Mesopotamia and the Indus River Valley

We had a fun time yesterday!  The kids discussed the differences that agriculture and living in cities would have on people's way of life as apposed to a nomadic one.  They came up with many important differences!

We looked at a map of the world c.2500 BC and the major river valley civilizations in Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Indus River Valley and China.  The kids glued or wrote the names of some important crops that were domesticated in those regions.  We also got to find out what millet and emmer are!   Here is a link to the interactive map I used for that:

Time Maps

The kids and I then honed in on Mesopotamia and the Indus River Valley.  We learned about Sargon, who created the first empire in Sumer and Akkad.  We also talked about Hammurabi and his code of law - which had good rules, but very harsh punishments that may seem unfair to us today.  

I also let the kids listen to the B52's song, Mesopotamia.  A hit for sure! ;)

Mesopotamia by the B52s

Everyone usually thinks the Romans came up with aquaducts, sewage systems, and bath houses, but we learned that the Indus River Valley Civilization had this technology over a thousand years before Rome existed!  Mohenjo-Dara was a huge complex city.  Houses there had their own private wells, bathrooms, and sewage drainage that kept the city clean.  It is also interesting that archaeologists have found very few weapons in its ruins, which suggest that they lived in a peaceful place and time.  We ended the lesson by playing the ancient game of Chaupar or Pagade (which in English is Parcheesi).  If your child would like to find out more about these amazing people who's history was forgotten for thousands of years, check out the BBC Indus website from the previous post.  

Thank you Michael for a great Manners lesson about how to properly introduce yourself and greet people!

Thank you Evan for finding out about Otzi the Iceman for us!

Thank you Lyla for telling us about Sargon the Akkadian!

Some of us have a field trip on October 14th, so our next History lesson will be on October 28th and we'll learn about early Egypt and China.  So be ready to tell about your person if they're Egyptian!