Lesson video

Hello, my name is Mrs. Tipping, and I'm really looking forward to learning with you today all about Sumer and other early civilizations and what made them similar.

So shall we get started? Let's go.

By the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to compare early civilizations to explain how similar they were.

Before we start, I would like to introduce you to some keywords.

We'll be using these keywords during the lesson, so it might be a good idea to write these words down.

The keywords we'll be using today are: permanent and style.

I'm going to say them again, and I'd like you to repeat them after me.

Permanent.

Style.

Good job.

Let's think in more detail about what these keywords mean.

Here are the definitions for those keywords.

Something that is permanent stays the same.

The special way something is made or designed to look is its style.

Pause the video here to make a note of these keywords, and when you are ready to continue, press play.

These are the learning cycles that we will be working through together in today's lesson.

Similarities between the earliest civilizations and differences between the earliest civilizations.

In the first learning cycle, we'll explore the similarities between the earliest civilizations.

There are important similarities in how the earliest civilizations began.

The cradles of civilization all developed when nomadic people started to create permanent settlements in one area instead of moving around from place to place with all their possessions.

The early civilizations chose to settle permanently because they found ways of farming the fertile ground near rivers in order to provide them with a surplus.

They learned how to control the river water by digging channels and ditches to get enough water and nutrients for their crops.

So you can see the photo of the channel there of how to move the water towards the farmland, and there's some farmland by the River Nile in Egypt.

This surplus of crops meant there was enough food to feed a bigger population, and as a result, these people lived in bigger settlements, which eventually grew into cities with houses for many people to live, and special kinds of buildings for trade, rulers, and religion.

You can see in the image there a photo of a ziggurat, a Sumerian religious building.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

How did all early civilizations begin? They settled and lived in permanent houses and cities.

They carried on being nomadic.

They stopped being farmers.

What do you think? Pause video here, and when you're ready to restart and find out the answer, press play.

What did you think? If you said they settled and lived in permanent houses and cities, you are absolutely right, well done.

There are other clear similarities between the earliest civilizations.

Each ancient civilization traded with people from near and far.

Although the civilizations began in separate cradles of civilization, that did not mean they did not connect with each other.

For example, historians have evidence that the Sumerian and ancient Egyptian civilizations had contact with each other.

You can see in this illustration what trade looked like in Mesopotamia, trading different goods like animals, jewellery, and crockery.

Each ancient civilization also developed its own system of writing.

This was created in order to record trade, laws and stories.

This is an excellent source of historical information about what life was like in the cradles of civilization.

However, historians have not yet deciphered the writing of the Indus Valley Civilization, so there are still some aspects of the civilization that are not understood, such as their religious beliefs or laws.

So you can see an image there of early Sumerian writing.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

Choose two similarities to compare early civilizations.

They traded goods with places near and far.

They only traded goods inside their civilization.

They invented their own forms of writing.

They only used writing to record trading.

So choose two similarities.

Pause the video here and have a discussion with your partner.

And when you are ready to restart, press play.

What did you think? Well, if you said they traded goods with places near and far, and they invented their own forms of writing, you are absolutely right there, two similarities of early civilizations.

Similarly, the ancient civilizations created their own art, which is another helpful source of information for historians.

You can see an image there of ancient Egyptian statues carved from stone.

Something that's a thousand years old that still looks very detailed, doesn't it? Some ancient art is in the form of useful objects, such as pottery, which tells us about the everyday life of the ancient people.

You see there a photo of Sumerian pottery.

Let's pause here.

How does ancient pottery help historians compare ancient civilizations? It is too old and broken for historians to use.

It helps historians understand day-to-day life.

It helps historians understand what colours they liked.

Hmm.

What do you think? Have a discussion with your partner.

Pause the video here, and when you are ready to continue, press play.

What did you say in your discussion? Did you say that it helps historians understand day-to-day life? If you did, you are absolutely right.

Well done.

Some ancient art represents figures and stories, which means we can learn about their rulers, stories, and beliefs.

You can see there a photo of an ancient Egyptian showing their ruler, called a Pharaoh.

The ancient civilizations also discovered how to make bronze by mixing copper and tin and used it to make art, tools, and weapons.

This invention means that the time of ancient civilizations is often called the Bronze Age, so it's named after the metal bronze.

Let's pause here and check our understanding.

Choose three similarities to compare early civilizations.

They all discovered and used bronze.

They all made their own styles of art.

They all began in Mesopotamia.

They all invented their own form of writing.

Three similarities.

Have a discussion with your partner.

Pause the video here, and when you are ready to continue, press play.

What did you think? If you chose they all discovered and used bronze, they all made their own styles of art, and they all invented their own form of writing, you are absolutely right, well done.

They didn't all begin in Mesopotamia.

That brings us to our first learning task.

Can you think of three different ways to complete the sentence? You could include these key words: farm, permanent, trade, cities, writing, art, bronze.

So grab yourself a pen and some paper, and I'd like you to try and write three different sentences from the start all ancient civilizations, and then complete it in three different ways.

Give yourself enough time, pause the video here, and press play when you are ready to continue.

