Once food production was an established adaptation for human communities, it prepared the way for rapid advances in civilization. Rainfall agriculture, as important as it was for initiating the growth of civilization, did come with its own inherent limitations. These limitations would inhibit further advances until the emergence of riverine civilizations made possible a great leap forward. With this in mind, I would like you to address the following considerations:
a. What were the common material pre-conditions that made this leap possible?
b. What did these earliest societies contribute to human civilization?
c. Although these societies were all built on a common infrastructure, they still
managed to create very distinctive cultures and different ways of life. How were the
Sumerian city-states different from both Egypt and China (the Shang Dynasty) in the
way in which they tied together religion, writing system, and forms of government?
