for religious purposes.

At the Maund Ruin, 29 separate stone walls abut 10 circular dwelling huts.

The Great Enclosure was a large complex with a perimeter wall over 33 feet high, 16 feet thick, and over 800 feet long.

Inside the Great Enclosure was the Conical Tower, a solid circular stone tower that rises 33 feet from its base.

Construction of extensive stone walls required an organized labor force.

Control of trade links with Indian Ocean polities may have been a significant factor, and Great Zimbabwe became an important commercial center.

Prosperity was based largely on its monopolization of coastal and long-distance trade.

Exotic goods were obtained through trade and were essential for demonstrating prestige and rank.

The population was as high as 12,000 to 20,000.

The site reached over 1,700 acres and controlled an area of about 40,000 square miles.

The balance of power then shifted north.