came to China from Southwest Asia by means of Indo-European migrations, strengthened the Shang
war machine. Around 1000 BCE, the Shang also became familiar with ironworking. Shang rule was
further empowered by the need for central rule to oversee irrigation and flood-control projects along
the Huang He River.
During the Shang period, a number of walled cities arose. These urban areas served as cultural,
military, and economic centers. Elaborate palaces and tombs were built for Shang rulers.
Examples of early Chinese writing are apparent from a custom of divination using oracle bones .
When a person sought the advice of the gods on an issue, he or she would visit an oracle, who would
scratch the person’s question on an animal bone or shell, then heat it. When the oracle bone cracked
from the heat, the oracle read the cracks to determine the message from the gods.
Shang society was stratified, with classes of ruling elites, artisans, peasants, and slaves. Families
were patriarchal, and the veneration of ancestors was common. The matrilineal society that
characterized China before the rule of the Shang gradually eroded until women held positions
subordinate to those of men.
The Shang dynasty eventually succumbed to the Zhou about 1122 BCE. The Zhou claimed that they
overthrew the Shang by the will of the gods, which they termed the “mandate of heaven .” Under the
rule of the Zhou, the tradition of central authority that first took root under the Shang continued.
Mesoamerica and Andean South America
Civilizations in the Americas rose later than the river valley civilizations. The civilizations of
Mesoamerica and the early societies of the Andes Mountains of South America did not develop in the
valleys of major rivers, but rather in a region of smaller rivers and streams near ocean coastlines.
Furthermore, the people of the Americas did not know the use of the wheel, nor did they possess
large animals to serve as beasts of burden or work animals; the llama of the Andes Mountains was the
largest work animal in the Americas from the time of the earliest civilizations until the arrival of the
Europeans in the fifteenth century. Human muscle accomplished physical labor in the Americas.
Early Mesoamerican people such as the Olmecs, and later the Maya, constructed lavish pyramids
and temples. Like the inhabitants of the river valley civilizations, the people of the Americas were
polytheistic, worshipping many gods of nature. Society was stratified, with distinctions among the
elite classes of rulers and priests and those of commoners and slaves.
Early Mesoamerican societies provided numerous examples of cultural diffusion. In addition to
the transmission of the cultivation of maize, terraced pyramids were commonplace. Regional
inhabitants fashioned calendars, the most elaborate being that of the Mayan civilization. The Mayans
also had a ball game played on a court. The societies of Mesoamerica also shared the legend of
Quetzalcóatl , a god who would someday return to rule his people in peace.
In South America, geography and the lack of large pack animals largely prevented communication
between the Andean societies and those of Mesoamerica. The cultivation of maize did spread to the
Andes, however, while copper metallurgy traveled northward to Mesoamerica. About 900 BCE, the
Chavín civilization arose in the Andean highlands of present-day Peru. Characterized by a religion
that worshipped gods representing crocodiles, snakes, and jaguars, the Chavín built complex temples
to honor their gods. Their civilization was located along trade routes that connected western coastal
regions to the Amazon rainforest. For a few centuries, Chavín religious unity and trade connections
provided a degree of cultural identity to Andean peoples. The rugged terrain of the Andes, however,
prevented a central government from unifying the Andean states.