THE STORY OF HUMAN CIVILIZATION AND CULTURE

Introduction
1.

Civilization and culture are different aspects of a single entity and often

used synonimously with each other. Civilization refers to a complex human

society, in which people live in groups. It is the external manifestation, expressed
in physical attributes, such as toolmaking, agriculture, buildings, technology,
urban planning, social structure, social institutions, and so forth. Culture is the
learned behavior of people. It is the internal character of a society and refers to
social standards and norms of behavior, traditions, values, ethics, languages,
clothing, morality, and religious beliefs and practices.
So, my today,s topic for presentation is:Aim
2.

To apprise the audience about some prominent world human civilizations

and their cultures including their achievements from ancient times till date.
Sequence of my presentation is as displayed:Early Human Migration
3.

About 7 million years ago, a very early human genus Ardipithecus

appeared in Southern Africa. Man started migration to the rest of the world
continents in the coming years.
Periods of Pre History
4.

Traditional classification of human evolution is into pre-history and recorded

history. The latter follows the invention of writing and therefore written historical
records are also available. Pre-history is broken down onto 3 periods, according
to the material used for making tools:1

(a)

Stone Age (50,000 to 4000 BC)

(b)

Bronze Age (4000 to 2000 BC)

(c)

Iron Age (1500 BC onwards)

Major Lifestyles
5.

Humanity has passed through three major evolutionary life styles:(a)

Hunter gatherer. Old Stone Age or Paleolithic Age (50,000 to 12,000

BC) is the age of food-gatherers.

(b)

Agriculture. New Stone Age or Neolithic Age (12000 to 4000 BC) is

referred to as the age of food producers.

(c)

Technological civilization.

Bronze Age onwards is the age of

civilization.
Early Dwelling
6.

People lived nomadic life and were constantly on the move. They did not

require permanent settlements. Their dwellings consisted of:(a)

Rock Shelter

(b)

Cave Dwelling

(c)

Temporary structures of plant and animal materials

(d)

Mud Construction

Major World Civilizations

7.

Early human settlements were built mostly in river valleys where the land

was fertile and suitable for agriculture. Easy access to a river or a sea was
important for food, irrigation, transportation and trade.
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Mesopotamia
8.

If history began with writing, the first chapter opened in Mesopotamia, the

Tigris-Euphrates river valley in 4,000 BC.

9.

It had habitable area of about 10,000 squ miles.

10.

Earliest human occupation dates back to 7,000 to 6,000 BC.

11.

Mesopotamian learning was maintained by scribes and preserved by

successive rulers in vast libraries. Systematic lists of astronomical phenomena,

plants, animals, and stones were kept and medical texts listed ailments and their
herbal cures.
12.

Algebraic and geometric problems could be solved on a practical basis in

construction, commerce, and administration.

13.

Major dynasties in Mesopotamia were the Akkadians, the Sumerians and

the Amorites (whose laws were codified by Hammurabi).

14.

Sargon of Akkad and Hamurabi of Babylon were the famous kings of this

period.
Sumeria
15.

Sumerian society was developed in the Tigris - Euphrates rivers valley of

lower Mesopotamia in 3500 BC. Agricultural tribes people settled in communities

and evolved an administrative system governed by priests.

Sumerian life

centered on large cities of Eridu, Ur, Uruk, Nippur, Kish, and Lagash.
16.

They had earlier developed a written language using thousands of picture-

signs, or ideograms. They used clay tablets with pictographs to keep records.
17.

In 2500 B.C, the Sumerians developed a cuneiform (wedge-shaped)

script of some 600 simplified signs as a full syllabic alphabet.

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18.

Sumerians were polytheists and worshipped a number of gods

representing natural forces like Nannar-god of moon, Aan-god of sky and Anu,
god of heaven.
19.

Sacrifices were made at ziggurats, the huge stepped temples. Gods were

thought to control all events.

20.

The people had three classes, i.e, high class, middle class and slaves.

21.

Sumerians had harnessed domestic animals to plows, drain marshlands,

irrigate desert lands, and extend areas of cultivation.

22.

