The ancient people of the Nile River Valley in Egypt began The ancient peoples of the ancient Egyptians developing their civilization around 3100 BCE. The invented their own system of writing known as hieroglyphics. Many of the material accomplishments of ancient Egyptian society centered religion. They performed elaborate procedures to assure that the dead were comfortable in the afterlife. They embalmed and dried the corpses in a process called mummification in order to preserve the bodies. They also gigantic burial tombs that they filed with clothing, food, furnishings, and jewelry. For deceased kings, they built elaborate pyramids, which required advanced engineering and thousands of workers. Eventually, the Egyptians developed an army and had a fleat ips at their disposal their kingdom and acquiring precious materials from all over the ancient world.
In the Indus River Valley, two cities developed, which the Indus people called Mohenjodaro and Harappa. By 2500 BCE, these cities together supported nearly 7o,ooo inhabitants, whose advanced system of agriculture was able to feed the large population. Indus cities were constructed primarily using bricks, and city streets were well planned in a rectangular grid pattern. The only traces of Indus writing were discovered on stone seals, which were engraved with animal and human forms as well as inscriptions that remain to be fully translated. The Indus people produced other crafts, including furniture, decorative jewelry, metal utensils, and toys, which they traded with other civilizations as distant as Mesopotamia. Around 1700 BCE, however, the Indus Valley civilization mysteriously disappeared.