Intensive agriculture , also known as intensive farming (as opposed to extensive farming ), conventional , or industrial agriculture , is a type of agriculture , both of crop plants and of animals , with higher levels of input and output per unit of agricultural land area. It is characterized by a low fallow ratio, higher use of inputs such as capital , labour , agrochemicals and water, and higher crop yields per unit land area.
194-549: A cradle of civilization is a location and a culture where civilization was developed independent of other civilizations in other locations. A civilization is any complex society characterized by the development of the state , social stratification , urbanization , and symbolic systems of communication beyond signed or spoken languages (namely, writing systems and graphic arts ). Scholars generally acknowledge six cradles of civilization: Mesopotamia , Ancient Egypt , Ancient India and Ancient China are believed to be
388-473: A justice system to maintain peace and order. Along with the rising importance of a central administration there arose a new class of educated scribes and officials who were granted estates by the pharaoh in payment for their services. Pharaohs also made land grants to their mortuary cults and local temples, to ensure that these institutions had the resources to worship the pharaoh after his death. Scholars believe that five centuries of these practices slowly eroded
582-404: A philosophy that assumed there were innate differences between "civilized" and "uncivilized" peoples. "Civilization" can also refer to the culture of a complex society, not just the society itself. Every society, civilization or not, has a specific set of ideas and customs, and a certain set of manufactures and arts that make it unique. Civilizations tend to develop intricate cultures, including
776-455: A phytohormone involved in regulating stem growth via its effect on cell division. Photosynthate investment in the stem is reduced dramatically in shorter plants and nutrients become redirected to grain production, amplifying in particular the yield effect of chemical fertilizers. High-yielding varieties outperformed traditional varieties several fold and responded better to the addition of irrigation, pesticides, and fertilizers. Hybrid vigour
970-636: A state -based decision-making apparatus, a literature , professional art , architecture , organized religion and complex customs of education , coercion and control associated with maintaining the elite. The intricate culture associated with civilization has a tendency to spread to and influence other cultures, sometimes assimilating them into the civilization, a classic example being Chinese civilization and its influence on nearby civilizations such as Korea , Japan and Vietnam Many civilizations are actually large cultural spheres containing many nations and regions. The civilization in which someone lives
1164-407: A terrace is a leveled section of a hilly cultivated area, designed as a method of soil conservation to slow or prevent the rapid surface runoff of irrigation water. Often such land is formed into multiple terraces, giving a stepped appearance. The human landscapes of rice cultivation in terraces that follow the natural contours of the escarpments, like contour ploughing , are a classic feature of
1358-467: A "civilized" way of living. In the 19th century, the idea of European culture as "civilized" and superior to "uncivilized" non-European cultures was fully developed, and civilization became a core part of European identity. The idea of civilization can also be used as a justification for dominating another culture and dispossessing a people of their land. For example, in Australia , British settlers justified
1552-450: A characteristic of early civilizations. This " urban revolution "—a term introduced by Childe in the 1930s—from the 4th millennium BCE, marked the beginning of the accumulation of transferable economic surpluses , which helped economies and cities develop. Urban revolutions were associated with the state monopoly of violence , the appearance of a warrior , or soldier, class and endemic warfare (a state of continual or frequent warfare),
1746-404: A civilization as a complex system , i.e., a framework by which a group of objects can be analysed that work in concert to produce some result. Civilizations can be seen as networks of cities that emerge from pre-urban cultures and are defined by the economic, political, military, diplomatic, social and cultural interactions among them. Any organization is a complex social system and a civilization
1940-537: A civilization has often been understood as a larger and "more advanced" culture , in implied contrast to smaller, supposedly less advanced cultures. In this broad sense, a civilization contrasts with non-centralized tribal societies, including the cultures of nomadic pastoralists , Neolithic societies, or hunter-gatherers ; however, sometimes it also contrasts with the cultures found within civilizations themselves. Civilizations are organized densely-populated settlements divided into hierarchical social classes with
2134-443: A complex recording system consisting of knotted strings of different lengths and colors: the " Quipus ", and still functioned as a civilized society. Aided by their division of labour and central government planning, civilizations have developed many other diverse cultural traits. These include organized religion , development in the arts, and countless new advances in science and technology. Assessments of what level of civilization
SECTION 10
#17328523827432328-478: A cradle of civilization has a focus where the inhabitants came to build cities , to create writing systems, to experiment in techniques for making pottery and using metals , to domesticate animals , and to develop complex social structures involving class systems . Today, scholarship generally identifies six areas where civilization emerged independently: the Fertile Crescent , including Mesopotamia and
2522-470: A critical threshold where collapse is inevitable. Politically associated with over-reach, and as a result of the environmental exhaustion and polarization of wealth between rich and poor, he concludes the current system is fast arriving at a situation where continuation of the existing system saddled with huge deficits and a hollowed-out economy is physically, socially, economically and politically impossible. Although developed in much more depth, Berman's thesis
2716-501: A culturally Erligang walled city was built at Yanshi , which coincides with an increase in production of arrowheads at Erlitou. This situation might indicate that the Yanshi city was competing for power and dominance with Erlitou. Production of bronzes and other elite goods ceased at the end of Phase IV, at the same time as the Erligang city of Zhengzhou was established 85 km (53 mi) to
2910-676: A division of labour and a more diverse range of human activity, a defining trait of civilizations. However, in some places hunter-gatherers have had access to food surpluses, such as among some of the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest and perhaps during the Mesolithic Natufian culture . It is possible that food surpluses and relatively large scale social organization and division of labour predates plant and animal domestication. Civilizations have distinctly different settlement patterns from other societies. The word civilization
3104-511: A lengthy period of sign-use, which led eventually to a fully-fledged system of writing. Archaeologists believe that the Peiligang culture was egalitarian, with little political organization. It eventually evolved into the Yangshao culture (5000 to 3000 BC), and their stone tools were polished and highly specialized. They may also have practiced an early form of silkworm cultivation . The main food of
3298-606: A much more equal and controlled distribution pattern. Drip irrigation is the most expensive and least-used type, but delivers water to plant roots with minimal losses. Water catchment management measures include recharge pits, which capture rainwater and runoff and use it to recharge groundwater supplies. This helps in the replenishment of groundwater wells and eventually reduces soil erosion. Dammed rivers creating reservoirs store water for irrigation and other uses over large areas. Smaller areas sometimes use irrigation ponds or groundwater. In agriculture, systematic weed management
3492-685: A new approach was developed, especially in Germany, first by Johann Gottfried Herder and later by philosophers such as Kierkegaard and Nietzsche . This sees cultures as natural organisms, not defined by "conscious, rational, deliberative acts", but a kind of pre-rational "folk spirit". Civilization, in contrast, though more rational and more successful in material progress, is unnatural and leads to "vices of social life" such as guile, hypocrisy, envy and avarice. In World War II , Leo Strauss , having fled Germany, argued in New York that this opinion of civilization
3686-476: A paddock, while allowing the others to recover. Resting grazed lands allows the vegetation to renew energy reserves, rebuild shoot systems, and deepen root systems, resulting in long-term maximum biomass production. Pasture systems alone can allow grazers to meet their energy requirements, but rotational grazing is especially effective because grazers thrive on the more tender younger plant stems. Parasites are also left behind to die off, minimizing or eliminating
3880-580: A polity has reached are based on comparisons of the relative importance of agricultural as opposed to trading or manufacturing capacities, the territorial extensions of its power, the complexity of its division of labour , and the carrying capacity of its urban centres . Secondary elements include a developed transportation system, writing, standardized measurement, currency, contractual and tort -based legal systems, art, architecture, mathematics, scientific understanding, metallurgy , political structures, and organized religion. The idea of civilization implies
4074-471: A priest-king ( ensi ), assisted by a council of elders, including both men and women. It is quite possible that the later Sumerian pantheon was modeled upon this political structure. The Jemdet Nasr period , which is generally dated from 3100 to 2900 BC and succeeds the Uruk period, is known as one of the formative stages in the development of the cuneiform script. The oldest clay tablets come from Uruk and date to
SECTION 20
#17328523827434268-417: A progression or development from a previous "uncivilized" state. Traditionally, cultures that defined themselves as "civilized" often did so in contrast to other societies or human groupings viewed as less civilized, calling the latter barbarians , savages , and primitives . Indeed, the modern Western idea of civilization developed as a contrast to the indigenous cultures European settlers encountered during
4462-521: A regional or national scale, and the functioning of agro-ecosystems has been profoundly altered. Agricultural intensification includes a variety of factors, including the loss of landscape elements, increased farm and field sizes, and increase usage of insecticides and herbicides. The large scale of insecticides and herbicides lead to the rapid developing resistance among pests renders herbicides and insecticides increasingly ineffective. Agrochemicals have may be involved in colony collapse disorder , in which
4656-483: A relatively small area of land, for example by rotational grazing , or sometimes as concentrated animal feeding operations . These methods increase the yields of food and fiber per unit land area compared to those of extensive animal husbandry ; concentrated feed is brought to seldom-moved animals, or, with rotational grazing, the animals are repeatedly moved to fresh forage. Agricultural development in Britain between
