The lifestyles, culture and technologies changed from the Paleolithic societies to the first river valley civilizations around the year 3500 BCE. The Paleolithic times were much simpler than that of the first river valley civilizations. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the river valley civilizations were superior. In the first river valley civilizations there were many prominent and new inventions, however, there were also more wars and the creation of slavery. The four main river valley civilizations included: Mesopotamia (the Tigris and Euphrates rivers), the Indus River Valley (Indus River), the China Yellow River Valley (the Yellow River) and the Nile River Valley (the Nile River). Agriculture set the basis for rapid change, and resulted in the birth of the four first river valley civilizations. These civilizations differed from the Paleolithic times in many ways. In Paleolithic times, there were certain characteristics which defined how they survived. They were a nomadic people, they hunted and gathered and lived in small groups. Unlike the early river valley civilizations they were constantly moving. This constant migration is the reason that they lived in small groups. Small groups were easier to move and to provide for. The small groups were also easier to maintain then the early river valley civilizations. They did not need a very complex political structure. In Mesopotamia, the Babylonians (King Hammurabi) created a code of laws to govern their people. In Paleolithic times the strongest ruled because he was probably the most productive in hunting large game. In the early civilizations strength was not an important factor. Various religions sculpted the way people were ruled and governed. Two examples would include the Nile River Valley and the China Yellow River Valley. In ancient Egypt, their civilization was ruled by a Pharaoh. The Pharaoh was believed to be part god. The China Yellow River Valley was ruled by an emperor. This emperor was believed to be chosen to
lead with a “mandate of Heaven”. This was a belief that a dynasty was ordained to rule. The Paleolithic Man also had fire and shaped stone tools. The early river valley civilizations also acquired these but improved them. The Paleolithic tools were effective but later inventions of metal made them even more productive and accurate. In Paleolithic times there was not a lot of complex communication. They did not have writing or a specific way of communication. In the ancient river valley civilizations there were all different kinds of communication. In the Indus River Valley they had writing that even with today’s technology cannot be deciphered. The Egyptians had hieroglyphics to correspond with one another. The Sumerians were the first to create writing. Their writing was called Cuneiform. This type of writing used pictures for objects and shapes for sounds. The China Yellow River civilization also had writing. These various types of communication lead to different inventions. In Mesopotamia, the wheel, star charts and ziggurats were developed. They even had math units based on ten, sixty and three-hundred and sixty. The same units we use today! The three man chariot, the use of iron, coined money, glass, the alphabet, purple dye and even the creation of a library were all invented because people knew how to interact with other people and their surroundings. In Egypt they
