Unit 1 Writing Assignment – Origins of Civilizations

 

Answer one of the following two questions in 3 to 4 paragraphs and submit on the FORM below.  Your instructor will evaluate your submission and attach some elements of an excellent [i.e. 4.0] response.  For this assignment, as for the next (second) one, your instructor will be assigning you one of three “grades” which will not count towards your course grade, but which will give you a good idea of how well you met your instructor’s expectations:  a “+” for a very good response, a “*” for an OK response, and a “-“ for a response that did not meet your instructor’s expectations.

 

1.  In what areas of the world did systematic agriculture develop during the Neolithic Age?  Why do historians think it developed first where it did, and how did this development affect the lives of men and women? 

2. What effects did geography have on the civilizations that arose in Mesopotamia and Egypt?