Civilization
Between 4000 and 3000 B.C. , significant technological developments began to t
ransform the Neolithic towns. The invention of writing enabled records to be kep
t, and the use of metals marked a new level of human control over the environmen
t and its resources. Already before 4000 B.C., crafts people had discovered that
metal-bearing rock could be heated to liquefy metals, which could then be cast
in molds to produce tools and weapons that were more useful than stone instrumen
st. Although copper was the first metal to be utilized in producing tools, after
4000 B.C. crafts people in western Asia discovered that a combination of copper
and tin produced bronze, a much harder and more durable metal than copper. Its
widespread use has led historians to call the period the Bronze; thereafter, fro
m around 3000 to 1200 B.C., bronze was increasingly replaced by iron.
At first, Neolithic settlements were hardly more than villages. But as their i
nhabitants mastered the art of farming, more complex human societies emerged. As
wealth increased, these societies began to develop armies and to build walled c
ities. By the beginning of the Bronze Age, the concentration of larger numbers o
f people in the river valleys of Southwest Asia and Egypt was leading to a whole
new pattern for human life.
As we have seen, early human beings formed small groups that developed a simpl
e culture that enabled them to survive. As human societies grew and developed gr
eater complexity, a new form of human existence-called civilizationcame into bein
g. A civilization is a complex culture in which large numbers of human beings sh
are a number of common elements. Historians have identified a number of basic ch
aracteristics of civilization, most of which are evident in the Southwest Asia a
nd Egyptian civilizations. These include (1) an urban focus; cities became the c
enters of political, economic, social, cultural, and religious development; (2)
a distinct religious structure; the gods were deemed crucial to the community su
ccess, and professional priestly classes, as stewards of the gods property, regul
ated relations with the gods;(3) new political and military structures ; an orga
nized government bureaucracy arose to meet the administrative demands of the gro
wing population while armies were organized to gain land and power and for defen
se; (4) a new social structure based an economic power; while kings and an upper
class of priest, political leaders, and warriors dominated, there also existed
large groups of free people (farmers, artisans, crafts people) and at the very
bottom, socially, a class of slaves; (5) the development of writing; kings, pri
ests, merchants, and artisans used writing to keep records; and (6) new form of
significant artistic and intellectual activity: monumental architectural structu
res, usually religious, occupied a prominent place in urban environments.
Why early civilizations developed remains difficult to explain. Since civilizat
ions developed independenly in India, China, Mesopotamia, and Egypt, can general
causes be indentified that would explain why all of these civilization emerged
? A number of possible explanations of the beginning of civilization have been s
uggested. A theory of challenge and response maintains that challenges forced hu
man beings to make efforts that resulted in the rise of civilization. Some schol
ars have adhered to a material explanation. Material forces, such as the growth
of food surpluses, made possible the specialization of labor and development of
large communities with bureaucratic organization. But the area of the Fertile Cr
escent, in which Mesopotamian civilization emerged in Southwest Asia, was not na
turally conducive to agriculture. Abundant food could only be water, an effort t
hat created the need for organization and bureaucratic control and led to civili
zed cities. Some historians have argued that non material force, primarily relig
ious, provided the sense of unity and purpose that made such organized activitie
s possible. Finally, some scholars doubt that we are capable of ever discovering
the actual causes of early civilization.