Science, Technology and Society in the Bronze Age (3300-1200 BCE)By: R.J. Forbes

Near East -> climate change -> end of the last Ice Age (from about 60,000-10,000 B.C.)

Population shifted: Deserts (once fertile) -> river valleys.

Urban civilizations, dependent on agriculture and development of metallurgy around 3000 B.C began to emerge.

1) Egypt in the valleys of the Nile

2) Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) in the Twin Rivers, Euphrates and Tigris,

3) East in the Indus River Valley (India)

4) Yellow River (China).

Due to differences in geographical environment they developed different technologies and with these, each developed unique political and social systems.

Belief

Mesopotamia area - pessimistic, and in great fear of demons and evil spirits

Egyptians - concerned with the good things in life contrary to what we believed that they’re concerned with death and the after-life (as some Greek authors of Classical antiquity would mislead us into believing).

-wanted to enjoy things beyond the grave, but without such unpleasant things as taxes and manual labor.

THE RISE OF MESOPOTAMIA

Sumerians - earliest settlers (Twin Rivers) about 3000 B.C.

- no central authority and consisted only of city-states (of some 8000 to 12,000 inhabitants), each striving to dominate the others in order to possess fertile land.

- believed that their land belong certain gods or goddesses, whom had appointed his chief priest to be his representative and shepherd of his people.

- a temple economy, in which the harvest of the land and all the products of the city were delivered to the temple storehouses, whence the priests distributed them to feed and clothe the citizens.

THE RISE OF EGYPT

Egypt - inhabited by independent tribes having "water-province," a union of irrigation and drainage units.

- United by Pharaohs as a whole and ruled by governors in each provinces of the land.

LEARNING

Temple School – only form of education in both civilizations where the elite groups of clerks, officials, and priests learned to read and write -> Scribes - initiated into various fields of knowledge

o taught the "order of things as established by the gods in the beginning," and

restricted to this elite group mentioned.

“Science and technology developed along separate lines because craftsmen had little contact with the learned people from temple schools”

Mathematics - simple computations involving the conversion of standard measures or weights and calculations of areas and volumes of figures and bodies

ROLE OF THE CRAFTSMEN

Craftsmen processed -> raw materials and products -> goods in return receive payments/tributes

Household duties - Crafts like pottery-making and the manufacture of textiles were often household duties

Specialized Craftsmen -specialized craftsmen worked such things as glass, metals, stone, wood, leather, oils and fats, or luxury foods.

WATER WORKS FOR IRRIGATION

Water supply, irrigation, and drainage dominated

Surplus of food – used to feed the town.

To control inundation of the river -> Dikes, canals, and ditches were invented by cooperation of every people in the civilization

Here the need for a person in leading and overseeing the building of the dike paved the way to the emergence of the so called leader.

Egypt - "water-houses" in each province (irrigation unit) in order to plan and organize the "cutting of the dikes" (to direct the annual inundation of the fields by the rising Nile) and the constant repair work on both the canals and dikes. They also built Nilometers (graduated wells connected with the river) to measure the rise of the Nile.

Mesopotamia- divided among a number of city-states, these  competed  for sufficient water to flood their  lands,  and each  city  had  its own irrigation board and properly trained officials and experienced farmer-supervisors surveyed the work on the irrigation system.

PROCESSING OF RAW MATERIALS

The processing of foodstuffs produced in the irrigated gardens and farms involved crushing, pressing, and grinding operations for which several devices were invented.

Fermentation was practiced.

TRANSPORTATION

- Mode of transportation of products and materials is mainly water.

- wheeled vehicles had been used but have wheels that were solid and rimmed with nails or strips of leather

- oxen-drawn chariot -> horse-drawn war chariot

- travel in water were mostly done through canoes and rafts made of bundles of reeds, which evolved into larger boats.

- The discovery of sail was the first breakthrough in utilizing inanimate force to do an activity like traveling the vast seas

THE BUILDING ARTS

Scarcity of timber was present so brick and stone was utilized

Mesopotamia: villages were made of clay -> sun-dried bricks and Egypt, so brick and stone were the primary building materials. e.g. Tower of Babel, ziggurat, Hanging Garden of Babylon

Egypt: reed bundles/mud-bricks -> sun-dried bricks

The construction of the pyramid was a triumph of human organization, rather than of machines and tools.

METALLURGY

- Complex technique involving the choice of proper ores, fuel, and method of producing air blast, tools, furnace, and crucibles

- At an early stage man was always curious of oddly shaped and colored stones for accessories and ornaments for the body -> discovery of native metals like native metals as copper, gold, silver, and meteoric iron.

- copper mixed with tin led to the production of fined copper or bronze (alloy), which was stronger and possessed other special properties which made tools and weapons superior to the older devices fashioned of stone and wood.

- Due to scarcity of tin that was used for the production of bronze, the latter became known as “metals for aristocracy” whereas iron is said to be "the democratic metal."

- Specialization: a) Miner - prospected and mined, b) Metallurgist – smelted the metal from the ore and then refined and alloyed the metals, c) Blacksmith – produced common objects as pots, pans, and ordinary tools, d)Coppersmith - who produced smaller objects, art objects

TEXTILES

Mesopotamia - typical wool-producing country of antiquity.

Spinning and weaving of wool was originally a female occupation, even in the large temple workshops, but by 2000 B.C. male weavers are mentioned, together with fullers, bleachers, and dyers.

Plucked wool - Knife -> shears

Available textiles

1) Wool2) Linen3) Cotton4) Silk

Other Processes

a. Dyeingb. Bleaching

OTHER CRAFTS

1) Pottery and ceramics (Potter’s wheel)2) Metallurgy and glass-making (glazes of Pottery)3) They were first of all religious organizations devoted to the worship of the patron-god.

Hence technical operations were still accompanied by religious rites and ceremonies (propitiatory offerings, ritual purity, and prayers).

4) Glass making –makers believed that they were hastening the processes which would be accomplished by nature led by the gods anyway.

THE CONDITIONS OF TECHNOLOGY

Geography – dependent on river valleys; irrigation dikes, reservoirs

1) Irrigation canals, and ditches2) Availability of natural resources

Political Development and Human Organization - development of autocratic control for supervising human cooperation necessary to build and maintain the devices needed to control the inundation of the water which is needed for agricultural subsistence

Religion – affected the things the ancient people built and innovated; Monumental pyramids were constructed

Social Classes:

1) Pharaoh – god-like, don’t need to work and considered sacred2) Workers – had to work to make the life of the Pharaoh a comfortable one and offer

everything for the good of the Pharaoh