4850-518: A ruling elite and subordinate urban and rural populations, which engage in intensive agriculture , mining , small-scale manufacture and trade . Civilization concentrates power, extending human control over the rest of nature, including over other human beings. The word civilization relates to the Latin civitas or ' city '. As the National Geographic Society has explained it: "This
5044-411: A small area is globally unique for a nascent civilization. During the third millennium BC, Norte Chico may have been the most densely populated area of the world (excepting, possibly, northern China ). The Supe, Pativilca, Fortaleza, and Huaura River valleys each have several related sites. Norte Chico is unusual in that it completely lacked ceramics and apparently had almost no visual art. Nevertheless,
5238-462: A small space poses ethical issues to some consumers. Animal rights and animal welfare activists have charged that intensive animal rearing is cruel to animals. The Green Revolution transformed farming in many developing countries. It spread technologies that had already existed, but had not been widely used outside of industrialized nations. These technologies included "miracle seeds", pesticides, irrigation, and synthetic nitrogen fertilizer. In
5432-455: A species of developed humanity is capable". This "unified culture" concept of civilization also influenced the theories of historian Arnold J. Toynbee in the mid-twentieth century. Toynbee explored civilization processes in his multi-volume A Study of History , which traced the rise and, in most cases, the decline of 21 civilizations and five "arrested civilizations". Civilizations generally declined and fell, according to Toynbee, because of
5626-733: A succession of events and preconditions, the rise of civilization could equally be hypothesized as an accelerated process that started with incipient agriculture and culminated in the Oriental Bronze Age. Scholars once thought that civilization began in the Fertile Crescent and spread out from there by influence. Scholars now believe that civilizations arose independently at several locations in both hemispheres. They have observed that sociocultural developments occurred along different timeframes. "Sedentary" and " nomadic " communities continued to interact considerably; they were not strictly divided among widely different cultural groups. The concept of
5820-411: A surplus of food, particularly when people use intensive agricultural techniques such as artificial fertilization , irrigation and crop rotation . It is possible but more difficult to accumulate horticultural production, and so civilizations based on horticultural gardening have been very rare. Grain surpluses have been especially important because grain can be stored for a long time. Research from
6014-536: A unified Egypt ruled by a god-king . The hallmarks of ancient Egyptian civilization, such as art , architecture and many aspects of religion , took shape during the Early Dynastic period. The strong institution of kingship developed by the pharaohs served to legitimize state control over the land, labor, and resources that were essential to the survival and growth of ancient Egyptian civilization. Major advances in architecture, art, and technology were made during
Cradle of civilization - Misplaced Pages Continue
6208-513: Is a large organization. Systems theory helps guard against superficial and misleading analogies in the study and description of civilizations. Systems theorists look at many types of relations between cities, including economic relations, cultural exchanges and political/diplomatic/military relations. These spheres often occur on different scales. For example, trade networks were, until the nineteenth century, much larger than either cultural spheres or political spheres. Extensive trade routes, including
6402-532: Is a progressive, sustainable agriculture system such as zero waste agriculture or integrated multi-trophic aquaculture , which involves the interactions of multiple species. Elements of this integration can include: Industrial agriculture uses huge amounts of water , energy , and industrial chemicals , increasing pollution in the arable land , usable water , and atmosphere . Herbicides , insecticides , and fertilizers accumulate in ground and surface waters . Industrial agricultural practices are one of
6596-436: Is believed by some archaeologists to be the oldest known town in present-day Europe. The 8.2 Kiloyear Arid Event and the 5.9 Kiloyear Inter-pluvial saw the drying out of semiarid regions and a major spread of deserts . This climate change shifted the cost-benefit ratio of endemic violence between communities, which saw the abandonment of unwalled village communities and the appearance of walled cities, seen by some as
6790-505: Is concerned with the study of artifact remains of non-human civilizations to reconstruct and interpret past lives of alien societies if such get discovered and confirmed scientifically. Intensive agriculture Most commercial agriculture is intensive in one or more ways. Forms that rely heavily on industrial methods are often called industrial agriculture , which is characterized by technologies designed to increase yield. Techniques include planting multiple crops per year, reducing
6984-432: Is continuously cropped. Crop rotation also seeks to balance the nutrient demands of various crops to avoid soil nutrient depletion. A traditional component of crop rotation is the replenishment of nitrogen through the use of legumes and green manure in sequence with cereals and other crops. Crop rotation can also improve soil structure and fertility by alternating deep-rooted and shallow-rooted plants. A related technique
7178-734: Is dated to around 7000 BC, with the earliest evidence of cultivated rice found at Chengtoushan near the Yangtze River, dated to 6500 BC. Chengtoushan may also be the site of the first walled city in China. By the beginning of the Neolithic Revolution , the Yellow River valley began to establish itself as a center of the Peiligang culture , which flourished from 7000 to 5000 BC, with evidence of agriculture, constructed buildings, pottery, and burial of
7372-479: Is divided into four phases, each of roughly 50 years. During Phase I, covering 100 hectares (250 acres), Erlitou was a rapidly growing regional center with estimated population of several thousand but not yet an urban civilization or capital. Urbanization began in Phase II, expanding to 300 ha (740 acres) with a population around 11,000. A palace area of 12 ha (30 acres) was demarcated by four roads. It contained
7566-632: Is hostile to many species of weeds . As the only draft animal species which is comfortable in wetlands , the water buffalo is in widespread use in Asian rice paddies. A recent development in the intensive production of rice is the System of Rice Intensification . Developed in 1983 by the French Jesuit Father Henri de Laulanié in Madagascar , by 2013 the number of smallholder farmers using
7760-441: Is often increased, yields of any single crop often decrease. There are also challenges to farmers who rely on farming equipment optimized for monoculture , often resulting in increased labor inputs. Vertical farming is intensive crop production on a large scale in urban centers, in multi-story, artificially-lit structures, for the production of low-calorie foods like herbs, microgreens , and lettuce. An integrated farming system
7954-410: Is similar in some ways to that of Urban Planner, Jane Jacobs who argues that the five pillars of United States culture are in serious decay: community and family; higher education; the effective practice of science; taxation and government; and the self-regulation of the learned professions. The corrosion of these pillars, Jacobs argues, is linked to societal ills such as environmental crisis, racism and
Cradle of civilization - Misplaced Pages Continue
8148-409: Is sometimes defined as "living in cities". Non-farmers tend to gather in cities to work and to trade. Compared with other societies, civilizations have a more complex political structure, namely the state . State societies are more stratified than other societies; there is a greater difference among the social classes. The ruling class , normally concentrated in the cities, has control over much of
8342-787: Is that environmental changes may have been responsible for this shift in Olmec centers, with certain important rivers changing course. Civilization A civilization (also spelled civilisation in British English ) is any complex society characterized by the development of the state , social stratification , urbanization , and symbolic systems of communication beyond signed or spoken languages (namely, writing systems and graphic arts ). Civilizations include features such as agriculture , architecture , infrastructure , technological advancement , currency , taxation , regulation , and specialization of labour . Historically,
8536-558: Is that person's broadest cultural identity. It is precisely the protection of this cultural identity that is becoming increasingly important nationally and internationally. According to international law, the United Nations and UNESCO try to set up and enforce relevant rules. The aim is to preserve the cultural heritage of humanity and also the cultural identity, especially in the case of war and armed conflict. According to Karl von Habsburg , President of Blue Shield International ,
8730-556: Is the concentration of livestock in a given space. The aim is to provide maximum output at the lowest possible cost and with the greatest level of food safety. The term is often used pejoratively. CAFOs have dramatically increased the production of food from animal husbandry worldwide, both in terms of total food produced and efficiency. Food and water is delivered to the animals, and therapeutic use of antimicrobial agents, vitamin supplements, and growth hormones are often employed. Growth hormones are not used on chickens nor on any animal in
8924-689: Is the first dynasty to be described in ancient Chinese historical records such as the Bamboo Annals , first published more than a millennium later during the Western Zhou period. Although Xia is an important element in Chinese historiography, there is to date no contemporary written evidence to corroborate the dynasty. Erlitou saw an increase in bronze metallurgy and urbanization and was a rapidly growing regional center with palatial complexes that provide evidence for social stratification. The Erlitou civilization
9118-770: Is the improvement of pasture soils and grasses to increase the food production potential of livestock systems. It is commonly used to reverse pasture degradation , a process characterized by loss of forage and decreased animal carrying capacity which results from overgrazing , poor nutrient management , and lack of soil conservation . This degradation leads to poor pasture soils with decreased fertility and water availability and increased rates of erosion, compaction, and acidification . Degraded pastures have significantly lower productivity and higher carbon footprints compared to intensified pastures. Management practices which improve soil health and consequently grass productivity include irrigation , soil scarification, and
9312-496: Is the key indicator in determining the extent of a civilization. David Wilkinson has proposed that economic and military-diplomatic integration of the Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations resulted in the creation of what he calls the "Central Civilization" around 1500 BCE. Central Civilization later expanded to include the entire Middle East and Europe, and then expanded to a global scale with European colonization, integrating