In 2750 B.C, tyre was founded by mariners on the east coast of

Mediterranean. Sailboats, wheeled vehicles, and kilns were used. Copper was
also smelted and tempered. Iron was used from 2000 B.C.

The sickle was

invented by Sumerian farmers in 2800 BC.

23.

The professions of the people included the priests, merchants, scribes

and peasant farmers.

24.

They used to make sacrifices of animals and human beings.

Egypt
25.

River Nile, the gift of Egypt, was the basis for the great Egyptian civilization.

Egyptian civilization was an advanced one with a strong government, a complex

writing style and unique beliefs about life and death.
26.

Life in Royalties, nobles, and priests formed top of social order.

Wealthy people lived along the Nile. Middle class included artisans, scribes,
merchants, and tax collectors. Majority of Egyptians were poor farmers.
27.

Egyptian people were Polytheists. Priests fostered worship of specific

gods.
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28.

Temples were considered the homes of gods and goddesses, each having

separate temple, with walls having carved and painted scenes.

29.

Egyptians used Hieroglyphics as their writing system.

It consisted of

carved pictures & symbols on pieces of slates which stood for objects, ideas, and
sounds. Later on they used papyrus for writing on it.
30.

During this period, number system for area and volume was developed

along with
principles of geometry for measuring flooded areas.
31.

Egyptians worked out accurate 365-days calendar and

developed medical procedures for treating fractures, wounds, disease.

32.

The papyrus growing along the river produced rope, matting, sandals, and

paper-like writing material.

33.

Egyptians preserved the dead body.

34.

They used to construct pyramids which were considered as tombs for

eternity.
35.

The afterlife was to be the same as life lived on earth.

36.

Materials such as writing supplies, clothing, wigs, hairdressing supplies,

jewelries, food, even slaves and other tools were provided.

37.

Mummification, the preservation of a body of either human or animal was

a common practice.
frozen, or dried.

There were 3 ways to preserve a dead body i.e., wet,

By eliminating the bodys moisture they eliminated decay. By

using Natron (a salt mixture) they dried the bodies.

38.

The Ancient Egyptian used to make sculptures from wood and stone.
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Greece
39.

Ancient Greek civilization included present Greece, coastal areas of

Turkey, Cyprus, Italy, Albania, Bulgaria, Egypt, southern France, Libya, Romania
and Ukraine.
Greek Empire map
40.

Recorded history of civilization is more than 5000 years old.

41.

Greeks were influential on language, politics, educational system,

philosophy, art and architecture.

42.

Aristocratic families adopted an election process of a statesman who

would represent the city for one year.

43.

Reforms of Solon established a moderate political state system.

44.

Worlds first democracy was established at Athens in year 507 BC.

45.

They used to worship a number of gods.

46.

At the age 18-20, the male had to pass a difficult test of fitness, military

ability and leadership skills.

47.

Greece was famous for arts and culture including sports, medicine and

astronomy. First recorded Olympic games were held in 776 BC, at Olympia.
48.

Large houses for nobles had separate kitchen, bath room, a mens dinning

room and a womens sitting room.

49.

Greek medicines were quite advanced.

Homer, Aristotle and Hippcrates

are called fathers of modern medicines.

50.

Beautiful works on sculpture and architecture can be found in their

civilization.
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51.

The classical period can be identified as the golden age of this civilization,

having all its big characters like Herodotus, Aristotle, Socrates, Plato and
Alexander the great.
Roman Civilization and Culture
52.

Rome was founded in 753 B.C, on a wooded Italian hilltop. The founders

were infant brothers Romulus and Remus. The Roman Empire was spread on a
vast area across Mediterranean Sea.
53.

Rome had a good military potential and its army had 25 legions sorted

out in infantry and cavalry.

54.

Augustus was the famous king of Rome.

55.

Roman civilization saw the first cemented cities of the history.

56.

The empire weakened at end of fourth century AD due to internal political

problems.
57.

Later on Visigoth attack at Rome city in 410 AD and

58.

Muslims invasion resulted in fall of Roman Empire.

Indus Valley civilization

59.

