Question

Which of these is a characteristic of a civilization? (4 points)

cities
use of resources
society of equals
public transportation

Answer 1

A i guess

Answer 2

lol You took the words right out of my mouth.
So D is definetly out

Answer 3

umm so D?

Answer 4

And B is also

Answer 5

So then It's either A or C

Answer 6

I'm leaning towards C

Answer 7

Hope you get it right!

Answer 8

ok i dont knownow

Answer 9

So the answer is C

Answer 10

Thx for the medal

Answer 11

It's B

Answer 12

They don't necessarily have to have different cities, but they use resources to obtain food, etc. and also to have thier writing system

public transportation is something rel new

And what @77777jeannie77777 said? C'mon, in egypt there were slaves who would be lucky to have one piece of gold and then you had pharohs that couldn't get enough

Answer 13

I started to answer this hours ago, but got interrupted at work several times. I'll finish my answer, but it will be more than a little late.

Just using resources does not make a civilization. People use resources whenever they eat or drink. Now, public administration of these resources...

You start with a society, which is just people living together, and then add advancements to it. Depending on who you talk to, there are different minimum requirements for those advancements. A centralized government (as opposed to random, local leaders/warlords), Organized religion (as opposed to cults), labor specialization (blacksmiths vs. everyone tries to do everything), social classes (unequal distribution of power), government made infrastructure (people do not make their own roads, the government does, and public transportation does qualify as this), the arts (when you have excess that allows paining, music, etc. to have value rather than everything being focused on survival), system of writing, and technology.

As I said, there is some variance. Sometimes things like art, architecture, and infrastructure get summed together as culture. Other people have broken out infrastructure into things like a stable food supply, trade routes, etc. So the list is not exactly set in stone. However, in all cases the objective is to show an organized group of people that are not just a loose collective.

They are under a singular form of government, have shared values, have excesses that become expressed, and their society shows this collective worth.

cities \(\leftarrow\) Use of the plural is not needed. In Ancient Greece there were many cities that were independent civilizations. They did not follow a central Greek ruler. They were separate civilizations so Sparta was a separate one from Athens. However, there is no clear definition of a city. It does not mean there is a uniform organization, public works, or legal systems. Some cities have sprung up because it is where the water or gold was, but without any central government or laws.

use of resources \(\leftarrow\) As I said before, this is ambiguous. An organized use of resources could be called an indication of civilization, like how they have done water shares to divvy up the use of a river. But the instant you remove the word organized... you use resources if you eat. Does that instantly make you a member of a civilization? No.

society of equals \(\leftarrow\) As it was pointed out, there have been slaves in civilizations. Also, it contradicts the social classes.

public transportation \(\leftarrow\) On this list, this is the only thing I see that is "a characteristic of a civilization" because you must have a civilization before you can have public transport. Public roads, a central government, excesses that are used for arts, and many others would also qualify. However, of the things in this list, none of the others has that sort of differentiation.