How did that go? Shall we take a look at some examples? So your answers could have included: all ancient civilizations stopped living a nomadic lifestyle to farm and build permanent houses and cities.

All ancient civilizations built cities and began to trade with people from far away.

All ancient civilizations invented writing and made art from bronze.

Well done for completing that learning task.

We're now ready to move on to the second part of this lesson.

We're going to explore the differences between the earliest civilizations.

As well as similarities, there were also differences between the ancient civilizations.

So for example, in the style of ancient buildings.

So similar to all the civilizations, they all built permanent houses and cities for their large populations.

But different, the style of the buildings and cities and the style of religious temples, they were all different in the civilizations.

What do you notice about the design of the different ancient cities? Have a look at the photos of the ruins of an Indus city and an illustration of a Shang city wall.

Hmm.

Well, archaeological evidence shows that the Indus Valley Civilization built cities with excellent drainage and sewerage, which suggested that the cities were very clean and that health was important to them.

But in comparison, Shang ruins show very thick walls surrounding the city, some up to 20 metres thick.

That is very thick.

Imagine the wall on your house.

I don't think it's anywhere near 20 metres thick.

That's very thick indeed.

What do you notice about the different ancient stone buildings here? Got the photo of the ancient Egyptian pyramid and the photo of a ziggurat, a Sumerian religious building.

What can you see? Well, in both ancient Egypt and Sumer, the people built pyramids, but they built them in different styles.

So you can see that the ancient Egyptian went for that triangular look, whereas the Sumerians have tiers and steps within their pyramids.

Their cities were also designed really differently.

Let's pause and check our understanding.

Choose the correct phrase to complete each sentence.

A Shang city had.

An Indus city had.

Good drainage, thick walls.

Which one is which? Pause the video here, and when you are ready to continue, press play.

If you said a Shang city had thick walls, an Indus city had good drainage, you are absolutely right.

Well done.

Now, all civilizations developed writing and art, including using bronze, stone, and clay in their artworks.

However, the styles of their writing and art were different.

Now compare the different styles of ancient writing here.

What do you notice? Have a discussion with your partner.

What do you notice? Pause the video here and press play when you are ready to continue.

Well, the Sumerian cuneiform used symbols for sounds, whereas ancient Egyptians used hieroglyphics and pictures and symbols, and that's the same for the Shang civilization.

Now, if we were to compare the different styles of ancient art, what do you notice here? Again, have a discussion with your partner.

Pause the video and press play when you are ready to continue.

What did you think? Well, artists from the early civilizations used different patterns and designs in their art.

So you can see in this photo of the Indus painted pottery and the photo of the ancient Egyptian pottery, how they are different, the different types of patterns and designs that they used.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

Choose the correct phrase to complete each sentence.

Sumerian writing used.

Ancient Egyptian writing used.

Pictures and symbols.

Symbols for sounds.

What do you think? Pause the video here and press play when you are ready to continue.

Did you manage to complete the sentences? Let's have a look, shall we? The Sumerian writing used symbols for sound.

Ancient Egyptian writing used pictures and symbols.

Good job.

Aisha, Jacob, and Andeep are comparing the earliest civilizations, but they have made mistakes.

I would like you in this learning task to rewrite their statements to help them understand the similarities and differences.

So Aisha says, "All their buildings were all the same." Jacob says, "They all used hieroglyphs for writing." And Andeep says, "They all made art in the same style." So take some time now.

Grab yourself a pen and some paper, and I'd like you to rewrite their statements correctly to help them understand the similarities and differences.

So take each one at a time and take your time to rewrite them.

What was the similarity and difference in their buildings, in their art, and in their writing? So take some time now, pause the video, and press play when you are ready to continue.

How did that go? Were you able to correct their mistakes and rewrite their statements to help them understand the similarities and differences between the earliest civilizations? Let's take a look at what you could have written.

So your answer could include: they all built permanent cities, but the buildings were different styles.

So that's how we helped to correct Aisha's statement.

For Andeep, they all made art from bronze, stone, and clay, but their artists used different styles, patterns, and designs.

And then for Jacob's statement, they all invented writing, but they used different styles.

Only the ancient Egyptians used hieroglyphics.

Well done if you were able to correct those mistakes that Aisha, Jacob, and Andeep made in their statements to help them understand the similarities and differences between those early civilizations.

Well done for completing that learning task.

Before we finish this lesson, let's summarise what we've learned about comparing the earliest civilizations.

We've certainly learned a lot in this lesson.

All ancient civilizations stopped living a nomadic life to settle and farm fertile land.

All ancient civilizations built permanent places to live, like cities, but the building styles were different.

Can you remember those different types of buildings like the pyramids and the ziggurat? Lots of different ones.

All ancient civilizations traded and recorded their life in writing, but each style of writing was different.

Can you remember which of the civilizations the historians have yet to decipher? That's right, the Indus Valley.

We still don't know what their writing says.

All ancient civilizations made bronze and used this metal for tools, weapons, and artwork, but the styles of art were all different.

They used different patterns and designs.

Those skilled artists created very different artworks between the different civilizations.

Thank you for joining me in this lesson, and I hope you've enjoyed learning all about Sumer and the early civilizations.

I look forward to seeing you again.