9506-411: Is the modern method to minimize pesticide use to more sustainable levels. There are concerns over the sustainability of industrial agriculture, and the environmental effects of fertilizers and pesticides, which has given rise to the organic movement and has built a market for sustainable intensive farming, as well as funding for the development of appropriate technology . Pasture intensification
9700-572: Is the oldest Sumerian site settled during this period, around 5400 BC, and the city of Ur also first dates to the end of this period. In the south, the Ubaid period lasted from around 6500 to 3800 BC. Sumerian civilization coalesced in the subsequent Uruk period (4000 to 3100 BC). Named after the Sumerian city of Uruk , this period saw the emergence of urban life in Mesopotamia and, during its later phase,
9894-483: Is their artwork, particularly the Olmec colossal heads . San Lorenzo was situated in the midst of a large agricultural area. San Lorenzo seems to have been largely a ceremonial site, a town without city walls, centered in the midst of a widespread medium-to-large agricultural population. The ceremonial center and attendant buildings could have housed 5,500 while the entire area, including hinterlands, could have reached 13,000. It
SECTION 50
#173285238274310088-659: Is thought that while San Lorenzo controlled much or all of the Coatzacoalcos basin, areas to the east (such as the area where La Venta would rise to prominence) and north-northwest (such as the Tuxtla Mountains ) were home to independent polities. San Lorenzo was all but abandoned around 900 BC at about the same time that La Venta rose to prominence. A wholesale destruction of many San Lorenzo monuments also occurred circa 950 BC, which may indicate an internal uprising or, less likely, an invasion. The latest thinking, however,
10282-493: Is to plant multi-species cover crops between commercial crops. This combines the advantages of intensive farming with continuous cover and polyculture . Crop irrigation accounts for 70% of the world's fresh water use. Flood irrigation , the oldest and most common type, is typically unevenly distributed, as parts of a field may receive excess water in order to deliver sufficient quantities to other parts. Overhead irrigation , using center-pivot or lateral-moving sprinklers, gives
10476-634: Is ultimately linked to conditions coming almost exclusively from intensive agriculture . Gordon Childe defined the development of civilization as the result of two successive revolutions: the Neolithic Revolution of Western Asia, triggering the development of settled communities, and the urban revolution which also first emerged in Western Asia, which enhanced tendencies towards dense settlements, specialized occupational groups, social classes, exploitation of surpluses, monumental public buildings and writing. Few of those conditions, however, are unchallenged by
10670-503: Is understood to have emerged around 3200 BC, as it is at that point that large-scale human settlement and communal construction across multiple sites becomes clearly apparent. In the early 21st century, Peruvian archaeologist Ruth Shady established Caral–Supe as the oldest known civilization in the Americas . The civilization flourished near the Pacific coast in the valleys of three small rivers,
10864-426: Is usually required, often performed by machines such as cultivators or liquid herbicide sprayers. Herbicides kill specific targets while leaving the crop relatively unharmed. Some of these act by interfering with the growth of the weed and are often based on plant hormones . Weed control through herbicide is made more difficult when the weeds become resistant to the herbicide. Solutions include: In agriculture ,
11058-527: Is utilized in many important crops to greatly increase yields for farmers. However, the advantage is lost for the progeny of the F1 hybrids , meaning seeds for annual crops need to be purchased every season, thus increasing costs and profits for farmers. Crop rotation or crop sequencing is the practice of growing a series of dissimilar types of crops in the same space in sequential seasons for benefits such as avoiding pathogen and pest buildup that occurs when one species
11252-490: Is why the most basic definition of the word civilization is 'a society made up of cities.'" The earliest emergence of civilizations is generally connected with the final stages of the Neolithic Revolution in West Asia , culminating in the relatively rapid process of urban revolution and state formation , a political development associated with the appearance of a governing elite. The English word civilization comes from
11446-574: The Journal of Political Economy contradicts the surplus model. It postulates that horticultural gardening was more productive than cereal farming. However, only cereal farming produced civilization because of the appropriability of yearly harvest. Rural populations that could only grow cereals could be taxed allowing for a taxing elite and urban development. This also had a negative effect on rural population, increasing relative agricultural output per farmer. Farming efficiency created food surplus and sustained
11640-597: The Andean highlands , hallucinogenic snuff from the Amazon ." (Given the still limited extent of Norte Chico research, such claims should be treated circumspectly.) Other reports on Shady's work indicate Caral traded with communities in the Andes and in the jungles of the Amazon basin on the opposite side of the Andes. Leaders' ideological power was based on apparent access to deities and
11834-561: The Early Dynastic Period (c. 2900 BC). After the Early Dynastic period began, there was a shift in control of the city-states from the temple establishment headed by council of elders led by a priestly "En" (a male figure when it was a temple for a goddess, or a female figure when headed by a male god) towards a more secular Lugal (Lu = man, Gal = great). The Lugals included such legendary patriarchal figures as Enmerkar , Lugalbanda and Gilgamesh , who supposedly reigned shortly before
SECTION 60
#173285238274312028-485: The European Union . Undesirable behaviors often related to the stress of confinement led to a search for docile breeds (e.g., with natural dominant behaviors bred out), physical restraints to stop interaction, such as individual cages for chickens, or physical modification such as the debeaking of chickens to reduce the harm of fighting. The CAFO designation resulted from the 1972 U.S. Federal Clean Water Act , which
12222-723: The First Intermediate Period . One of the earliest Neolithic sites in the Indian subcontinent is Bhirrana along the ancient Ghaggar-Hakra riverine system in the present day state of Haryana in India , dating to around 7600 BC. Other early sites include Lahuradewa in the Middle Ganges region and Jhusi near the confluence of Ganges and Yamuna rivers, both dating to around 7000 BC. The aceramic Neolithic at Mehrgarh in present-day Pakistan lasts from 7000 to 5500 BC, with
12416-905: The Hakra River. The Indus Valley Civilization starts around 3300 BC with what is referred to as the Early Harappan Phase (3300 to 2600 BC), although at the start this was still a village-based culture, leaving mostly pottery for archaeologists. The earliest examples of the Indus script date to this period, as well as the emergence of citadels representing centralised authority and an increasingly urban quality of life. Trade networks linked this culture with related regional cultures and distant sources of raw materials, including lapis lazuli and other materials for bead-making. By around 2600 BC, villagers had domesticated numerous crops, including peas , sesame seeds , dates , and cotton, as well as animals, including
12610-826: The Las Vegas culture . The bottle gourd may have been the first plant cultivated. The oldest evidence of canal irrigation in South America dates to 4700 to 2500 BC in the Zaña Valley of northern Peru . The earliest urban settlements of the Andes, as well as North and South America, are dated to 3500 BC at Huaricanga , in the Fortaleza area, and Sechin Bajo near the Sechin River . Both sites are in Peru. The Caral–Supe or Norte Chico civilization
12804-585: The Levant to as early as 12,000 BC, when the Natufian culture became sedentary; it evolved into an agricultural society by 10,000 BC. The importance of water to safeguard an abundant and stable food supply, due to favourable conditions for hunting, fishing and gathering resources including cereals, provided an initial wide spectrum economy that triggered the creation of permanent villages. The earliest proto-urban settlements with several thousand inhabitants emerged in
12998-938: The Levant ; the Nile Valley ; the Indo-Gangetic Plain ; the North China Plain ; the Andean Coast ; and the Mesoamerican Gulf Coast . The Fertile Crescent comprises a crescent-shaped region of elevated terrain in West Asia, encompassing regions of modern-day Egypt , Israel , the Palestinian territories , Lebanon , Syria , Jordan , Turkey , and Iraq , extending to the Zagros Mountains in Iran . It stands as one of
13192-517: The Mokaya domesticated one of the dozen species of cacao . A Mokaya archaeological site provides evidence of cacao beverages dating to this time. The Mokaya are also thought to have been among the first cultures in Mesoamerica to develop a hierarchical society. What would become the Olmec civilization had its roots in early farming cultures of Tabasco , which began around 5100 to 4600 BC. The emergence of
13386-605: The Near East , particularly Canaan and the Byblos coast, during this time. Concurrent with these cultural advances, a process of unification of the societies and towns of the upper Nile River, or Upper Egypt, occurred. At the same time the societies of the Nile Delta, or Lower Egypt, also underwent a unification process. During his reign in Upper Egypt, King Narmer defeated his enemies on
13580-748: The Neolithic and Mesolithic stage of the cultures of many of the peoples they encountered. Nonetheless, developments in the Neolithic stage, such as agriculture and sedentary settlement, were critical to the development of modern conceptions of civilization. The Natufian culture in the Levantine corridor provides the earliest case of a Neolithic Revolution, with the planting of cereal crops attested from c. 11,000 BCE. The earliest neolithic technology and lifestyle were established first in Western Asia (for example at Göbekli Tepe , from about 9,130 BCE), later in
13774-600: The Neolithic which began in Western Asia in 10,000 BC. The first cities to house several tens of thousands were Uruk , Ur , Kish and Eridu in Mesopotamia , followed by Susa in Elam and Memphis in Egypt, all by the 31st century BC (see Historical urban community sizes ). Historic times are marked apart from prehistoric times when "records of the past begin to be kept for
13968-509: The Olmec civilization has traditionally been dated to around 1600 to 1500 BC. Olmec features first emerged in the city of San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán , fully coalescing around 1400 BC. The rise of civilization was assisted by the local ecology of well-watered alluvial soil, as well as by the transportation network provided by the Coatzacoalcos River basin. This environment encouraged a densely concentrated population, which in turn triggered
