COMPARING THE INDUS VALLEY, SUMERIAN, AND THE OLMEC CIVILIZATIONS

The Indus Valley Civilization

The Indus valley is a bronze age civilization in the northwestern region of South Asia at around 25,00 -1700 BCE (Britannica, 2021 The beginning of the civilization is attributed to the Indus river used by the locals for agriculture while adopting Mesopotamia irrigation techniques. The civilization gradually extended into three phases: the early civilization phase, the middle civilization phase, and the late civilization phase from 3300-1300 BCE (Lumen, 2021).

The Indus valley civilization had a hierarchical social culture whereby the people revered gods. The supremacy of society members followed a hierarchy of kings and warriors, merchants and landowners, peasants and servants, and the outcasts. According to history, the Indus valley civilization’s cultural civilization constituted of developments of new handicraft products, carnelian products, metallurgy with lead, bronze, tin, and seal carving. Kings ruled the Indus valley civilization and ensured the economic thrive of the civilization. ). The Indus valley civilization is the earliest civilization in India that began along the Indus valley rives, and agriculture was their main economic activity (Malik, 2020). Researchers argue that the Indus valley civilization was peaceful since archeologists excavated very few valley weapons (UShistory.org, 2020).

The Sumerian Civilization.

The Sumerian civilization flourished in the middle and southern parts of Mesopotamia from 4000-1800 BCE (Zhiyu Gao, 2016). In ancient Mesopotamia, the Sumerian civilization took place in present-day Iraq, and historians consider it the civilization’s procedure.

Sumerian communities lived around the temple in an organized hierarchical manner. Society categorized the people into upper-class, middle-class, and lower-class members of society. The hierarchy determined the closeness of one’s premises from the temple, with the upper class living in the city’s middle (near the temple). Cultures of the Sumerian civilization included writing, an intelligent governance system, wheeled vehicles, building bricks dried under the sun, and irrigation. The Sumerian civilization was dependent on agriculture which contributed to its enormous economic and political development. Consequently, these developments increased attacks that necessitated the installation of a good army. The leaders selected to lead the troops in wars eventually became kings after successfully defeating the raiders.

The Olmec Civilization.

The Olmec civilization took place in the present-day states of Veracruz and Tabasco in Mexico before 1500 BCE. They settled along the tropical coastal region of Mexico and laid the foundation for subsequent American civilizations. The success of agriculture in the city contributed to its immense political, economic and social growth. Researchers speculate that the decline of the Olmecs was sharply due to climate changes.

Although not much is known about the Olmecs social structure, historians believe the Olmecs society constitutes the elite population and the commoners. The elites and the wealthy held the community’s governing powers as the Olmecs did not have a stipulated government structure. The Olmec cultural activity included the carving of volcanic stones into different human or animal body forms. Agriculture was crucial for the growth and development of the Olmec civilization, and it was their main economic activity. They had an organized military group that was efficiently trained and had sufficient weaponry (Donavan, 2021).

References.

Britannica. (2021). Indus civilization | History, Location, Map, Art, & Facts | In Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Indus-civilization

301. Donavan, (2021). Early Meso-American Armies. Massey.ac.nz. https://www.massey.ac.nz/~bjmoyle/dbm/bm/p301.htm

Lumen, (2011). The Indus River Valley Civilizations | Boundless World History. Lumenlearning.com. https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-worldhistory/chapter/the-indus-river-valley-civilizations/

Runoko Rashidi. (2016). Ivan Van Sertima and the Olmec world: a photo essay. Journal of Pan African Studies, 9(4), 364–373. https://go.gale.com/ps/anonymous?id=GALE%7CA461364171&sid=googleScholar&v=2.1&it=r&linkaccess=abs&issn=08886601&p=AONE&sw=w

ushistory.org, (2020). Early Civilization in the Indus Valley. Ushistory.org. https://www.ushistory.org/civ/8a.asp

Zhiyu Gao. (2016). On the Characteristics of Sumerian Civilization. International Journal of Social Science and Education Research, 4(1), 205–211. https://doi.org/10.6918/IJOSSER.202101_4(1).0032

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