WHI.3e - Development of Language and Writing

The student will apply social science skills to understand the ancient river valley civilizations, including those of Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Indus River Valley, and China and the civilizations of the Hebrews and Phoenicians, by

e) explaining the development of language and writing.

How did civilizations gain, consolidate, maintain, and lose their power?

• Do the benefits of innovation outweigh the costs?

• How does our environment affect us? How do we affect it?

Language and writing were important cultural innovations because they facilitated the preservation and spread of knowledge.

Language and writing

 Pictograms: Earliest written symbols

 Hieroglyphics: Egypt

 Cuneiform: Sumer

 Alphabet: Phoenicia

 Sanskrit: India

 Oracle bone script: China

Terms

Civilization (3a)

Division of labor (3a)

Cultural diffusion (3a)

Code of Hammurabi (3b)

Theocracy (3b)

City state (3b)

Dynasty (3b)

Empire (3b)

Divine (3b)

Barter (3b)

Slavery (3b)

Ziggurat (3c)

Polytheism (3c)

Monotheism (3c)

Judaism (3d)

Diaspora (3d)

Exile (3d)

Torah (3d)

Ten Commandments (3d)

Jerusalem (3d)

Christianity (3d)

Islam (3d)

Pictograms (3e)

Cuneiform (3e)

Hieroglyphics (3e)

People

Hebrews (3a)

Phoenicians (3a)

Hammurabi (3b)

Jews (3d)

Abraham (3d)

Moses (3d)

Places

River Valley Civilizations (3a)

Mesopotamia (3a)

Fertile Crescent (3a)

Sumer (3a)

Egypt (3a)

India (3a)

Indus (3a)

China (3a)

Shang (3a)

Tigris & Euphrates Rivers (3a)

Nile River (3a)

Indus River (3a)

Huang He River (3a)

Jordan River

Nubia (3a)