MYP: Grade 7 Unit 4: Ancient Civilizations 2012

Grade 7
Subject: Humanities
Unit 4: Ancient Civilizations
AOI: Human Ingenuity
Student Name: ………………………………………………
Academic Year: 2012
Have you ever heard the ancient Near East called "The Cradle of Civilization?" What does that mean? Let's begin by defining a "civilization."
What practices or characteristics define a civilization?
The development of cities, writing, and written law code, and more, happened first in the part of the world we call the ancient Near East. So, we sometimes think of it as the birthplace of western civilization.
The ancient Near East was a region of great diversity. It stretched from the eastern shore of the Mediterranean to the eastern border of present day Iran, but it was never one big country. To see what we mean, check out the map.
The people living here were from different cultural groups, for example the Sumerians, Akkadians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, and more.
We won't be able to explore every culture from this fascinating region in depth. Instead we will learn more about the contributions these cultures made by investigating some of the objects that they left behind.
The most popular and earliest cults in the ancient Near East related to fertility. Fertility goddesses, such as Astarte, influenced the growth of crops and the prosperity of the people. Figures like this one were made of clay and mass produced. Some were made by hand, others were created in molds. Perhaps these statues were used in magic rituals or given as offerings to the fertility goddess.
Most of the cultures living in the ancient Near East worshipped many gods and goddesses. Aspects of life were explained by the actions of these gods - war, weather, disease, and more were understood as the result of the gods' desires. People thought their gods looked and behaved like they did, but with supernatural powers. Gods usually had beards and wore a horned crown or helmet. They often had their own symbols, too - the crescent and circle represented Sin, the moon god.
How do we know about Near Eastern myths? Most of our information comes from clay tablets found in ancient palace and temple libraries. Scribes recorded myths in cuneiform writing. Also, we can see a lot of mythological stories, gods, and goddesses illustrated on cylinder seals.
For example, this impression of a seal shows the bird-man Zu brought for judgment before the Watergod.
The Near East was also the birthplace of three of the world's modern religions - Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. These religions are all monotheistic - they worship one god.
For thousands of years, the needs of daily life in the Near East - shelter, tools, and domestic implements - have been resourcefully and creatively made from available natural materials. Houses were, and in some places still are, constructed of mud-brick, with flat roofs that served as sleeping porches in hot weather. Tools, weapons, and vessels were worked from stone.
Both local and imported wood were used to make storage boxes or household furnishings such as long narrow tables and stools. Plant and animal fibers were used to weave and sew clothing. But wood and textiles disintegrate, leaving archaeologists few remains of either ancient craft. And little evidence of early metalcraft - primarily tools, weapons, and vessels - exists because the objects were melted down repeatedly and the metal reused.
Pottery is one of the most useful and abundant ancient artifacts studied by Near Eastern archaeologists. It was cheap to manufacture and easily broken; and broken vessels were simply thrown away to be rediscovered thousands of years later.
Pottery vessels of all sizes and shapes were used as containers to transport and store the abundant food produced by a flourishing agricultural society.
How Were People Buried?
In the ancient Near East burial, rather than cremation, was usually practiced. This tomb, called Tomb P1 by archaeologists, is from the ancient city of Jericho. It shows us one type of a Near Eastern tomb in its shape and in the contents buried inside.
A mound of rubble concealed a vertical rock cut shaft leading into an underground chamber, measuring approximately 10 x 11.5 feet, closed off by a large blocking stone. Inside the chamber, archaeologists discovered 24 skeletons! The custom of multiple burials, common during this time period, suited the needs of extended families living in crowded towns. When a member of the family died, their body was added to the tomb.
What Was Buried with Them?
The large number of offerings found in the tomb included pottery, wooden vessels, fragments from wooden furniture, small alabaster jars for holding oils and scents, decorated bone inlay from wooden boxes, and scarab seals and amulets. This reconstruction of Tomb P1 (in the galleries of the Carlos Museum) shows some of the objects from the burial, but the skeletons have been replaced by cardboard cutouts to show where the bones were found.
Writing is so basic to our lives that it's hard to imagine a world without it. But humans didn't always write...
Why did people begin writing?
As people came together and began living in towns and cities, they needed ways of keeping records for business and government. It was probably difficult for priests and officials to remember who had made their donation to the temple or what land people owned.
How did they write?
If you were trying to communicate to someone and you didn't have a written language, how would you do it? You might use pictures to tell them...That's how writing began in the ancient Near East.