14162-566: The Royal Cemetery at Ur is suggested was traded northwards from Mozambique. Many theorists argue that the entire world has already become integrated into a single " world system ", a process known as globalization . Different civilizations and societies all over the globe are economically, politically, and even culturally interdependent in many ways. There is debate over when this integration began, and what sort of integration – cultural, technological, economic, political, or military-diplomatic –
14356-766: The Sahara . Continued desiccation forced the early ancestors of the Egyptians to settle around the Nile more permanently and to adopt a more sedentary lifestyle. The oldest fully developed neolithic culture in Egypt is Fayum A culture that began around 5500 B.C. By about 5500 BC, small tribes living in the Nile valley had developed into a series of inter-related cultures as far south as Sudan, demonstrating firm control of agriculture and animal husbandry , and identifiable by their pottery and personal items, such as combs, bracelets, and beads. The largest of these early cultures in northern Upper Egypt
14550-643: The Silk Road through Central Asia and Indian Ocean sea routes linking the Roman Empire , Persian Empire , India and China, were well established 2000 years ago when these civilizations scarcely shared any political, diplomatic, military, or cultural relations. The first evidence of such long-distance trade is in the ancient world . During the Uruk period , Guillermo Algaze has argued that trade relations connected Egypt, Mesopotamia, Iran and Afghanistan. Resin found later in
14744-399: The Yellow River and Yangtze basins in China (for example the Peiligang and Pengtoushan cultures), and from these cores spread across Eurasia. Mesopotamia is the site of the earliest civilizations developing from 7,400 years ago. This area has been evaluated by Beverley Milton-Edwards as having "inspired some of the most important developments in human history including the invention of
14938-985: The carbon balance is the use of integrated crop-livestock (ICL) and crop-livestock-forestry (ICLF) systems, which combine several ecosystems into one optimized agricultural framework. Correctly performed, such production systems are able to create synergies potentially providing benefits to pastures through optimal plant usage, improved feed and fattening rates, increased soil fertility and quality, intensified nutrient cycling , integrated pest control , and improved biodiversity . The introduction of certain legume crops to pastures can increase carbon accumulation and nitrogen fixation in soils, while their digestibility helps animal fattening and reduces methane emissions from enteric fermentation . ICLF systems yield beef cattle productivity up to ten times that of degraded pastures; additional crop production from maize , sorghum , and soybean harvests; and greatly reduced greenhouse gas balances due to forest carbon sequestration. In
15132-457: The fertile crescent and from there spread eastwards and westwards. Contemporaneously, a grain-grinding culture using the earliest type of sickle blades had replaced the culture of hunters, fishers, and gathering people using stone tools along the Nile. Geological evidence and computer climate modeling studies also suggest that natural climate changes around 8000 BC began to desiccate the extensive pastoral lands of northern Africa, eventually forming
15326-519: The oracle bone script , mostly divinations inscribed on bones. These inscriptions provide critical insight into many topics from the politics, economy, and religious practices to the art and medicine of this early stage of Chinese civilization. Some historians argue that Erlitou should be considered an early phase of the Shang dynasty. The U.S. National Gallery of Art defines the Chinese Bronze Age as
15520-668: The silurian hypothesis , however, considers whether it would "be possible to detect an industrial civilization in the geological record" given the paucity of geological information about eras before the quaternary . Astronomers speculate about the existence of communicating with intelligent civilizations within and beyond the Milky Way galaxy, usually using variants of the Drake equation . They conduct searches for such intelligences – such as for technological traces, called " technosignatures ". The proposed proto-scientific field " xenoarchaeology "
15714-453: The supernatural . Evidence regarding Norte Chico religion is limited: an image of the Staff God , a leering figure with a hood and fangs, has been found on a gourd dated to 2250 BC. The Staff God is a major deity of later Andean cultures, and Winifred Creamer suggests the find points to worship of common symbols of gods. As with much other research at Norte Chico, the nature and significance of
15908-578: The waste disposal issue and requires that animal waste be stored in lagoons . These lagoons can be as large as 7.5 acres (30,000 m ). Lagoons not protected with an impermeable liner can leak into groundwater under some conditions, as can runoff from manure used as fertilizer. A lagoon that burst in 1995 released 25 million gallons of nitrous sludge in North Carolina's New River . The spill allegedly killed eight to ten million fish. The large concentration of animals, animal waste, and dead animals in
16102-601: The water buffalo . 2600 to 1900 BC marks the Mature Harappan Phase during which Early Harappan communities turned into large urban centers including Harappa , Dholavira , Mohenjo-daro , Lothal , Rupar , and Rakhigarhi , and more than 1,000 towns and villages, often of relatively small size. Mature Harappans evolved new techniques in metallurgy and produced copper, bronze , lead, and tin and displayed advanced levels of engineering. As seen in Harappa, Mohenjo-daro and
16296-634: The "true clash of civilizations" between the Muslim world and the West is caused by the Muslim rejection of the West's more liberal sexual values, rather than a difference in political ideology, although they note that this lack of tolerance is likely to lead to an eventual rejection of (true) democracy. In Identity and Violence Sen questions if people should be divided along the lines of a supposed "civilization", defined by religion and culture only. He argues that this ignores
16490-523: The 150x50 m Palace 3, composed of three courtyards along a 150-meter axis, and Palace 5. A bronze foundry was established to the south of the palatial complex that was controlled by the elite who lived in palaces. The city reached its peak in Phase III, and may have had a population of around 24,000. The palatial complex was surrounded by a two-meter-thick rammed-earth wall, and Palaces 1, 7, 8, 9 were built. The earthwork volume of rammed earth for
16684-513: The 16th century and the mid-19th century saw a massive increase in agricultural productivity and net output. This in turn contributed to unprecedented population growth, freeing up a significant percentage of the workforce, and thereby helped enable the Industrial Revolution . Historians cited enclosure , mechanization , four-field crop rotation , and selective breeding as the most important innovations. Industrial agriculture arose in
16878-567: The 1760s, again from French. The first known use in French is in 1757, by Victor de Riqueti, marquis de Mirabeau , and the first use in English is attributed to Adam Ferguson , who in his 1767 Essay on the History of Civil Society wrote, "Not only the individual advances from infancy to manhood but the species itself from rudeness to civilisation". The word was therefore opposed to barbarism or rudeness, in
17072-503: The 18th century, civilization was not always seen as an improvement. One historically important distinction between culture and civilization is from the writings of Rousseau , particularly his work about education, Emile . Here, civilization, being more rational and socially driven, is not fully in accord with human nature , and "human wholeness is achievable only through the recovery of or approximation to an original discursive or pre-rational natural unity" (see noble savage ). From this,
17266-403: The 1970s, scientists created high-yielding varieties of maize, wheat , and rice. These have an increased nitrogen-absorbing potential compared to other varieties. Since cereals that absorbed extra nitrogen would typically lodge (fall over) before harvest, semi-dwarfing genes were bred into their genomes. Norin 10 wheat , a variety developed by Orville Vogel from Japanese dwarf wheat varieties,
17460-456: The 19th century were taller than their "civilized" American and European counterparts. The average stature of a population is a good measurement of the adequacy of its access to necessities, especially food, and its freedom from disease. Writing , developed first by people in Sumer , is considered a hallmark of civilization and "appears to accompany the rise of complex administrative bureaucracies or
17654-509: The 25th century BC), and, a few centuries later, Babylonia in the south, both of which (Assyria in particular) would go on to form powerful empires between the 20th and 6th centuries BC. The Sumerians were eventually absorbed into the Semitic Assyrian-Babylonian population. The developed Neolithic cultures belonging to the phases Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (10,200 BC) and Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (7600 to 6000 BC) appeared in
17848-594: The Akkadians. Akkadian gradually replaced Sumerian as a spoken language somewhere between the 3rd and the 2nd millennia BC. The Semitic-speaking Akkadian empire emerged around 2350 BC under Sargon the Great . The Akkadian Empire reached its political peak between the 24th and 22nd centuries BC. Under Sargon and his successors, the Akkadian language was briefly imposed on neighboring conquered states such as Elam and Gutium . After
18042-632: The Americas, Australia, China and Japan by the nineteenth century. According to Wilkinson, civilizations can be culturally heterogeneous, like the Central Civilization, or homogeneous, like the Japanese civilization. What Huntington calls the "clash of civilizations" might be characterized by Wilkinson as a clash of cultural spheres within a single global civilization. Others point to the Crusading movement as
18236-824: The Andes would be the Chavín culture at Chavín de Huantar , located in the Andean highlands of the present-day Ancash Region . It is believed to have been built around 900 BC and was the religious and political center of the Chavín people . Maize is believed to have been first domesticated in southern Mexico about 7000 BC. The Coxcatlan Caves in the Valley of Tehuacán provide evidence for agriculture in components dated between 5000 and 3400 BC. Similarly, sites such as Sipacate in Guatemala provide maize pollen samples dating to 3500 BC. Around 1900 BC,
18430-748: The Delta and merged both the Kingdom of Upper and Lower Egypt under his single rule. The Early Dynastic Period of Egypt immediately followed the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt. It is generally taken to include the First and Second Dynasties , lasting from the Naqada III archaeological period until about the beginning of the Old Kingdom , c. 2686 BC. With the First Dynasty, the capital moved from Thinis to Memphis with
18624-510: The European colonization of the Americas and Australia. The term "primitive," though once used in anthropology , has now been largely condemned by anthropologists because of its derogatory connotations and because it implies that the cultures it refers to are relics of a past time that do not change or progress. Because of this, societies regarding themselves as "civilized" have sometimes sought to dominate and assimilate "uncivilized" cultures into
