Unit 3: Early Agrarian Societies

6000 BCE to 100 CE

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.