The civilized life that emerges at Sumer is shaped by two conflicting factors: the unpredictability of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which at any time can unleash devastating floods that wipe out entire peoples, and the extreme fecundity of the river valleys, caused by centuries-old deposits of soil.

Thus, while the river valleys of southern Mesopotamia attract migrations of neighboring peoples and make possible, for the first time in history, the growing of surplus food, the volatility of the rivers necessitates a form of collective management to protect the marshy, low-lying land from flooding.

As surplus production increases and as collective management becomes more advanced, a process of urbanization evolves and Sumerian civilization takes root.

Sumer is the ancient name for southern Mesopotamia.

Historians are divided on when the Sumerians arrived in the area, but they agree that the population of Sumer was a mixture of linguistic and ethnic groups that included the earlier inhabitants of the region.

Sumerian culture mixes foreign and local elements.

The Sumerians are highly innovative people who respond creatively to the challenges of the changeable Tigris and Euphrates rivers.

Many of the great Sumerian legacies, such as writing, irrigation, the wheel, astronomy, and literature, can be seen as adaptive responses to the great rivers.

The earliest appearance of the wagon dates to the middle of the fourth millennium BCE in Mesopotamia, (though some argue that the steppes of Central Asia, also home to early users, is the more likely birthplace of the wagon).

The earliest well-dated depiction of a wheeled vehicle (here a wagon—four wheels, two axles) is on the Bronocice pot, a circa 3500–3350 BCE clay pot excavated in a Funnelbeaker culture settlement in southern Poland.

Evidence of wheeled vehicles appears from the mid-fourth millennium BCE, near-simultaneously in Mesopotamia, the Northern Caucasus (Maykop culture) and Central Europe, so the question of which culture originally invented the wheeled vehicle remains unresolved and under debate.

People in the area of present southern Afghanistan evidently trade with Mesopotamia and Egypt, principally exporting lapis lazuli, a relatively rare semiprecious stone prized for its intense blue color.

It is not known who created the wheel and axle, which certainly was a conscious invention and not a technological accident, dating from about 3000 BCE.

The oldest wheel publicized by archaeologists was found in 2002 in Ljubljana.

Austrian experts at the time established that the wheel was between fifty-one hundred and fifty-three hundred and fifty years old and is therefore at least a century older than those found in Switzerland and southern Germany.

The wheel was made of ash and oak and had a radius of seventy centimeters.

The axle is one hundred and twenty centimeters long and made of oak.

A cuneiform script is in use in Sumer by 3200 BCE, by which time writing has spread from Mesopotamia to the Egyptians in the west and to the Elamites of southwestern Iran.

Sumerian cities during the Uruk period are probably theocratic and are most likely headed by a priest-king (ensi), assisted by a council of elders, including both men and women.

It is quite possible that the later Sumerian pantheon was modeled upon this political structure.

There is little evidence of institutionalized violence or professional soldiers during the Uruk period, and towns are generally not walled.

Uruk becomes the most urbanized city in the world during this period, surpassing fifty thousand inhabitants for the first time.

East Asia (2637 – 910 BCE): Rivers, Metals, and the Rise of States

Regional Overview

During the Bronze and Early Iron Ages, East Asia emerged as one of the world’s great civilizational heartlands.
From the Yellow and Yangtze valleys of China to the Korean Peninsula, Japan, Taiwan, and the highlands and steppe corridors of western China and Mongolia, societies transformed irrigation, metallurgy, and writing into the instruments of state power.
This was an age of hydraulic empires, bronze workshops, and expanding frontiers, when settled farmers, mobile herders, and maritime voyagers together forged the cultural matrix that would define East Asia’s classical eras.

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Geography and Environment

East Asia’s vast domain encompassed temperate plains, subtropical coasts, and alpine plateaus.
The Yellow River carved loess terraces ideal for millet and wheat, while the Yangtze Delta offered lush paddies for rice.
To the north and west lay the steppe and desert margins—Mongolia, Xinjiang, and Gansu—where grasslands merged into arid basins and mountain ranges.
Along the Pacific rim, the Korean and Japanese archipelagos formed the maritime frontier, linked to the mainland by currents and trade.
These diverse settings sustained a continuum from intensive wet-rice agriculture to high-pasture nomadism.

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Climate and Environmental Shifts

Holocene stability continued, though alternating floods, droughts, and cool spells along the Yellow River spurred engineering and migration.
Monsoon rains sustained southern rice fields, while drier cycles reshaped steppe pastures.
Environmental mastery—levees, canals, and paddy works—became the defining measure of political capacity.

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Societies and Political Developments

By the mid-third millennium BCE, the Longshan culture of northern China had introduced walled towns and social hierarchy, evolving into the Erlitou state (often equated with the semi-legendary Xia).
The Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BCE) institutionalized bronze ritual, written records, and urban administration; its successor, the early Zhou, extended feudal rule across the plains.
In the south, Liangzhu and its heirs built water-managed jade-working centers.
Across the steppe rim, pastoral chiefdoms traded horses and metalwork with the settled zones, while in Korea, the Mumun culture advanced agriculture and monumental dolmen building.
The Jōmon peoples of Japan refined a maritime-forest economy, their cord-marked ceramics among the world’s oldest continuous traditions.

