CHAPTER LESSON 2C: Ancient Civilization

1 (Chinese, Persian, and Indus-Hindu)

ENGAGE : Below are contributions of some ancient civilizations. Guess the names of these contributions,
its use, and in which civilization it belongs to.

Did you know that China was the first country who used paper money? The first type of paper
money was called jiaozi (Chinese: 交子, Pinyin:/jyaoww dzrr/), printed in 1023 during the
Northern Song dynasty, in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province
(https://www.chinahighlights.com/).

CHINESE CIVILIZATION
Ancient China is also known as middle kingdom. Chinese civilization is considered to be the oldest
civilization in Asia. China is a vast country with great river systems called the Yellow River to the north and
the Yangtze to the south. These regions were the cradle of civilization in China. The fertile soil allowed the
ancient Chinese to grow their crops, mainly millet and rice. During the ancient period, China is ruled in
dynasties, each having its own contribution.

CONTRIBUTIONS
WOODBLOCK PRINTING
In this method of printing, Chinese characters were
engraved on a wooden plate then were stamped on a paper.
This was then improved by carving individual characters on
pieces of clay and then hardened them with fire. These movable
type pieces were later glued to an iron plate to print a page and
then broken up and redistributed for another page.
 COMPASS “SI NAN”
The compass has a ladle shaped lodestone placed on a
metal plate. The lodestone aligns itself to the north-south direction. It
was originally used of feng shui then it was used for navigating ships.

GUNPOWDER
This was accidentally discovered when an alchemist tried to
make a potion to gain human immortality. The gunpowder is made
of sulfur, charcoal, and saltpeter. This was used in fireworks during
important celebrations. Furthermore, it was used in gunpowder-propelled weapons to attack at a distance.

TEA PRODUCTION
It is believed that tea was accidentally discovered by an emperor when dried leaves went into his
boiling pot of water. He drank it and tasted good. Tea production was developed when an unknown
inventor created a machine that was able to shred tea leaves into strips. This
enabled tea the increase of production and the trade with other nations.

MECHANICAL CLOCK
This clock is considered to be the world’s first mechanical clock. This
clock is operated by dripping water that powered a wheel that made one full
revolution in 24 hours. An iron and bronze system of wheels, shafts, hooks, pins,
locks, and interconnected rods made the clock work. This system caused the
automatic chiming of a bell on the hour and the beating of a drum every
quarter hour.

ACUPUNCTURE
Acupuncture is a medical technique that uses fine needles to relieve
pain, cure disease, and improve general health. Originally, pointed stones
were used then followed by slivers of animal bones until fine bamboo needles were used.

SILK PRODUCTION
Silk is naturally produced by silk worms but it was the Chinese who developed the technology to
harvest silk and process it to produce paper and clothing. Silk production resulted in the creation of product
trade. The silk trade opened China to the outside countries, making way for cultural, economic, and
scientific exchanges.

Did you know that the ancient Persian capital city of Persepolis, situated in southern Iran, ranks
among the world’s greatest archeological sites? It was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site
in 1979. The Achaemenian palaces of Persepolis were built upon massive terraces. They were
decorated with ornamental facades that included the long rock relief carvings for which the
ancient Persians were famous (https://www.history.com/).

PERSIA
Ancient Persia, roughly modern-day Iran, established its first empire under Cyrus the Great. Followed
by his son, Darius the Great was able to the stretch the Persian Empire from Europe’s Balkan Peninsula—in
parts of what is present day Bulgaria, Romania, and Ukraine—to the Indus River Valley in northwest India
and south to Egypt. With the accomplishment of these two leaders, Persia became the first global empire
and the leading nation during their time.
The Persians were the first people to establish regular routes of communication between three
continents—Africa, Asia and Europe. They built many new roads and developed the world’s first postal
service.
 CONTRIBUTIONS
QANAT
This is the water supply system of ancient Persia. A gently sloping underground channel which can
extend to several kilometers carries water from an aquifer or water well to houses and fields. It is used for
the irrigation of crops and for drinking water.
YAKHCHAL
It literally means ice pit (yakh-ice, chal- pit). This ancient
refrigerator, though more of a cooler, is built in deserts of Persia. A
containment area is dug then a dome made of water-resistant mortar
(sarooj) will be erected. It is made cool either by transporting ice from
nearby mountains in it or by allowing water to pass using underground
water channels (qanat). Yakhchal is used to store and preserve food.

SULFURIC ACID
It was discovered by Abu Bakr Muhammad Ibn Jakarta al-Razi. Its use during ancient times is still
unknown, but this discovery is one of the bases of the formation of chemical engineering in the modern
field of chemistry. At present, sulfuric acid is used in cleaning agents,
fertilizers and detergents.

ANIMATION
Earthenware goblet and bowl with sequential drawings were found
in a burial site in Iran. Giving the bowl a spin, one would see a goat leaping
to snatch leaves from a tree. (You can check the animation on
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kO_GqsvLRCc)

POSTAL SERVICE
Mails are carried by messengers (called as chapaar) on horseback
and once they reach a station, messengers stop to pass their packets of mail to another messenger or to
change their horses. These enabled faster delivery of mails.

Did you know that during the Indus Valley Civilization, they used seals as an identifier? They
were engraved with words written in their own language. The seals consist of a lot of creatures,
animals, people, or perhaps even gods. The most famous among them is the “Pashupati seal”,
where a three headed man with buffalo horn on his middle head sits between a tiger and a
bull (https://detechter.com/).

INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION

The Indus Valley Civilization or also known as Harappan Civilization existed around 3300 B.C.E. until
2600 B.C.E. along the Indus river. At present, the area occupied by this civilization extends along
Afghanistan, Pakistan and Northwest India. Harrapans were able to develop the first accurate system of
standardized weights and measures, some as accurate as to 1.6 mm.
In the field of Mathematics, the Indus Valley civilization gave much contribution. Concepts of
negative and positive quantities, square root and cube root, quadratic equation, implications of zero and
infinity, and Fibonacci were from ancient and classical Hindus. In 1800 BCE, Indus Valley Civilization started
to decline. Most scholars believe that the collapse of the civilization is due to climate change.
Name:_________________________________________________________
Program, Yr., and Section:________________________________

ACTIVITY 5: Answer the following. Detach the worksheet once finished.

Choose one among the Ancient Chinese, Persian, and Indus Valley Civilization. Identify one
of their inventions/ contributions (except for the ones in this module) then draw it. Explain in
your own words how the invention/ contribution work. Also, identify its uses and purpose.
Write in not more than 100 words.