River Valley Civilizations

Mr. Emerson

World History

Egypt

Mesopotamia

Indus

Hwang He

MesoAmerica

Where there is writing…

Cuneiform

Hieroglyphics

Pictographs

Cuneiform

• Found in Mesopotamia

• The Tigris and Euphrates River Valleys

• Wedge Writing

Cuneiform

• Tablets made of Clay• Write with a stylus – a

wedge stick• Try writing like a

Babylonian

Hieroglyphics

• Found in Egypt• The Nile River

Valley• Pictures represent

sounds

Hieroglyphics

• This is the cartouche of Pharoah Hatshepsut.

• Notice the cartouche is encircled

• Means this is a name of someone important

• Try writing like an Egyptian

Pictographs

• Found In China• Ancient texts can be read by modern Chinese

Pictographs

• Also found in India• Indian writing cannot

be read today

Pictographs

• Pictures represent ideas or thoughts

• Symbols become more simplified

Sun

River

Summary Ideas

• People in ancient times wrote down ideas

• This is the beginning of history

• History began in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Indus and Hwang He river valleys

• This is why we study these people first in World History

Alex Unit Plan

Bibliography and Sources

• Outline Map of the World• http://geography.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.southernct.edu%2F%7Elukinbea

%2Foutline.html• Map of Mesopotamia• http://www.fsmitha.com/h1/map01mes.htm• Example of a Cuneiform Tablet• http://graphics.stanford.edu/projects/cuneiform/• Write like a Babylonian• http://www.upennmuseum.com/cuneiform.cgi• Map of Ancient Egypt• http://www.memphis.edu/egypt/map.htm• Make your own Cartouche• http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/cartouche/cartouche.html• Harappa, Indus Valley Civilization• http://www.harappa.com/har/har0.html• Chinese Pictographs• http://logos.uoregon.edu/explore/orthography/chinese2.html• Map of Pakistan• http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/print/pk.html• Map of China• http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/print/ch.html