Civilization is about taming raw human nature. That taming comes about through the development of art, science, and culture—along with a political system that allows people to coexist peacefully. In a certain sense, civilization is the sum of all these parts: a culture, a language, an architecture, and a political system. But there is a problem with this definition: it implies that there is some one-size-fits-all path to civilization, that once you reach a high enough level of culture and science, you will automatically find peace and prosperity.
In popular usage, the word “civilization” is used in a more subjective way, to describe a particular culture or society as being more advanced or civilized than other societies. This definition of civilization is troublesome for archeologists and anthropologists, as it makes the assumption that “civilization” represents progress. In the nineteenth century, this sense of civilization became popular with anthropologists, but it has since been replaced by value-free ways to categorize human societies.
The most common definition of civilization involves cities, which are the focal point of a society and allow for large populations to coexist. The first civilizations to develop cities were those that were able to produce a surplus of food that allowed for the division of labor. This allowed for the development of trade, which is essential to any kind of civilization. Cities are also often associated with the development of religion and politics.
Despite this diversity in the definition of civilization, there are many characteristics that seem to be present across all early civilizations. They tend to have complex societies that include a state-based decision making apparatus, written communication, standardized measurement, money and currency systems, laws, metallurgy, agriculture, professional arts, architecture, and organized religion. They also typically have a well-defined division of labor, urban centers that can support large numbers of people, and a hierarchical social structure.
Some societies, such as the Inca Empire of ancient Peru in the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries CE, struggle with the concept of civilization because they never developed a writing system. However, most historians would agree that the Inca were a civilization.
These traits are not universal, but they have been present in all early civilizations that have been studied, from Mesopotamia and the Fertile Crescent to China and the Indus Valley. Some of these civilizations have developed powerful states and armies, but most have not. In addition, the development of a civilization has not always been accompanied by progress in technology and the quality of life for everyone in that society. This is why it is important to distinguish between technological progress and the development of a civilization. The invention of machines can bring civilization to millions of people that had not had access to it before, but the development of a civilization does not necessarily come with the invention of steam engines or electricity. In fact, there are many civilizations today that do not have any of these modern conveniences.