mark out lands annually after the Nile had flooded. The 

 Egyptians were irrigating the Nile valley, and using the 

 Solar Year, prior to 2,000 B.C. during the "Old Kingdom" 

 of Egypt. The Pyramids were essentially tombs for the 

 kings, and the effort put into their construction reached 

 a considerable portion of the total national effort at its 

 highest. The dead were embalmed to preserve them, on the 

 assumption that they might attain another life after physi- 

 cal death — an assumption basic to many religions. In 

 the period of the Egyptian "Middle Kingdom" (starting 

 about 2,000 B.C.), the form of picture writing called hiero- 

 glyphics, written on papyrus reed, was invented. This 

 made possible a record of historical events and trade 

 transactions. Architecture was further developed in the 

 "New Kingdom" (beginning about 1600 B.C.), leading to 

 the erection of the Temples at Thebes. And although the 

 Egyptians were conquered by the militarily superior As- 

 syrians about 900 B.C., architecture, science and medicine 

 continued to flourish and were later advanced still further 

 by the Greeks. 



The great civilization of China, the oldest of the living 

 civilizations, began before 2000 B.C. with the "Sage Kings" 

 who developed agriculture, river use, and medicine. About 

 1800 B.C. the ancient Chinese had formed a lunar calendar 

 — used until the present century — and had begun to 

 record their history in their complicated system of char- 

 acters — an idealized form of picture writing. During 

 the period of the Shang Dynasty (c. 1700 B.C. to c. 1000 

 B.C.), the original Yellow River peoples spread to the 

 north and south, and first made silk and used bronz in 

 making vessels. In the next period, the Chou Dynasty (c. 

 1000 B.C. to c. 400 B.C.), the Chinese rule reached to 

 the Yangtze River, and irrigation works were constucted. 



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