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Economy and Technology

Agriculture anchored all development: millet and wheat in the north, rice in the south, supplemented by legumes, fruit trees, and silk production.
Bronze metallurgy reached unprecedented artistry under the Shang, producing ornate vessels, chariot fittings, and weapons.
Iron smelting appeared toward the close of this era, transforming farming and warfare.
Riverine and coastal transport expanded trade in jade, salt, ceramics, and textiles; the Yangtze Delta became a maritime hub connecting inland producers with Korea, Japan, and Taiwan.
In the west, the Hexi Corridor and Tarim oases formed early nodes of the Silk Road, moving jade eastward and horses west.

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Belief, Writing, and Art

Shang oracle-bone inscriptions inaugurated Chinese writing, binding religion and administration.
Bronze vessels embodied a theology of ancestor worship and royal mediation between Heaven and Earth.
In the south, jade rituals expressed a cosmology of water and fertility; in the steppe, stone stelae and kurgan rings honored sky gods and heroic ancestors.
Across Korea and Japan, dolmens, shell mounds, and figurines encoded lineage and territorial identity.
Art and ritual thus formed a shared grammar of power from the Pacific to the Altai.

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Movement and Interaction Corridors

East Asia’s civilizations grew through constant motion.
Caravan and river routes carried goods from the Tarim Basin to the Yellow Plain; maritime passages through the Bohai, East China, and Japan Seas linked coastal polities and disseminated crops, metals, and ideas.
These overlapping land and sea networks prefigured the trans-Eurasian and trans-Pacific exchange systems of later antiquity.

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Environmental Adaptation and Resilience

Flood-control levees, paddy irrigation, and terrace farming stabilized yields in volatile climates.
Nomadic mobility balanced the steppe’s shifting pastures, while coastal fishers diversified protein sources and trade goods.
In every zone, societies developed adaptive mosaics of agriculture, herding, and craft that cushioned environmental stress and underpinned political endurance.

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Regional Synthesis and Long-Term Significance

By 910 BCE, East Asia was a continent of interconnected yet distinctive worlds:

• In China, bronze states and written administration redefined governance.

• In Korea and Japan, agrarian and megalithic cultures matured along maritime arteries.

• In the western highlands and steppe, mobile herders linked China to Central Asia’s metallurgical frontier.

Together these traditions laid the foundations of the classical Chinese, Korean, and Japanese civilizations, and established East Asia’s lasting role as a pivot between the land empires of Eurasia and the oceanic cultures of the Pacific.

Maritime East Asia (2637 – 910 BCE): River Valleys, Coastal Plains, and Early States

Geographic and Environmental Context

Martitime East Asia—including eastern China, Taiwan, the Korean Peninsula, and Japan—was anchored by fertile river basins such as the Yellow River and Yangtze River, alongside extensive coastal plains and sheltered inland seas. The Bohai Gulf, East China Sea, and Sea of Japan created maritime corridors, while inland mountain ranges like the Qinling and Taebaek defined cultural and ecological boundaries. The climate ranged from temperate in the north to subtropical in the south, fostering diverse agricultural systems.

Agriculture and Early Civilizations

By the mid–third millennium BCE, the north’s Yellow River basin supported millet and wheat farming, while the Yangtze basin cultivated rice in sophisticated paddy systems. These agricultural foundations sustained some of East Asia’s earliest complex societies.

• In the Yellow River region, the late Longshan culture (c. 3000–1900 BCE) developed rammed-earth walled towns, elaborate pottery, and social stratification, laying the groundwork for the emergence of the Erlitou cultur e(c. 1900–1500 BCE), often identified with the semi-legendary Xia dynasty.

• The Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BCE) established one of the first fully documented states in East Asia, with urban centers, palatial compounds, and control over large territories through networks of allied and subordinate polities.

• In the Yangtze basin, complex cultures such as Liangzhu (before c. 2300 BCE) and its successors specialized in jade production, hydrological engineering, and ceremonial centers.

Technological and Cultural Developments

Bronze metallurgy flourished under the Shang, producing ritual vessels, weapons, and chariot fittings of extraordinary skill. Oracle bone script emerged as the earliest known form of Chinese writing, used for divination and state record-keeping. Jade carving traditions—especially in Liangzhu-descended communities—produced bi disks and cong tubes, objects central to ritual and elite identity.
In Korea, the Mumun period (c. 1500–300 BCE) introduced intensive agriculture, large-scale dolmens, and bronze weaponry. In Japan, the Jōmon culture maintained a hunter-fisher-gatherer economy with some plant cultivation, producing highly distinctive cord-marked pottery and shell middens that attest to rich coastal subsistence.

