Starting around 8000 B.C.E., the most extensive exploitation of agriculture occurred in river valleys, where there were both good soil and a dependable water supply regardless of the amount of rainfall. In the Near East, this happened in the Fertile Crescent, the region extending up the Nile Valley in Egypt, north through the Levant (Palestine, Lebanon, and Syria), and southeast into the Tigris and Euphrates river valleys of Mesopotamia. The richest soil was located in the deltas at the mouths of the rivers, but the deltas were swampy and subject to flooding. Before they could be farmed, they needed to be drained and irrigated, and flood-control systems had to be constructed. These activities required administrative organization and the ability to mobilize large pools of labor. In Mesopotamia, perhaps as a consequence of a period of drought, massive land-use projects were undertaken after 4000 B.C.E. to cultivate the rich delta soils of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. The land was so productive that many more people could be fed, and a great population explosion resulted. Villages grew into cities of tens of thousands of persons.

These large cities needed some form of centralized administration. Archaeological evidence indicates that the organization initially was provided by religion, for the largest building in each city was a massive temple honoring one of the Mesopotamian gods. In Uruk, for example, a 60-foot-long temple known as the White House was built before 3000 B.C.E. There were no other large public buildings, suggesting that the priests who were in charge of the temples also were responsible for governing the city and organizing people to work in the fields and on irrigation projects building and maintaining systems of ditches and dams.



The great concentration of wealth and resources in the river valleys brought with it further technological advances, such as wheeled vehicles, multicolored pottery and the pottery wheel, and the weaving of wool garments. Advances in metal technology just before 2000 B.C.E. resulted in the creation of bronze, a durable alloy (or mixture) of about 90 percent copper and 10 percent tin that provided a sharp cutting edge for weapons.

By 3000 B.C.E., the economies and administrations of Mesopotamia and Egypt had become so complex that some form of record keeping was needed. As a result, writing was invented. Once a society became literate, it passed from the period known as prehistory into the historic period. In fact, the word “history” comes from a Greek word meaning “narrative”—people could not provide a detailed permanent account of their past until they were able to write.

The totality of these developments resulted in the appearance, around 3000 B.C.E., of a new form of culture called civilization. The first civilizations had several defining characteristics. They had economies based on agriculture. They had cities that functioned as administrative centers and usually had large populations. They had different social classes, such as free persons and slaves. They had specialization of labor, that is, different people serving, for example, as rulers, priests, craft workers, merchants, soldiers, and farmers. And they had metal technology and a system of writing. As of 3000 B.C.E., civilization in these terms existed in Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, and China.

This first phase of civilization is called the Bronze Age because of the importance of metal technology. The most characteristic Near Eastern Bronze Age civilizations, those of Mesopotamia and Egypt, were located in river valleys, were based on the extensive exploitation of agriculture, and supported large populations. Bronze was a valuable commodity in these civilizations, the copper and tin needed for its manufacture did not exist in river valleys and had to be imported. Bronze was therefore used mainly for luxury items, such as jewelry or weapons, not for everyday domestic items, which were made from pottery, animal products, wood, and stone. In particular, bronze was not used for farming tools. Thus, early civilizations based on large-scale agriculture, such as those of Mesopotamia and Egypt, were feasible only in soils that could be worked by wooden plows pulled by people or draft animals such as oxen. Other Bronze Age civilizations, however, such as those that arose in the Levant and eastern Mediterranean took advantage of their location on communication routes to pursue economies based on trade.

从公元前8000年开始，河谷地区的农业得到了广泛的开发，那里既有肥沃的土壤，又有稳定的水源，无论降雨量多与少。在近东地区，肥沃月湾的农业迅速发展，该地区向埃及的尼罗河谷延伸，北经勒旺特（巴勒斯坦，黎巴嫩和叙利亚），东南方可延伸到美索不达米亚的底格里斯河和幼发拉底河的河谷。最肥沃的土壤位于河口的三角洲处，但三角洲沼泽繁茂，容易造成泛滥。在耕种之前，他们需要排水和灌溉，并且必须建造防洪系统。这些活动需要进行行政组织，并调动大量的劳动力。在美索不达米亚地区，也许是由于这里出现了一段干旱期，大规模的土地利用活动是在公元前4000年之后才开始进行的，底格里斯河和幼发拉底河三角洲培育了丰富的土壤。这片土地的生产力非常高，可以养活许多的人，并导致人口激增。村庄迅速发展为拥有数万人口的大城市。 这些大城市需要进行某种形式的集中管理。考古证据表明，该组织最初是由宗教发起的，因为每个城市中最大的建筑物是一座巨大的寺庙，来供奉一尊美索不达米亚神灵。例如在乌鲁克城，有一座长60英尺，被称之为白宫的庙宇，这是在公元前3000年建造的。这里没有其他大型公共建筑，这表明管理负责寺庙的祭司，也负责治理这座城市，组织人们在田间工作，负责建设灌溉工程，并维护沟渠和水坝系统。 河谷的财富和资源的高度集中引发了技术的进一步发展，如轮式车辆，彩色陶器和制陶轮，以及羊毛服饰的编织。公元前2000年前，冶金术的进步创造了青铜制品，这是一种耐用的合金（或混合物），约90％铜和10％锡构成，为武器提供了锋利的刀刃。 到了公元前3000年，美索不达米亚和埃及的经济和行政管理变得非常复杂，以致需要以某种形式进行记录。因而，人们发明了文字。一旦社会中存在了文字，社会就从被称为史前时代过渡到了历史时代。事实上，“历史”这个词来自一个希腊词，意思是“叙述” -直到人们发明了文字，人们才能够对自己的过去进行详细且永久性的记录。 发展带来的总体结果就是，公元前3000年左右出现了一种可以称之为文明的新型文化形式。最初的文明有几个明确的特征。他们的经济基于农业发展起来的。有专门作为行政中心的城市，通常这些城市拥有大量的人口。存在着不同的社会阶层，比如自由人和奴隶。有专门的分工，也就是说，不同的人承担不同的工作，比如统治者，牧师，手工艺工人，商人，士兵和农民等。他们有冶金术和文字体系。自公元前3000年起，美索不达米亚，埃及，印度和中国都已经创造了这些文明。 由于冶金术非常重要，因而文明的第一阶段可以称之为青铜器时代。最具特色的近东青铜时代文明，即美索不达米亚和埃及的文明，位于河谷地区，以农业的广泛开发为基础，并拥有大量的人口。青铜是这些文明中宝贵的商品，河谷地区没有其制造所需的铜和锡，因而必须要靠进口来获得。因此，青铜器主要用于制造珠宝或武器等奢侈品，而不是用于制造由陶器，动物制品，木材和石材制成的日用家居用品。特别是，青铜器不用于制作农具。因此，农业的迅速发展创造了早期的文明，如美索不达米亚文明和埃及文明，此类文明只能存在于由人或牛等役畜拉动的木制犁进行耕作的大地上。然而，青铜器时代的其他文明，如出现在黎凡特和地中海东部的文明，则利用其地域交通优势，来依靠贸易发展经济。