18818-621: The Fortaleza, the Pativilca, and the Supe. These river valleys each have large clusters of sites. Further south, there are several associated sites along the Huaura River. Notable settlements include the cities of Caral , the largest and most complex Preceramic site, and Aspero . Norte Chico is distinguished by its density of large sites with immense architecture. Haas argues that the density of sites in such
19012-423: The French civilisé ('civilized'), from Latin : civilis ('civil'), related to civis ('citizen') and civitas ('city'). The fundamental treatise is Norbert Elias 's The Civilizing Process (1939), which traces social mores from medieval courtly society to the early modern period . In The Philosophy of Civilization (1923), Albert Schweitzer outlines two opinions: one purely material and
19206-493: The German word Kultur , "culture", for what many call a "civilization". Spengler believed a civilization's coherence is based on a single primary cultural symbol. Cultures experience cycles of birth, life, decline, and death, often supplanted by a potent new culture, formed around a compelling new cultural symbol. Spengler states civilization is the beginning of the decline of a culture as "the most external and artificial states of which
19400-586: The Ghaggar-Hakra retracting its reach towards the foothills of the Himalaya, leading to erratic and less extensive floods that made inundation agriculture less sustainable. Aridification reduced the water supply enough to cause the civilization's demise, and to scatter its population eastward. As the monsoons kept shifting south, the floods grew too erratic for sustainable agricultural activities. The residents then migrated away into smaller communities. However trade with
19594-573: The Industrial Revolution. By the early 19th century, agricultural techniques, implements, seed stocks, and cultivars had so improved that yield per land unit was many times that seen in the Middle Ages . The first phase involved a continuing process of mechanization. Horse-drawn machinery such as the McCormick reaper revolutionized harvesting, while inventions such as the cotton gin reduced
19788-581: The Pativilca, as emblematic of authorities able to control vital resources such as cotton. Economic authority would have rested on the control of cotton and edible plants and associated trade relationships, with power centered on the inland sites. Haas tentatively suggests that the scope of this economic power base may have extended widely: there are only two confirmed shore sites in the Norte Chico (Aspero and Bandurria) and possibly two more, but cotton fishing nets and domesticated plants have been found up and down
19982-467: The Peruvian coast. It is possible that the major inland centers of Norte Chico were at the center of a broad regional trade network centered on these resources. Discover magazine, citing Shady, suggests a rich and varied trade life: "[Caral] exported its own products and those of Aspero to distant communities in exchange for exotic imports: Spondylus shells from the coast of Ecuador , rich dyes from
20176-567: The Philippines. They are also found in other rice-growing regions such as Piedmont (Italy), the Camargue (France), and the Artibonite Valley (Haiti). They can occur naturally along rivers or marshes , or can be constructed, even on hillsides. They require large water quantities for irrigation, much of it from flooding. It gives an environment favourable to the strain of rice being grown, and
20370-621: The Twelve Aprils grazing program for dairy production, developed by the USDA - SARE , forage crops for dairy herds are planted into a perennial pasture. Rotational grazing is a variety of foraging in which herds or flocks are regularly and systematically moved to fresh, rested grazing areas (sometimes called paddocks ) to maximize the quality and quantity of forage growth. It can be used with cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, chickens, turkeys, ducks, and other animals. The herds graze one portion of pasture, or
20564-598: The Yangshao people was millet , with some sites using foxtail millet and others broomcorn millet , though some evidence of rice has been found. The exact nature of Yangshao agriculture, small-scale slash-and-burn cultivation versus intensive agriculture in permanent fields, is currently a matter of debate. Once the soil was exhausted, residents picked up their belongings, moved to new lands, and constructed new villages. However, Middle Yangshao settlements such as Jiangzhi contain raised-floor buildings that may have been used for
20758-523: The active pursuit of progress characteristic of the Age of Enlightenment . In the late 1700s and early 1800s, during the French Revolution , "civilization" was used in the singular , never in the plural, and meant the progress of humanity as a whole. This is still the case in French. The use of "civilizations" as a countable noun was in occasional use in the 19th century, but has become much more common in
20952-458: The amount of energy a civilization is able to harness. The scale is only hypothetical, but it puts energy consumption in a cosmic perspective. The Kardashev scale makes provisions for civilizations far more technologically advanced than any currently known to exist. The current scientific consensus is that human beings are the only animal species with the cognitive ability to create civilizations that has emerged on Earth. A recent thought experiment,
21146-582: The application of lime , fertilizers, and pesticides . Depending on the productivity goals of the target agricultural system, more involved restoration projects can be undertaken to replace invasive and under-productive grasses with grass species that are better suited to the soil and climate conditions of the region. These intensified grass systems allow higher stocking rates with faster animal weight gain and reduced time to slaughter, resulting in more productive, carbon-efficient livestock systems. Another technique to optimize yield while maintaining
21340-556: The area. The weights and measures later used in Kautilya 's Arthashastra (4th century BC) are the same as those used in Lothal . Around 1800 BC, signs of a gradual decline began to emerge, and by around 1700 BC most of the cities had been abandoned. Suggested contributory causes for the localisation of the IVC include changes in the course of the river, and climate change that is also signalled for
21534-426: The association with intensive agricultural farming practices. For example the infectious salmon anaemia (ISA) virus is causing significant economic loss for salmon farms. The ISA virus is an orthomyxovirus with two distinct clades, one European and one North American, that diverged before 1900 (Krossøy et al. 2001). This divergence suggests that an ancestral form of the virus was present in wild salmonids prior to
21728-575: The base of largest Palace 1 is 20,000 m³ at least. Palaces 3 and 5 were abandoned and replaced by 4,200-square-meter (45,000 sq ft) Palace 2 and Palace 4. In Phase IV, the population decreased to around 20,000, but building continued. Palace 6 was built as an extension of Palace 2, and Palaces 10 and 11 were built. Phase IV overlaps with the Lower phase of the Erligang culture (1600–1450 BC). Around 1600 to 1560 BC, about 6 km northeast of Erlitou,
21922-633: The benefit of future generations"—in written or oral form. If the rise of civilization is taken to coincide with the development of writing out of proto-writing , then the Near Eastern Chalcolithic (the transitional period between the Neolithic and the Bronze Age during the 4th millennium BC) and the development of proto-writing in Harappa in the Indus Valley of South Asia around 3,300 BC are
22116-621: The central area evolved into the Bronze Age Erlitou culture . The earliest bronze artifacts have been found in the Majiayao culture site (3100 to 2700 BC). Chinese civilization begins during the second phase of the Erlitou period (1900 to 1500 BC), with Erlitou considered the first state level society of East Asia . There is considerable debate whether Erlitou sites correlate to the semi-legendary Xia dynasty . The Xia dynasty (2070 to 1600 BC)
22310-422: The centralized government, political leaders, religious leaders, and public works of the urban centers of the early civilizations. Less formally, the term "cradle of civilization" is often used to refer to other historic ancient civilizations, such as Greece or Rome , which have both been called the "cradle of Western civilization ". The earliest signs of a process leading to sedentary culture can be seen in
22504-986: The ceramic Neolithic at Mehrgarh lasting up to 3300 BC; blending into the Early Bronze Age. Mehrgarh is one of the earliest sites with evidence of farming and herding in the Indian subcontinent. It is likely that the culture centered around Mehrgarh migrated into the Indus Valley in present-day Pakistan and became the Indus Valley Civilisation . The earliest fortified town in the region is found at Rehman Dheri , dated 4000 BC in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa close to River Zhob Valley in present-day Pakistan . Other fortified towns found to date are at Amri (3600–3300 BC), Kot Diji in Sindh , and at Kalibangan (3000 BC) at
22698-438: The civilization exhibited impressive architectural feats, including large earthwork platform mounds and sunken circular plazas, and an advanced textile industry. The platform mounds, as well as large stone warehouses, provide evidence for a stratified society and a centralized authority necessary to distribute resources such as cotton. However, there is no evidence of warfare or defensive structures during this period. Originally, it
22892-532: The collapse of civilization. Some focus on historical examples, and others on general theory. According to political scientist Samuel P. Huntington , the 21st century will be characterized by a clash of civilizations , which he believes will replace the conflicts between nation-states and ideologies that were prominent in the 19th and 20th centuries. However, this viewpoint been strongly challenged by others such as Edward Said , Muhammed Asadi and Amartya Sen . Ronald Inglehart and Pippa Norris have argued that
23086-495: The commonality of religious symbols suggests a cultural link between Norte Chico and later Andean cultures. Circa 1800 BC, the Norte Chico civilization began to decline, with more powerful centers appearing to the south and north along the coast and to the east inside the belt of the Andes. Pottery eventually developed in the Amazon Basin and spread to the Andean culture region around 2000 BC. The next major civilization to arise in
23280-476: The conquest state". Traders and bureaucrats relied on writing to keep accurate records. Like money, the writing was necessitated by the size of the population of a city and the complexity of its commerce among people who are not all personally acquainted with each other. However, writing is not always necessary for civilization, as shown by the Inca civilization of the Andes, which did not use writing at all but except for
23474-508: The convergence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers produced rich fertile soil and a supply of water for irrigation. Neolithic cultures emerged in the region from 8000 BC onwards. The civilizations that emerged around these rivers are the earliest known non-nomadic agrarian societies . It is because of this that the Fertile Crescent region, and Mesopotamia in particular, are often referred to as
