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Lesson 1-Handout Part 1

This document provides an overview of early civilizations and their contributions to science and technology. It discusses the key characteristics of civilizations and identifies the Fertile Crescent as the "cradle of civilization". Three major early civilizations of Mesopotamia are then described in detail: the Sumerians invented writing and advanced agricultural practices; the Babylonians constructed the Hanging Gardens and advanced mathematics; and the Assyrians developed iron weapons and military tactics. The document aims to help students understand the historical foundations of science and technology development.

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RaquelMagtalas
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10 views

Lesson 1-Handout Part 1

This document provides an overview of early civilizations and their contributions to science and technology. It discusses the key characteristics of civilizations and identifies the Fertile Crescent as the "cradle of civilization". Three major early civilizations of Mesopotamia are then described in detail: the Sumerians invented writing and advanced agricultural practices; the Babylonians constructed the Hanging Gardens and advanced mathematics; and the Assyrians developed iron weapons and military tactics. The document aims to help students understand the historical foundations of science and technology development.

Uploaded by

RaquelMagtalas
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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General Education Subject: SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY

Chapter 1 - Historical Antecedents of Science and Technology (part 1)

Learning Objectives

At the end of this module students will be able to

a. Understand the meaning of civilization and what characterizes a civilization


b. Identify the earliest forms of civilizations that existed
c. Analyze how scientific revolution is done in various parts of the world like Middle East, Africa, Latin
America and East Asia
d. Describe the development of Science and Technology that occurred in Arabia, China and India

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY THROUGHOUT HISTORY

Science

• Science comes from the Latin word scientia meaning “knowledge”


• Science is defined as the systematized body of knowledge for its urges people to find answers to questions
regarding things around them
• Science is about knowing how the world works

Civilization

• Civilization describes a complex way of life that came about as people began to develop networks of urban
settlements. The earliest civilizations developed between 4000 and 3000 B.C.E., when the rise of agriculture and
trade allowed people to have surplus food and economic stability.
• Six characteristics of a civilization
1. Advanced cities – fertile lands produced surplus of food, contributing to large populations leading to
formation of cities
2. monumental architecture and unique art styles – used to preserve their legacy
3. shared communication strategies -spoken and written language; alphabet, numeric systems, signs, ideas
and symbols
4. systems for administering territories – government administration, bureaucracy
5. a complex division of labor – specialized labor
6. class structure – income and type of work performed

Cradle of Civilization

• A location where civilization is understood to have emerged


• Current thinking is that there was no single “cradle” but several civilizations that developed independently with
the Fertile Crescent (Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia) Ancient India, and Ancient China understood to be the
earliest.

In the World: Ancient Ages

• Early civilization contributed to the development of science and technology


• Scientific innovations and discoveries taught humans different ways to survive
• The earliest civilizations in the world were born along rivers because people need fresh water to survive
• River provides water to irrigate crops and regular river floods made the soil fertile
General Education Subject: SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY

River valley civilizations (Reference: https://howellworldhistory.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/river-valley.jpg)

I. MESOPOTAMIA

• Mesopotamia, from the Greeks, means “between two rivers”


• Mesopotamia is located within the Tigris-Euphrates river system
• It’s the present-day Iraq, Iran, Syria, Kuwait and Turkey
• First recorded civilization around 3300-750BC
• The civilizations that flourished in Mesopotamia are
o Sumerian civilization
o Babylonian civilization
o Asyrian civilization
A. Sumerian Civilization
- Sumer, now modern-day Iraq, is the earliest known civilization in Mesopotamia
- Sumerians called themselves “black-headed people” and their land as “land of black-
headed people”
Significant contributions
1. Cuneiform, is the form of writing invented by Sumerians, one of the earliest systems of writing in
3000 BC.
2. Sumerians also developed their own number system that use the main base 60 and auxiliary base 10
that was helpful in their conduct of trade
3. Sumerians also build sailboats (made up pf planks of wood and sail made of cloth) that allowed
them to travel by sea to trade goods with other neighboring civilizations
4. The invention of the wheel is also credited to Sumerians which they used first for pottery in 3500 BC
and later for transportation in 3200 BC.
5. Sumerians are also believed to have developed agricultural processes such as irrigation.
6. They are also the one of the first civilization to use the plow for digging and breaking hard soil to
make planting easy
7. Sumerians are also known for being first astronomers and develop the lunar calendar that became
the basis for having 12 lunar months in a year
General Education Subject: SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY
B. Babylonian Civilization
- Babylon is known to be derived from bay-il or bay-ilim meaning “Gates of Gods”
- Babylon served as the center of Mesopotamian civilization for nearly two millenia.
- Babylong’s ruins lie in the modern-day Iraq
Significant events and contributions

1. Tower of Babel - Genesis 11 tells the story of the Tower of Babel, a structure that the Babylonians
wanted to build “with its tops in the heavens” to make a name for themselves. God disrupted the
tower’s construction by confusing the language of workers so that they could no longer understand one
another. The tower was never finished and people, having different languages, spread out to different
parts of the world.

2. Hanging Gardens of Babylon – believed that it is a gift from King Nebuchadnezzar II to his homesick
wife, Amytis. According to ancient texts, the gardens had large terraces with so many trees and flowering
plants.

3. Babylons adopted the number system from Sumerians and advanced it that became the precursor of
many present systems.

4. Babylons devised a lunar calendar with 12 months with each month divided to alternate of 29 and 30
days.

5. Babylonians invented the sundials and water clocks to determine time.

C. Asyrian Civilization

- Assyria was located in the northern part of Mesopotamia, which corresponds to most parts of modern-day Iraq
as well as parts of Iran, Kuwait, Syria, and Turkey.

1. First imperial military that armed itself with iron weapons and employed advanced, complicated
military tactics.

2. They were the first in the area to develop iron weapons, which were superior to the bronze weapons
their enemies were using.

Book Reference:

Casas, John Miller et.al (2020). Science, Technology and Society. C&E Publishing, Inc.

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