Unit 3: Early Agrarian Societies
6000 BCE to 100 CE
Teacher Resources
Unit 3 Guide
Everything you need to know about Unit 3.
Unit 3 Vocab Guide
Key Unit 3 vocabulary words.
Reading Overview
Reading strategies to help students dig into a variety of texts.
Historical Thinking Skills Guide
Develop the skills needed to analyze history and think like a historian.
Assessment Guide
Learn about OER Project’s approach to assessment.
How did complex societies develop and how did they impact humans inside and outside these communities?
The Agricultural Revolution set the stage for the development of complex societies. Farming villages developed into the first cities, states, and empires. Local trade networks expanded, linking distant societies together. The world would never be the same.
Lesson 3.1
Cities, Societies, and Empires
How did complex societies develop and how did they impact humans inside and outside these communities?
Early Exchange Networks
Foraging societies, farming villages, and ancient cities were connected through networks of exchange. These connections led to the movement of goods, ideas, and people. Sometimes, they led to war.
Lesson 3.2
Foragers and Village Networks
How did early villages depend on other villages, foragers, and pastoralists?
Lesson 3.3
Ancient Trade Networks
Why were Afro-Eurasian trade networks so much longer and denser than those in other parts of the world?
Cities, States, and Empires
Once the ability to farm and store food made cities possible, ancient societies created rules to live by, authorities to follow or worship, and ways to organize society that began to place people into hierarchies. These were the first states.
Lesson 3.4
The First Cities, States, and Empires
How did the formation of cities, states, and empires change life for the people who lived in and around them?
Lesson 3.5
Early Agrarian Societies Jigsaw
Why did large agrarian states arise in some places but not others?
Lesson 3.6
Unit 3 Writing Wrap Up
How did complex societies develop and how did they impact humans inside and outside these communities?