23668-798: The cost of processing. During this same period, farmers began to use steam-powered threshers and tractors . In 1892, the first gasoline-powered tractor was successfully developed, and in 1923, the International Harvester Farmall tractor became the first all-purpose tractor, marking an inflection point in the replacement of draft animals with machines. Mechanical harvesters ( combines ), planters, transplanters, and other equipment were then developed, further revolutionizing agriculture. These inventions increased yields and allowed individual farmers to manage increasingly large farms. The identification of nitrogen , phosphorus , and potassium (NPK) as critical factors in plant growth led to
23862-610: The cradle of civilization. The period known as the Ubaid period (c. 6500 to 3800 BC) is the earliest known period on the alluvial plain , although it is likely earlier periods exist obscured under the alluvium . It was during the Ubaid period that the movement toward urbanization began. Agriculture and animal husbandry were widely practiced in sedentary communities, particularly in Northern Mesopotamia (later Assyria ), and intensive irrigated hydraulic agriculture began to be practiced in
24056-459: The dead. With agriculture came increased population, the ability to store and redistribute crops, and the potential to support specialist craftsmen and administrators. Its most prominent site is Jiahu . Some scholars have suggested that the Jiahu symbols (6600 BC) are the earliest form of proto-writing in China. However, it is likely that they should not be understood as writing itself, but as features of
24250-597: The destruction of cultural assets is also part of psychological warfare. The target of the attack is often the opponent's cultural identity, which is why symbolic cultural assets become a main target. It is also intended to destroy the particularly sensitive cultural memory (museums, archives, monuments, etc.), the grown cultural diversity, and the economic basis (such as tourism) of a state, region or community. Many historians have focused on these broad cultural spheres and have treated civilizations as discrete units. Early twentieth-century philosopher Oswald Spengler , uses
24444-417: The deterioration of agricultural land and even regenerate soil health and ecosystem services . These developments may fall in the category of organic farming , or the integration of organic and conventional agriculture. Pasture cropping involves planting grain crops directly into grassland without first applying herbicides. The perennial grasses form a living mulch understory to the grain crop, eliminating
24638-628: The development of state structures, in which power was further monopolized by an elite ruling class who practiced human sacrifice. Towards the end of the Neolithic period, various elitist Chalcolithic civilizations began to rise in various "cradles" from around 3600 BCE beginning with Mesopotamia , expanding into large-scale kingdoms and empires in the course of the Bronze Age ( Akkadian Empire , Indus Valley Civilization , Old Kingdom of Egypt , Neo-Sumerian Empire , Middle Assyrian Empire , Babylonian Empire , Hittite Empire , and to some degree
24832-746: The displacement of Indigenous Australians by observing that the land appeared uncultivated and wild, which to them reflected that the inhabitants were not civilized enough to "improve" it. The behaviors and modes of subsistence that characterize civilization have been spread by colonization , invasion , religious conversion , the extension of bureaucratic control and trade , and by the introduction of new technologies to cultures that did not previously have them. Though aspects of culture associated with civilization can be freely adopted through contact between cultures, since early modern times Eurocentric ideals of "civilization" have been widely imposed upon cultures through coercion and dominance. These ideals complemented
25026-764: The earliest in Afro-Eurasia (previously called the Old World ), while the Caral–Supe civilization of coastal Peru and the Olmec civilization of Mexico are believed to be the earliest in the Americas – previously known in Western literature as the New World . All of the cradles of civilization depended upon agriculture for sustenance (except possibly Caral–Supe which may have depended initially on marine resources ). All depended upon farmers producing an agricultural surplus to support
25220-415: The earliest instances, followed by Chinese proto-writing evolving into the oracle bone script , and again by the emergence of Mesoamerican writing systems from about 900 BC. In the absence of written documents, most aspects of the rise of early civilizations are contained in archaeological assessments that document the development of formal institutions and the material culture. A "civilized" way of life
25414-484: The earliest regions globally where agricultural practices emerged, marking the advent of sedentary farming communities. By 10,200 BC, fully developed Neolithic cultures, characterized by the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) and Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (7600 to 6000 BC) phases, emerged within the Fertile Crescent. These cultures diffused eastward into South Asia and westward into Europe and North Africa. Among
25608-409: The early Iron Age , contemporary civilizations developed money as a medium of exchange for increasingly complex transactions. In a village, the potter makes a pot for the brewer and the brewer compensates the potter by giving him a certain amount of beer. In a city, the potter may need a new roof, the roofer may need new shoes, the cobbler may need new horseshoes, the blacksmith may need a new coat and
25802-534: The east. There is no evidence of destruction by fire or war, but, during the Upper Erligang phase (1450–1300 BC), all the palaces were abandoned, and Erlitou was reduced to a village of 30 ha (74 acres). The earliest traditional Chinese dynasty for which there is both archeological and written evidence is the Shang dynasty (1600 to 1046 BC). Shang sites have yielded the earliest known body of Chinese writing ,
25996-411: The economic power of the pharaoh, and that the economy could no longer afford to support a large centralized administration. As the power of the pharaoh diminished, regional governors called nomarchs began to challenge the supremacy of the pharaoh. This, coupled with severe droughts between 2200 and 2150 BC, is assumed to have caused the country to enter the 140-year period of famine and strife known as
26190-406: The end of the Early Dynastic Period, although architectural precursors in the form of raised platforms date back to the Ubaid period. The Sumerian King List dates to the early second millennium BC. It consists of a succession of royal dynasties from different Sumerian cities, ranging back into the Early Dynastic Period. Each dynasty rises to prominence and dominates the region, only to be replaced by
26384-431: The energy of slaves to plant crops, clothe emperors, and build cities" and considers slavery to be a common feature of pre-modern civilizations. All civilizations have depended on agriculture for subsistence, with the possible exception of some early civilizations in Peru which may have depended upon maritime resources. The traditional "surplus model" postulates that cereal farming results in accumulated storage and
26578-438: The failure of a "creative minority", through moral or religious decline, to meet some important challenge, rather than mere economic or environmental causes. Samuel P. Huntington defines civilization as "the highest cultural grouping of people and the broadest level of cultural identity people have short of that which distinguishes humans from other species". Another group of theorists, making use of systems theory , looks at
26772-403: The fall of the Akkadian Empire and the overthrow of the Gutians , there was a brief reassertion of Sumerian dominance in Mesopotamia under the Third Dynasty of Ur . After the final collapse of Sumerian hegemony in Mesopotamia around 2004 BC, the Semitic Akkadian people of Mesopotamia eventually coalesced into two major Akkadian-speaking nations: Assyria in the north (whose earliest kings date to
26966-402: The find has been disputed by other researchers. The act of architectural construction and maintenance may also have been a spiritual or religious experience: a process of communal exaltation and ceremony. Shady has called Caral "the sacred city" ( la ciudad sagrada ): socio-economic and political focus was on the temples, which were periodically remodeled, with major burnt offerings associated with
27160-408: The first Egyptian dynasty, Egypt was divided into two kingdoms, known as Upper Egypt to the south, and Lower Egypt to the north. Egyptian civilization begins during the second phase of the Naqada culture, known as the Gerzeh period , around 3500 BC and coalesces with the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt around 3150 BC. Farming produced the vast majority of food; with increased food supplies,
27354-424: The first step in globalization. The more conventional viewpoint is that networks of societies have expanded and shrunk since ancient times , and that the current globalized economy and culture is a product of recent European colonialism . The notion of human history as a succession of "civilizations" is an entirely modern one. In the European Age of Discovery , emerging Modernity was put into stark contrast with
27548-450: The first to develop a system of uniform weights and measures. A comparison of available objects indicates large scale variation across the Indus territories. Their smallest division, which is marked on an ivory scale found in Lothal in Gujarat, was approximately 1.704 mm, the smallest division ever recorded on a scale of the Bronze Age . Harappan engineers followed the decimal division of measurement for all practical purposes, including
27742-592: The food supply . The discovery of vitamins and their role in nutrition , in the first two decades of the 20th century, led to vitamin supplements, which in the 1920s allowed some livestock to be raised indoors, reducing their exposure to adverse natural elements. Following World War II synthetic fertilizer use increased rapidly. The discovery of antibiotics and vaccines facilitated raising livestock by reducing diseases. Developments in logistics and refrigeration as well as processing technology made long-distance distribution feasible. Integrated pest management
27936-485: The food surplus through decreasing rural population growth in favour of urban growth. Suitability of highly productive roots and tubers was in fact a curse of plenty, which prevented the emergence of states and impeded economic development. A surplus of food permits some people to do things besides producing food for a living: early civilizations included soldiers , artisans , priests and priestesses, and other people with specialized careers. A surplus of food results in
28130-470: The frequency of fallow years, improving cultivars , mechanised agriculture , controlled by increased and more detailed analysis of growing conditions, including weather, soil , water, weeds, and pests. Modern methods frequently involve increased use of non-biotic inputs, such as fertilizers , plant growth regulators, pesticides , and antibiotics for livestock. Intensive farms are widespread in developed nations and increasingly prevalent worldwide. Most of
28324-415: The gradual emergence of the cuneiform script . Proto-writing in the region dates to around 3800 BC, with the earliest texts dating to 3300 BC; early cuneiform writing emerged in 3000 BC. It was also during this period that pottery painting declined as copper started to become popular, along with cylinder seals . Sumerian cities during the Uruk period were probably theocratic and were most likely headed by