Around 3500 B.C. a system of writing developed using pictographs. A pictograph is a picture that represents a word. For example, a picture of a donkey represents a donkey. A large number of tablets with pictographic writing were discovered by archaeologists in the ancient city of Uruk in Sumeria.
But the pictographic system used too many symbols, and it developed into a simpler system that we call "cuneiform" writing. Cuneiform is made of wedge-shaped marks that represent sounds, and can be combined to form words. Eventually cuneiform writing used over 1800 signs!
Scribes wrote on tablets made from the clay that was available nearby. They pressed a "stylus" made from a reed into the clay to make the wedge-shaped impressions. Then these tablets were dried or baked so that they would last.
Who learned to write?
Children from wealthy families, usually boys, were able to go to scribal school. These schools were called "edubba", which means "tablet house." They learned to write by copying texts over and over again. Archaeologists have found hundreds of students' tablets filled with exercises. After they finished their training, scribes could work for the temple or palace, and were important members of ancient Near Eastern society.
What do archaeologists feel when uncovering an ancient tomb?
Fear? Awe? Relief? Exhilaration? Exhaustion from all of the mental and physical labor it took to locate the tomb? Maybe a bit of all of these. But most importantly, archaeologists know that they have before them a rich source of information about a people's origins, their art, beliefs, and social order, their standard of living, and their spiritual life.
Archaeology has changed a lot over the past century. Here are two archaeologists whose work shows us these changes.
You may already know about several people who lived in ancient Egypt . . .
King Tutankhamen (Tut for short) is famous for the riches found in his tomb. Or Cleopatra , the ambitious queen who ruled Egypt, is known for her tragic death. These two people were pharaohs - the most important and powerful people in Egyptian society.
The Pharaoh . . . Ancient Egyptians believed that the pharaoh was a god. The pharaoh communicated with the gods for the Egyptian people by performing special rituals and ceremonies in the temples.
The Social Pyramid . . . The pharaoh was at the top of a social pyramid that looked something like this:
People usually married within their social group and continued in the same job as their parents. We find people from all social groups represented in Egyptian art. Nobles & Priests, Soldiers, Scribes, Merchants, Artisans, Farmers, and even Slaves & Servants are depicte
When we think about Egypt, camels, pyramids, and mummies often come to mind! That's not surprising since much of what we know about ancient Egypt comes from the tombs of Egyptians and the objects found buried with them.
No one knows exactly what life was like in ancient Egypt, but these objects tell us a lot. Egyptian fashion, religious beliefs, recreational activities, and much more can be explored through the art they created and included in their burials.
. / Let's look at a map of Egypt
In ancient times each Egyptian city or region had its own god and worshipped many others. Read on to learn a few general things about ancient Egyptian religious beliefs.
Who did they worship? . . . The ancient Egyptians worshipped many gods. Sometimes it's hard for us to tell who was who! These gods and goddesses often represented the natural world, for example the sky, earth, wind, or sun. They took the form of animals or combined animal and human forms.
Official religion . . . From ancient Egyptian writings we know that religion was very important in their society. The pharaoh performed rituals to the gods so that the world would be in harmony and to assure bountiful crops. These official state ceremonies were performed in temples throughout Egypt, but most Egyptians did not participate.
Religion everyday . . . Popular religion took other forms. People used magical charms or amulets to ward off danger. They also worshipped popular gods and goddesses to help them with life events such as childbirth.
There are many versions of the stories about Egyptian gods and goddesses. Here's a myth which tells a story related to creation and will introduce you to many gods. You may either read, or listen to the story.
Most objects that we use everyday become worn and fall apart. Do you think that your sneakers, back packs, or dishes will last 3000 years? Because the ancient Egyptians included objects that they needed everyday and scenes of daily life in their tombs, we can get an idea of how they lived. Here are a few observations based on what they left behind . . .
Where did they live? . . . Most Egyptians built their homes out of mud bricks made from the mud along the Nile River mixed with straw and pebbles. Wealthy homes were decorated with wall paintings on the inside. Furnishings were simple -- stools for seating, chests to store things. They slept on wooden beds and used headrests instead of pillows
What did they wear? . . . Linen woven from the flax plant was the most common fabric for clothing. Men usually wore a simple kilt tied at the waist, and women wore sheath dresses.
Egyptian clothes were often decorated with pleats as we see in this carving of a court official on the left. Notice that he is also wearing a wig, which would have been made from human hair. Egyptians usually kept their own hair short or their heads shaved. . . . Both men and women also wore make-up. Palettes, like the one on the right, were used to grind mineral pigments for make-up.
