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 will be able to describe the ancient cradles of civilization and explain the similarities between them.

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 nomadic, cradle, similarity.

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

Nomadic, cradle, similarity.

Good job.

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

Here are the definitions of our keywords.

Nomadic people do not settle to live in one place, but move from place to place.

A cradle is a small bed or cot that helps keep babies safe and warm when they sleep.

A similarity is when something is like something else but is not exactly the same.

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.

What are cradles of civilization? Where were cradles of civilization? How were the cradles of civilization similar? In the first learning cycle, we'll explore what the cradles of civilization are.

Before ancient civilizations were developed, ancient people lived a nomadic life.

Nomadic means always moving and not settling to live in one place permanently.

Ancient nomadic people would travel from place to place with all their belongings and some animals.

They would have shelters that would be put up and taken down to be moved, such as tents.

Today, there are still people in different parts of the world who live a nomadic lifestyle in different forms. There's an image of an example of people who lived a nomadic life.

You can see their tents there and some animals.

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

What is a nomadic lifestyle? When people settle in one place permanently, when people move from place to place, when people have lots of different homes, what do you think? Take a moment to pause, and restart the video when you are ready to find the answer.

If you said that when people move from place to place, you are absolutely right, well done.

Cradles of civilization are places where ancient people first stopped living a nomadic lifestyle and settled permanently to live and farm in one place.

A cradle is a small bed or cot that helps keep babies safe and warm when they sleep.

This is a place where the baby can grow and develop in the very first stages of their life.

Historians use this idea in the phrase, "cradle of civilization." This is a metaphor.

It means a place where a civilization first begins and develops in its early stages.

Let's pause here.

What is a cradle of civilization? A place where nomadic people finally settle, a place for a baby to sleep, a place where nomadic people sometimes sleep? Hmm, what do you think? Pause the video here and have a discussion with your partner, and when you are ready to continue, press play.

How did your discussion go? If you said that it's a place where nomadic people finally settle, you're absolutely right, well done.

This brings us to our first learning task.

I'd like you, starting with the earliest, to sort these events into chronological order, with one as the earliest event.

So, use the numbers one, two, and three to pop into those boxes to order these events: The civilization develops in its early stages in its cradle, ancient people live a nomadic life, ancient people stop living a nomadic lifestyle and settle permanently to and farm in one place.

So, give yourself enough time.

If you'd like to, you could pop those numbers in the boxes starting with the earliest event, or you could write each of those events out in chronological order, starting with that earliest event.

Pause the video here and give yourself enough time to complete this task, and when you are ready to continue, press play.

How did that go? Shall we take a look at what the order is? So, ancient people live a nomadic life.

Ancient people stop living a nomadic lifestyle and settle permanently to live and farm in one place.

The civilization develops in its early stages in its cradle.

Well done for completing that learning task.

We're now ready to move onto the second part of our lesson, where were cradles of civilization? Historians know of four cradles of civilization from the continents of Africa and Asia.

Archaeologists and historians have found similarities between the four ancient civilizations.

One important similarity of these developing civilizations had is that each cradle developed near large rivers.

For example, ancient Sumer developed between the Tigris and Euphrates River.

Ancient Egypt developed beside the River Nile, the Indus Valley Civilization developed by the Indus River in India, and the Shang Civilization developed alongside the Yellow River in China.

Now, the oldest ancient civilization was Sumer, which developed in 4000 BCE in Mesopotamia, in what is now called Iraq in the Middle East.

So, you can see there where the Tigris and Euphrates rivers are, where Mesopotamia is, and the Sumer Civilization developed.

Around 3000 BCE, another cradle of civilization developed in Egypt.

Eventually, the Ancient Egyptian and Sumer Civilization contacted each other and traded, but they developed separately.

So, you can see on the map there where the River Nile is, where the Ancient Egyptians developed their civilization.

Also, around 3000 BCE, another cradle of civilization, called the Indus Valley Civilization, developed around the Indus River in modern-day India.

Evidence for this was discovered by archaeologists, but it had remained mostly unknown until 200 years ago.

You can see on the map where the Indus River is in India.

Then, around 2000 BCE, the Shang Civilization developed in what is now called China, in the Yellow River Valley.

So, you see where the Yellow River is in China.

Let's pause and check our understanding.

Where were the different cradles of civilizations? Add the names of the modern-day countries to the map.

So, we have four modern-day countries that we need to fill in here.

We have the letters of the beginning of each of those modern-day countries.

So we've got E, I, I, and C.

So, can you remember where each of the different cradles of civilizations were in these modern-day countries? So, pause the video here and have a discussion with your partner, and when you are ready to continue, press play.

How did you get on? Let's take a look, shall we? The countries are Egypt, Iraq, India, and China.

Good job, if you've got those correct.

Now, let's think, when did the different cradles of civilizations begin? So, we've got those four civilizations.

Where do they go on this timeline? We've got 4000 BCE, 3000 BCE, and 2000 BCE.