28518-409: The growing gulf between rich and poor. Cultural critic and author Derrick Jensen argues that modern civilization is directed towards the domination of the environment and humanity itself in an intrinsically harmful, unsustainable, and self-destructive fashion. Defending his definition both linguistically and historically, he defines civilization as "a culture... that both leads to and emerges from
28712-671: The growth of cities", with "cities" defined as "people living more or less permanently in one place in densities high enough to require the routine importation of food and other necessities of life". This need for civilizations to import ever more resources, he argues, stems from their over-exploitation and diminution of their own local resources. Therefore, civilizations inherently adopt imperialist and expansionist policies and, to maintain these, highly militarized, hierarchically structured, and coercion-based cultures and lifestyles. The Kardashev scale classifies civilizations based on their level of technological advancement, specifically measured by
28906-465: The historic record opens around 2700 BC, when syllabic writing started to develop from the early pictograms. The center of Sumerian culture remained in southern Mesopotamia, even though rulers soon began expanding into neighboring areas. Neighboring Semitic groups, including the Akkadian speaking Semites (Assyrians, Babylonians) who lived alongside the Sumerians in Mesopotamia, adopted much of Sumerian culture for their own. The earliest ziggurats began near
29100-466: The individual members of bee colonies disappear. (Agricultural production is highly dependent on bees to pollinate many varieties of fruits and vegetables.) Intensive farming creates conditions for parasite growth and transmission that are vastly different from what parasites encounter in natural host populations, potentially altering selection on a variety of traits such as life-history traits and virulence. Some recent epidemic outbreaks have highlighted
29294-409: The introduction of cage-cultured salmonids. As the virus spread from vertical transmission (parent to offspring) . Intensive monoculture increases the risk of failures due to pests , adverse weather and disease. A study for the U.S. Office of Technology Assessment concluded that regarding industrial agriculture, there is a "negative relationship between the trend toward increasing farm size and
29488-527: The island of Bali and the Banaue Rice Terraces in Banaue, Ifugao , Philippines . In Peru , the Inca made use of otherwise unusable slopes by building drystone walls to create terraces known as Andéns . A paddy field is a flooded parcel of arable land used for growing rice and other semiaquatic crops . Paddy fields are a typical feature of rice-growing countries of east and southeast Asia , including Malaysia, China, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Taiwan, Indonesia, India , and
29682-408: The land. Because a percentage of people in civilizations do not grow their own food, they must trade their goods and services for food in a market system, or receive food through the levy of tribute , redistributive taxation , tariffs or tithes from the food producing segment of the population. Early human cultures functioned through a gift economy supplemented by limited barter systems. By
29876-617: The late fourth millennium BC, slightly earlier than the Jemdet Nasr Period. By the time of the Jemdet Nasr Period, the script had already undergone a number of significant changes. It originally consisted of pictographs , but by the time of the Jemdet Nasr Period it was already adopting simpler and more abstract designs. It is also during this period that the script acquired its iconic wedge-shaped appearance. Uruk trade networks started to expand to other parts of Mesopotamia and as far as North Caucasus , and strong signs of governmental organization and social stratification began to emerge, leading to
30070-491: The later 20th century, sometimes just meaning culture (itself in origin an uncountable noun, made countable in the context of ethnography ). Only in this generalized sense does it become possible to speak of a "medieval civilization", which in Elias's sense would have been an oxymoron. Using the terms "civilization" and "culture" as equivalents are controversial and generally rejected so that for example some types of culture are not normally described as civilizations. Already in
30264-410: The living standards of the populace. For example, although the Middle Ages is often portrayed as an era of decline from the Roman Empire, studies have shown that the average stature of males in the Middle Ages (c. 500 to 1500 CE) was greater than it was for males during the preceding Roman Empire and the succeeding Early Modern Period (c. 1500 to 1800 CE). Also, the Plains Indians of North America in
30458-434: The main drivers of global warming , accounting for 14–28% of net greenhouse gas emissions . Many of the negative effects of industrial agriculture may emerge at some distance from fields and farms. Nitrogen compounds from the Midwest, for example, travel down the Mississippi to degrade coastal fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico, causing so-called oceanic dead zones . Many wild plant and animal species have become extinct on
30652-437: The manufacture of synthetic fertilizers , further increasing crop yields . In 1909, the Haber-Bosch method to synthesize ammonium nitrate was first demonstrated. NPK fertilizers stimulated the first concerns about industrial agriculture, due to concerns that they came with side effects such as soil compaction , soil erosion , and declines in overall soil fertility , along with health concerns about toxic chemicals entering
30846-402: The many others identities that make up people and leads to a focus on differences. Cultural Historian Morris Berman argues in Dark Ages America: the End of Empire that in the corporate consumerist United States, the very factors that once propelled it to greatness―extreme individualism, territorial and economic expansion, and the pursuit of material wealth―have pushed the United States across
31040-455: The measurement of mass as revealed by their hexahedron weights. These chert weights were in a ratio of 5:2:1 with weights of 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, and 500 units, with each unit weighing approximately 28 grams, similar to the English Imperial ounce or Greek uncia, and smaller objects were weighed in similar ratios with the units of 0.871. However, as in other cultures, actual weights were not uniform throughout
31234-567: The meat, dairy products , eggs , fruits, and vegetables available in supermarkets are produced by such farms. Some intensive farms can use sustainable methods , although this typically necessitates higher inputs of labor or lower yields. Sustainably increasing agricultural productivity , especially on smallholdings , is an important way to decrease the amount of land needed for farming and slow and reverse environmental degradation caused by processes such as deforestation . Intensive animal farming involves large numbers of animals raised on
31428-566: The need for de-wormers. With the increased productivity of rotational systems, the animals may need less supplemental feed than in continuous grazing systems. Farmers can therefore increase stocking rates. Intensive livestock farming or "factory farming", is the process of raising livestock in confinement at high stocking density. " Concentrated animal feeding operations " (CAFO), or "intensive livestock operations", can hold large numbers (some up to hundreds of thousands) of cows, hogs, turkeys, or chickens, often indoors. The essence of such farms
31622-768: The need to plant cover crops after harvest . The pasture is intensively grazed both before and after grain production. This intensive system yields equivalent farmer profits (partly from increased livestock forage) while building new topsoil and sequestering up to 33 tons of CO 2 /ha/year. Biointensive agriculture focuses on maximizing efficiency such as per unit area, energy input and water input. Agroforestry combines agriculture and orchard/forestry technologies to create more integrated, diverse, productive, profitable, healthy and sustainable land-use systems. Intercropping can increase yields or reduce inputs and thus represents (potentially sustainable) agricultural intensification. However, while total yield per unit land area
31816-479: The neighbouring areas of the Middle East. As of 2016 many scholars believe that drought led to a decline in trade with Egypt and Mesopotamia contributing to the collapse of the Indus Civilization. The Ghaggar-Hakra system was rain-fed, and water-supply depended on the monsoons. The Indus Valley climate grew significantly cooler and drier from about 1800 BC, linked to a general weakening of the monsoon at that time. The Indian monsoon declined and aridity increased, with
32010-430: The next. The document was used by later Mesopotamian kings to legitimize their rule. While some of the information in the list can be checked against other texts such as economic documents, much of it is probably purely fictional, and its use as a historical document is limited. Eannatum , the Sumerian king of Lagash , established the first verifiable empire in history in 2500 BC. The neighboring Elam, in modern Iran ,
32204-609: The notable PPNA settlements is Jericho , located in the Jordan Valley , believed to be the world's earliest established city, with initial settlement dating back to around 9600 BC and fortification occurring around 6800 BC. Current theories and findings identify the Fertile Crescent as the first and oldest cradle of civilization. Examples of sites in this area are the early Neolithic site of Göbekli Tepe (9500–8000 BC) and Çatalhöyük (7500–5700 BC). In Mesopotamia (a region encompassing modern Iraq and bordering regions of Southeast Turkey , Northeast Syria and Northwest Iran ),
32398-506: The old cities did not flourish. The small surplus produced in these small communities did not allow development of trade, and the cities died out. The Indo-Aryan peoples migrated into the Indus River Valley during this period and began the Vedic age of India. The Indus Valley Civilization did not disappear suddenly and many elements of the civilization continued in later Indian subcontinent and Vedic cultures. Drawing on archaeology , geology and anthropology , modern scholars do not see
32592-417: The origins of the Chinese civilization or history as a linear story but rather the history of the interactions of different and distinct cultures and ethnic groups that influenced each other's development. The specific cultural regions that developed Chinese civilization were the Yellow River civilization , the Yangtze civilization , and Liao civilization . Early evidence for Chinese millet agriculture
32786-475: The other material and ethical . He said that the world crisis was from humanity losing the ethical idea of civilization, "the sum total of all progress made by man in every sphere of action and from every point of view in so far as the progress helps towards the spiritual perfecting of individuals as the progress of all progress". Related words like "civility" developed in the mid-16th century. The abstract noun "civilization", meaning "civilized condition", came in
32980-441: The period between about 2000 and 771 BC; a period that begins with the Erlitou culture and ends abruptly with the disintegration of Western Zhou rule. The Sanxingdui culture is another Chinese Bronze Age society, contemporaneous to the Shang dynasty, however they developed a different method of bronze-making from the Shang. The earliest evidence of agriculture in the Andean region dates to around 9000 BC in Ecuador at sites of
