Chapter One

Prehistory – 2500 B.C.E.

► Prehistory – time before writing (5,000 yrs ago) ► Artifacts –  Remains such as tools, weapons, jewelry…(man made objects) ► Culture –  Anthropologists study a people life, relationships) ’ s unique way of life (customs, family

Progress During the Stone Ages

► Paleolithic Age (Old Stone Age)   2.5 million – 8,000 B.C.E.

Oldest stone chopping tool ► Neolithic Age (New Stone Age)   8,000 – 3,000 B.C.E.

Polished stone tools , crops, raised animals (wheat, barley, cattle, sheep, pigs)

Open your book to page 8!

► ► ► ► ► ► ► We will read the section “Progress during the Old Stone Age” together Then you will re-read the same section to yourself (looking for the “main points”) Together with a partner, you will write down the 5 words that help define the main idea (one word per post-it!) Each partner-pair will put the post-its on the white board As a class, we will se how many words match Each person will complete the “Critical Thinking” workshet We will go over the answers together

What do you think culture was like?

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Survival

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Nomads:

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People who wander from place to place (as opposed to…)

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Hunter-Gatherers

► Hunting what? Gathering what?

What happened? What changed?

► Archaeologists believe early humans came out of eastern Africa ► Transition to civilization occurred for 3 main reasons    1 – Fire 2 – Domestication of plants 3 – Domestication of animals (taming) ► People can now settle and grow/raise their own food – this event is called…

► Neolithic Revolution –   AKA – the agricultural revolution, i.e. – farming Slash-and-burn farming ► Farming develops across the world  Africa (the Nile), China (the Huang He ), Mexico and Central America, Peru (the central Andes) ► Farming leads to increase in population  Civilization develops…

► What defines a civilization???

  Five main characteristics of a civilization 1 – advanced cities (trade)      2 – specialized workers (farmers, artisans) 3 – complex institutions (government, religion, economy) 4 – record keeping (scribes, taxes, laws) 5 – advanced technology ► Cuneiform  First writing – Began in Sumer 3,000 B.C.

► Bronze Age – began in Sumer 3,000 B.C.

 People used bronze instead of stone!

► Ur  One of the earliest cities – 30,000 people ► Barter  Trading of goods and services without money ► Ziggurat  Pyramid-shaped monument, means “ mountain of god ”