Where do each of those civilizations go? Pause the video here and take some time, have a discussion with your partner, where would you put each of those four civilizations? And when you are ready to continue, press play.

How did your discussion go? What do you think? So, in 4000 BCE, the Sumer Civilization began, in 3000 BCE, the Indus Valley and the Ancient Egyptian Civilizations began, and in 2000 BCE, the Shang Civilization began.

Well done, if you got those in the correct places.

This brings us to our second learning task.

Can you match the ancient civilizations to the rivers and the modern name for the country of each? So, we have the civilizations Sumer, Ancient Egyptian, Indus Valley, and Shang, but the rivers, the Indus River, the Tigris and Euphrates, the Yellow River, and the River Nile, and we have the modern name for the country, China, Egypt, Iraq, and India.

So, pause the video here and give yourself enough time.

You could discuss with your partner, matching each of those civilizations to the rivers and the modern name for the country, or, if you'd like to, you get a pen and some paper and write out the civilization next to the river and the modern name for the country.

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

How did that go? Shall we take a look and match them up? So, the ancient Sumer Civilization is linked to the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, and the modern name of the country is Iraq.

The Ancient Egyptian is linked to the River Nile, and that's in Egypt.

The Indus Valley is linked to the Indus River, and that is in India, and the Shang Civilization is linked to the Yellow River in China.

Well done for completing that learning task.

We're now going to move on to the third part of our lesson.

How were the cradles of civilization similar? Now, there are more similarities between the four cradles of civilization.

Oh, so it wasn't just that they were developed near rivers? Let's find out some more examples, shall we? In all four cradles of civilization, the ancient people dug water channels to control the water from the rivers that were nearby.

This meant that they could easily water their crops and water a bigger area of farmland.

This allowed the ancient peoples to become very successful farmers and to produce enough food so that the civilization's population could grow.

For example, evidence shows that the Sumerians were excellent farmers.

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

Why did ancient civilizations learn to control rivers? To create art, to water crops, to build cities, to learn metal work? What do you think? Pause the video here and have a discussion with your partner, and when you are ready to continue, press play.

How did that go? If you said to water crops, you are absolutely right.

Well done.

Another similarity is that every cradle of civilization built impressive cities for their larger populations to settle and live together in one place.

For example, evidence shows that the Indus Valley Civilization were experts at designing cities.

You can see in the photo of the ruins there of a city from Indus Valley, pretty impressive.

A further similarity is that the four ancient civilizations all invented their own types of art.

In each civilization, there were skilled craftspeople who can make beautiful and useful objects.

For example, the archaeological evidence from the Shang Civilization shows that they were skilled at working with metal and stone to create art and tools.

Have a look at that photo there.

That's of a metal wine pourer from the Shang Civilization in 1300 BCE.

What a fascinating way to pour your wine.

Quite an impressive object that they've created there.

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

The Indus Valley Civilization were the only ones to build cities and create art.

Is that true or false? Take a moment and have a quick discussion with your partner.

What do you think? If you said false, you are absolutely right.

Well done.

Taking a look at these two statements, which helps to justify your answer? Archaeologists have found evidence of cities and art from the Shang Civilization, archaeologists have found evidence of cities and art in all four cradles of civilization.

So, pause the video here and have a discussion with your partner.

Which of these two statements helps to justify your answer? And press play when you are ready to continue.

How did that go? If you said that archaeologists have found evidence of cities and art in all four cradles of civilization, you are absolutely right, good job.

That brings us to our final learning task.

I'd like you to describe the similarity between the cradles of civilization that each image shows.

So, we've got a photo of a channel used to move water towards farmland, a photo of the ruins of a city, and a photo of a metal wine poorer, so describe the similarity.

You can pause a video here and have a discussion with your partner.

Give yourself enough time to describe the similarities that each image shows, and when you are ready to continue, press play.

How did that go? So, your answers could include something a bit like this, "A similarity between the cradles of civilization "was that the ancient people dug water channels "to control the water from the nearby rivers.

"This meant they could easily water their crops "and become successful farmers." You could have also said, "A similarity "between the cradles of civilization "was that the ancient people built impressive cities "for their larger populations to settle "and live together in one place," and finally, "A similarity between "the cradles of civilization was that the ancient people "all invented their own types of art.

"In each civilization, there were skilled craftspeople "who could make beautiful and useful objects." Well done for completing that learning task.

Before we finish this lesson, let's summarise what we've learned about other cradles of civilization.

We've certainly learned a lot.

Ancient civilizations happened when nomadic people stopped moving around and settled down to farm.

Historians and archaeologists sometimes use the phrase, "cradles of civilization," to describe these places.

Cradles of civilization developed at different times and in different places.

For example, Sumer, in 4000 BCE, ancient Egypt and Indus Valley, in around 3000 BCE, and Shang, in 2000 BCE.

These four cradles of civilization have many similarities, such as channelling water for farming, and creating cities and art.

Thank you for joining me in this lesson, and I hope to see you in the next one.

See you then.