33174-480: The populace adopted a much more sedentary lifestyle, and the larger settlements grew to cities of about 5,000 residents. It was in this time that the city dwellers started using mud brick to build their cities, and the use of the arch and recessed walls for decorative effect became popular. Copper instead of stone was increasingly used to make tools and weaponry. Symbols on Gerzean pottery also resemble nascent Egyptian hieroglyphs. Early evidence also exists of contact with
33368-550: The population. The degree of centralized authority is difficult to ascertain, but architectural construction patterns are indicative of an elite that, at least in certain places at certain times, wielded considerable power: while some of the monumental architecture was constructed incrementally, other buildings, such as the two main platform mounds at Caral, appear to have been constructed in one or two intense construction phases. As further evidence of centralized control, Haas points to remains of large stone warehouses found at Upaca, on
33562-498: The rapid development of hierarchies , and the use of human sacrifice . The civilized urban revolution in turn was dependent upon the development of sedentism , the domestication of grains, plants and animals, the permanence of settlements and development of lifestyles that facilitated economies of scale and accumulation of surplus production by particular social sectors. The transition from complex cultures to civilizations , while still disputed, seems to be associated with
33756-503: The recently partially excavated Rakhigarhi , this urban plan included the world's first known urban sanitation systems: see hydraulic engineering of the Indus Valley civilization . Within the city, individual homes or groups of homes obtained water from wells . From a room that appears to have been set aside for bathing, waste water was directed to covered drains, which lined the major streets. Houses opened only to inner courtyards and smaller lanes. The housebuilding in some villages in
33950-561: The records: dense cities were not attested in Egypt's Old Kingdom (unlike Mesopotamia) and cities had a dispersed population in the Maya area; the Incas lacked writing although they could keep records with Quipus which might also have had literary uses; and often monumental architecture preceded any indication of village settlement. For instance, in present-day Louisiana, researchers have determined that cultures that were primarily nomadic organized over generations to build earthwork mounds at seasonal settlements as early as 3400 BC. Rather than
34144-467: The region still resembles in some respects the housebuilding of the Harappans. The advanced architecture of the Harappans is shown by their impressive dockyards, granaries , warehouses, brick platforms, and protective walls. The massive walls of Indus cities most likely protected the Harappans from floods and may have dissuaded military conflicts. The people of the Indus Civilization achieved great accuracy in measuring length, mass, and time. They were among
34338-453: The remodeling. Bundles of strings uncovered at Norte Chico sites have been identified as quipu , a type of pre-writing recording device. Quipu are thought to encode numeric information, but some have conjectured that quipu have been used to encode other forms of data, possibly including literary or musical applications. However, the exact use of quipu by the Norte Chico and later Andean cultures has been widely debated. The presence of quipu and
34532-436: The rise of an elite class and an associated demand for the production of the symbolic and sophisticated luxury artifacts that define Olmec culture. Many of these luxury artifacts were made from materials such as jade , obsidian , and magnetite , which came from distant locations and suggest that early Olmec elites had access to an extensive trading network in Mesoamerica. The aspect of Olmec culture perhaps most familiar today
34726-399: The south. Around 6000 BC, Neolithic settlements began to appear all over Egypt. Studies based on morphological , genetic , and archaeological data have attributed these settlements to migrants from the Fertile Crescent in the Near East arriving in Egypt and North Africa during the Egyptian and North African Neolithic Revolution and bringing agriculture to the region. Tell el-'Oueili
34920-426: The storage of surplus grains. Grinding stones for making flour were also found. Later, Yangshao culture was superseded by the Longshan culture , which was also centered on the Yellow River from about 3000 to 1900 BC, its most prominent site being Taosi . The population expanded dramatically during the 3rd millennium BC, with many settlements having rammed earth walls. It decreased in most areas around 2000 BC until
35114-487: The subsequent Old Kingdom , fueled by the increased agricultural productivity and resulting population, made possible by a well-developed central administration. Some of ancient Egypt's crowning achievements, the Giza pyramids and Great Sphinx , were constructed during the Old Kingdom. Under the direction of the vizier , state officials collected taxes, coordinated irrigation projects to improve crop yield , drafted peasants to work on construction projects, and established
35308-594: The surplus and exercises its will through the actions of a government or bureaucracy . Morton Fried , a conflict theorist and Elman Service , an integration theorist, have classified human cultures based on political systems and social inequality . This system of classification contains four categories. Economically, civilizations display more complex patterns of ownership and exchange than less organized societies. Living in one place allows people to accumulate more personal possessions than nomadic people. Some people also acquire landed property , or private ownership of
35502-408: The system had grown to between 4 and 5 million. Aquaculture is the cultivation of the natural products of water ( fish , shellfish , algae , seaweed , and other aquatic organisms). Intensive aquaculture takes place on land using tanks, ponds, or other controlled systems, or in the ocean, using cages. Intensive farming practices which are thought to be sustainable have been developed to slow
35696-486: The tanner may need a new pot. These people may not be personally acquainted with one another and their needs may not occur all at the same time. A monetary system is a way of organizing these obligations to ensure that they are fulfilled. From the days of the earliest monetarized civilizations, monopolistic controls of monetary systems have benefited the social and political elites. The transition from simpler to more complex economies does not necessarily mean an improvement in
35890-434: The territorial expansions of the Elamites , Hurrians , Amorites and Ebla ). Outside the Old World, development took place independently in the Pre-Columbian Americas . Urbanization in the Caral-Supe civilization in coastal Peru began about 3500 BCE. In North America, the Olmec civilization emerged about 1200 BCE; the oldest known Mayan city, located in Guatemala, dates to about 750 BCE. and Teotihuacan in Mexico
36084-459: The wheel, the building of the earliest cities and the development of written cursive script". Similar pre-civilized "neolithic revolutions" also began independently from 7,000 BCE in northwestern South America (the Caral-Supe civilization ) and in Mesoamerica . The Black Sea area served as a cradle of European civilization. The site of Solnitsata – a prehistoric fortified ( walled ) stone settlement (prehistoric proto-city ) (5500–4200 BCE) –
36278-498: The world, incorporating earlier cultures into the technological and industrial society of the present. Civilizations are traditionally understood as ending in one of two ways; either through incorporation into another expanding civilization (e.g. as Ancient Egypt was incorporated into Hellenistic Greek, and subsequently Roman civilizations), or by collapsing and reverting to a simpler form of living, as happens in so-called Dark Ages. There have been many explanations put forward for
36472-409: Was also part of the early urbanization during the Chalcolithic period. Elamite states were among the leading political forces of the Ancient Near East . The emergence of Elamite written records from around 3000 BC also parallels Sumerian history, where slightly earlier records have been found. During the 3rd millennium BC, there developed a very intimate cultural symbiosis between the Sumerians and
36666-506: Was behind Nazism and German militarism and nihilism . Social scientists such as V. Gordon Childe have named a number of traits that distinguish a civilization from other kinds of society. Civilizations have been distinguished by their means of subsistence, types of livelihood , settlement patterns, forms of government , social stratification , economic systems, literacy and other cultural traits. Andrew Nikiforuk argues that "civilizations relied on shackled human muscle. It took
36860-455: Was enacted to protect and restore lakes and rivers to a "fishable, swimmable" quality. The United States Environmental Protection Agency identified certain animal feeding operations, along with many other types of industry, as "point source" groundwater polluters. These operations were subjected to regulation. In 17 states in the U.S., isolated cases of groundwater contamination were linked to CAFOs. The U.S. federal government acknowledges
37054-562: Was instrumental in developing wheat cultivars. IR8 , the first widely implemented high-yielding rice to be developed by the International Rice Research Institute , was created through a cross between an Indonesian variety named "Peta" and a Chinese variety named "Dee Geo Woo Gen". With the availability of molecular genetics in Arabidopsis and rice the mutant genes responsible ( reduced height (rht) , gibberellin insensitive (gai1) and slender rice (slr1) ) have been cloned and identified as cellular signalling components of gibberellic acid ,
37248-596: Was one of the largest cities in the world in 350 CE, with a population of about 125,000. The Bronze Age collapse was followed by the Iron Age around 1200 BCE, during which a number of new civilizations emerged, culminating in a period from the 8th to the 3rd century BCE which Karl Jaspers termed the Axial Age , presented as a critical transitional phase leading to classical civilization . A major technological and cultural transition to modernity began approximately 1500 CE in Western Europe , and from this beginning new approaches to science and law spread rapidly around
37442-519: Was the Badari , which probably originated in the Western Desert; it was known for its high quality ceramics, stone tools , and use of copper. The oldest known domesticated bovine in Africa are from Fayum dating to around 4400 BC. The Badari cultures was followed by the Naqada culture , which brought a number of technological improvements. As early as the first Naqada Period, Amratia , Egyptians imported obsidian from Ethiopia , used to shape blades and other objects from flakes . By 3300 BC, just before
37636-690: Was theorized that, unlike other early civilizations, Norte Chico developed by relying on maritime food sources in place of a staple cereal. This hypothesis, the Maritime Foundation of Andean Civilization , is still hotly debated; however, most researches now agree that agriculture played a central role in the civilization's development while still acknowledging a strong supplemental reliance on maritime proteins. The Norte Chico chiefdoms were "...almost certainly theocratic , though not brutally so," according to Mann. Construction areas show possible evidence of feasting, which would have included music and likely alcohol, suggesting an elite able to both mobilize and reward
#742257