The ground powder was probably mixed with animal fat and then applied to the face. Black and green eye make-up were especially popular. . . . And finally, they decorated themselves with jewelry -- necklaces, earrings, armlets, bracelets, anklets, and rings.
Mummies, and the process of making them, have fascinated students and scholars for centuries. Here's how they made them . . .
Why did the Egyptians make mummies?
The ancient Egyptians observed that bodies buried under the desert were dried out and preserved. Based on this observation, they believed that a person's spirit, or soul, lived on after their death.
It was important that the spirit recognize its body in the afterlife so that it would have somewhere to live. Preserving the body through mummification was the best solution, but a statue of the deceased could provide a back-up resting place. The spirit could eat, play, and enjoy all the things it did during life. Therefore, the Egyptian burial had to provide everything for life in the tomb!
Journey to eternity . . . Once the body was mummified and encased in a coffin (like below), it was placed in a tomb. There were several types of tombs built over the centuries in ancient Egypt:
Mastabas | Pyramids | Rock-Cut Tombs
Inside, the tomb walls were decorated with scenes from life -- sports, banquets, and everyday activities. These scenes would provide for the deceased in the afterlife. Objects were also buried in the tomb to serve the dead person in the afterlife:
Right now you are sitting at a computer - you probably use it to write homework assignments and other projects. If you lived in ancient Egypt, you probably wouldn't know how to read or write! If you did, it would take you many years to learn! Ancient Picture Writing . . . Hieroglyphs , one of the oldest forms of writing, are found on monuments almost 5000 years old! There were around 700 different hieroglyphic signs -- no wonder only about 1% of the population knew how to read and write! Some signs, or pictures, stand for words; others simply stand for a sound and are joined with other signs to make a word. Hieroglyphs were carved on buildings and written on papyrus documents. For letters, business contracts, and other documents, scribes used another form of writing called Hieratic . Later, an even quicker form of writing developed called Demotic .
Breaking the Code . . . Although hieroglyphs were used by Egyptian writers for over 3000 years, the Egyptian language gradually died out. Most Egyptians eventually spoke Arabic. The ability to read hieroglyphs was lost until an amazing clue was discovered in 1799!
Why is King Tut So Famous? Archaeology!
The tomb of King Tutankhamen is one of the most famous because of its well-known discovery by Howard Carter, a British archaeologist. Carter excavated in the Valley of the Kings for eleven years before he discovered Tut's tomb in 1922. Tutankhamen wasn't an especially important king, but his tomb was the only royal burial found intact in modern times. The tomb was important because it let archaeologists record what an Egyptian king's tomb looked like and learn more about ancient Egypt.
One of King Tutankhamen's Nobles is now in Rochester, New York!
This relief depicts Maya, an important official during the reign of three pharaohs: Tutankhamen, Ay, and Horemhab. He supervised the preparation of the tombs of these pharaohs, collected taxes for them, and performed other tasks to serve the king.
The Memorial Art Gallery bought this carving in 1942. It originally decorated the inside wall of Maya's tomb in Saqqara, the necropolis of the ancient city of Memphis, southwest of Cairo. How did it get to Rochester?
Here Today, Gone Tomorrow....The Discovery of Maya's Tomb.
Maya's tomb was excavated in 1843 by an archaeologist named Richard Lepsius. Like many 19th-century archaeologists, he was sent to Egypt by a European ruler -- the Prussian king, Friedrich Wilhelm IV. Lepsius was supposed to record and bring back Egyptian art, and he did remove some limestone reliefs from the tomb and send them back to the Berlin Museum. In those days it was not difficult to get permission from the Egyptian authorities to dismantle parts of tombs and temples and ship them out of the country. Today strict laws govern the export of ancient art from Egypt and other countries. We don't know exactly when the Gallery's Maya relief was taken from the tomb, but it was probably in the second half of the 19th century.
Lepsius made drawings of the sculptures that decorated the tomb. These drawings record what the decoration of the tomb looked like when the Memorial Art Gallery relief was in place. Over time the tomb was covered over by sand and its location lost!
It's Baaack.....The Re-discovery of Maya's Tomb!
In 1975, more than a century after Lepsius' excavations at Saqqara, a joint expedition of archaeologists from the Egypt Exploration Society in London and the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, Netherlands, began to look for Maya's tomb. In 1986, the tomb was rediscovered! Soon we'll have activites for you to explore the mysteries surrounding Maya...

History of Ancient Greece