The civilization was spread over the area including India, Pakistan and
Bangladesh.

60.

Earliest known farming cultures in south Asia emerged in the hills of

Balochistan, Pakistan, in seventh millennium BC.

These semi-nomadic

people domesticated wheat, barley, sheep, goat, and cattle.

62.

Pottery was in use by the sixth millennium BC.

63.

Their settlements consisted of mud buildings that housed four internal

subdivisions.

64.

Oven brick homes were built in Harapa.

Buddhism had its beginnings in India around 528 BC, where Sidharth
Gautama had found enlightenment after a long and severe penance at
Buddh Gaya, near Benares.

65.

Indus River Valley reached its height at about 2500 to 1500 BC.

66.

By the fourth millennium BC, there is evidence of manufacturing, including

stone and copper drills, updraft and large pit kilns, copper melting crucibles and
button seal devices with geometric designs.
67.

Archaeologists have discovered a massive dredged canal and docking

facility at the coastal city of Lothal, India.

68. People of had knowledge of medicine and dentistry by 3300 BC.
69. Indus Valley is credited with the earliest known use of decimal fractions in
weights and measures, as well as negative numbers.
70. Harappa, Mohenjo-daro and recently discovered Rakhigarhi were wellplanned geometric cities and their urban planning included the world's first
underground sanitation systems.
71.

They burried their dead bodies in large under ground constructions called

Astopas.
72.

Burials included elaborate goods such as baskets, tools made of stone,

bone, beads, bangles, pendants, and occasionally animal sacrifices.

73.

Figurines and ornaments of seashells, limestone, turquoise, sandstones,

and polished copper have also been found in the area.

74.

They used pictograms as written language.

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Islamic Civilization and Culture

75. Arabian Peninsula mostly consisted of desert with few urbanized areas like
Makkah and Madina, mainly, the tribal societies. First mention of Arabs is
in 854 BC. Before Islam, the religions were Christianity, Judaism and
polytheism. Two main empires were Sassanid and Byzantine. Sectarian
conflicts were in common.
Family Tree of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)
76. Foundation of Islamic civilization and culture was laid in real sense, by the
Holy prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
77. With the Hijra in 622 to Almadinah, year 1 in the Islamic calendar started
and this was the first step to the Islamic civilization and culture.
78. In 629 AD, Muhammad (PBUH) conquered Makkah peacefully.

Idols in

Alqaaba were destroyed.

79. Hazrat Abu-Bakr (RA) was the first elected official as Muslim ruler.
80. Hazrat Omar (RA) was the first Statesman.
81. Hazrat Usman (RA) collected and compiled the Holy Quran for the first
time.
82. Islam has given freedom, equality, justice and other basic rights to every
one by eliminating many pre-Islamic discriminatory practices.
83. It has given rights to women. Modest dress is applied to women and men
equally.

The forbidden taboos include pork, blood and improperly

butchered animals. Alcohol drinking was gradually disallowed.

84. Muslim scientists and scholars have wonderful contribution at their credit.

Modern Civilization
85.

The concept of modern world is primarily the product of relatively recent

and revolutionary change.

86.

Advances in all areas of human activity like politics, industry, economics,

commerce, transport, communication, science, medicine, technology, and

culture, appear to have transformed an "Old World" into the "Modern or New
World."
87.

Twentieth-century advances revolutionized our understanding of the

universe. Scientific inventions have contributed to rapid changes in lifestyles. Industrial revolution has changed the thinking of the whole world.

88.

New attitudes towards religion, and a desire for personal freedoms,

induced desires for freedom of opposite sexes, ultimately accepted by the

Western World.
89.

Equality of the sexes in politics and economics, the women's liberation

movement, and the freedom afforded by contraception greatly changed the role
of women in all aspects of society.
90.

Revolution in communication and media has made the whole world a

global village.
Conclusion
91.

The story of human civilization and culture is in fact, the story of man

himself. Humanity has been found adopting few major civilizations and cultures
that had left significant shed over mankind and contributed a lot for the better
living. That is why, todays man feels much better than them.

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