Maritime Networks and Exchange

Coastal and riverine transport tied together communities across Lower East Asia. The Yangtze Deltaacted as a hub for trade in jade, ceramics, and textiles, while the Shandong Peninsula facilitated contact between northern China and the Korean Peninsula. Early seafaring along the East China Sea connected mainland cultures with Taiwan and the Ryukyu Islands, moving nephrite jade, shell ornaments, and possibly agricultural crops.

Cultural and Symbolic Expressions

In the north, Shang ritual life centered on ancestor worship, with elaborate bronze vessels used in feasts and sacrifices. In the south, water-focused cosmologies and earth–sky symbolism infused jade artistry and ceremonial landscapes. Across Korea and Japan, monumental burial sites—dolmens in Korea, shell mounds in Japan—served as both funerary monuments and markers of social memory.

Environmental Adaptation and Resilience

Communities engineered river levees, paddy fields, and irrigation channels to manage seasonal flooding and droughts. Coastal fishing villages diversified diets with shellfish, seaweed, and marine fish, buffering agricultural shortfalls. In Korea and Japan, seasonal resource scheduling allowed balanced exploitation of marine and terrestrial environments.

Transition to the Early First Millennium BCE

By 910 BCE, Martitime East Asia was a region of dynamic cultural interaction and technological sophistication. In China, the Shang state’s political, economic, and ritual systems set precedents for later dynasties, while in Korea and Japan, evolving agricultural and maritime traditions created the foundations for complex societies that would integrate more fully into continental networks in the centuries ahead.

Maritime East Asia (2637 – 910 BCE): River Valleys, Coastal Plains, and Early States

Geographic and Environmental Context

Martitime East Asia—including eastern China, Taiwan, the Korean Peninsula, and Japan—was anchored by fertile river basins such as the Yellow River and Yangtze River, alongside extensive coastal plains and sheltered inland seas. The Bohai Gulf, East China Sea, and Sea of Japan created maritime corridors, while inland mountain ranges like the Qinling and Taebaek defined cultural and ecological boundaries. The climate ranged from temperate in the north to subtropical in the south, fostering diverse agricultural systems.

Agriculture and Early Civilizations

By the mid–third millennium BCE, the north’s Yellow River basin supported millet and wheat farming, while the Yangtze basin cultivated rice in sophisticated paddy systems. These agricultural foundations sustained some of East Asia’s earliest complex societies.

• In the Yellow River region, the late Longshan culture (c. 3000–1900 BCE) developed rammed-earth walled towns, elaborate pottery, and social stratification, laying the groundwork for the emergence of the Erlitou cultur e(c. 1900–1500 BCE), often identified with the semi-legendary Xia dynasty.

• The Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BCE) established one of the first fully documented states in East Asia, with urban centers, palatial compounds, and control over large territories through networks of allied and subordinate polities.

• In the Yangtze basin, complex cultures such as Liangzhu (before c. 2300 BCE) and its successors specialized in jade production, hydrological engineering, and ceremonial centers.

Technological and Cultural Developments

Bronze metallurgy flourished under the Shang, producing ritual vessels, weapons, and chariot fittings of extraordinary skill. Oracle bone script emerged as the earliest known form of Chinese writing, used for divination and state record-keeping. Jade carving traditions—especially in Liangzhu-descended communities—produced bi disks and cong tubes, objects central to ritual and elite identity.
In Korea, the Mumun period (c. 1500–300 BCE) introduced intensive agriculture, large-scale dolmens, and bronze weaponry. In Japan, the Jōmon culture maintained a hunter-fisher-gatherer economy with some plant cultivation, producing highly distinctive cord-marked pottery and shell middens that attest to rich coastal subsistence.

Maritime Networks and Exchange

Coastal and riverine transport tied together communities across Lower East Asia. The Yangtze Deltaacted as a hub for trade in jade, ceramics, and textiles, while the Shandong Peninsula facilitated contact between northern China and the Korean Peninsula. Early seafaring along the East China Sea connected mainland cultures with Taiwan and the Ryukyu Islands, moving nephrite jade, shell ornaments, and possibly agricultural crops.

Cultural and Symbolic Expressions

In the north, Shang ritual life centered on ancestor worship, with elaborate bronze vessels used in feasts and sacrifices. In the south, water-focused cosmologies and earth–sky symbolism infused jade artistry and ceremonial landscapes. Across Korea and Japan, monumental burial sites—dolmens in Korea, shell mounds in Japan—served as both funerary monuments and markers of social memory.

Environmental Adaptation and Resilience

Communities engineered river levees, paddy fields, and irrigation channels to manage seasonal flooding and droughts. Coastal fishing villages diversified diets with shellfish, seaweed, and marine fish, buffering agricultural shortfalls. In Korea and Japan, seasonal resource scheduling allowed balanced exploitation of marine and terrestrial environments.

Transition to the Early First Millennium BCE

By 910 BCE, Martitime East Asia was a region of dynamic cultural interaction and technological sophistication. In China, the Shang state’s political, economic, and ritual systems set precedents for later dynasties, while in Korea and Japan, evolving agricultural and maritime traditions created the foundations for complex societies that would integrate more fully into continental networks in the centuries ahead.