Transcript Chapter One

Human Prehistory
To
Early Civilizations
Paleolithic (Old Stone) Age
►
**WILL
NOT BE
ON AP
TEST!**
Homo erectus
 stood upright
 learned simple tools
►–
rocks & sticks for hunting and gathering
 Africa Asia and Europe
►
Homo sapiens sapiens - all current races
are descended from this subspecies
 Our category of species
 lived as small bands of hunter-gatherers.
 developed language, rituals, and more
sophisticated tools.
Era of Hunters and Gatherers
► Hunting-and-gathering
economies
dominated human history until 9000
B.C.E.
► hunter-gatherer
economy benefited
with improved tools
►
Cause of
► Improved economiesincreased
spread of
population  migration expanded
preAgricultural
societies
Late Paleolithic Developments
► Life
►
Why did
religion
develop?
became easier (some free time)
stone tool & weapons improved
► Development of rituals & religion –
helped people deal w/fear about
death & nature
► Gender
►
division of labor
 Men: hunting, fishing, defense
Compare
 Women: gathering, making medicine
gender
relations to ► Gender Equality???
2009
► Increased food supply  increased
population increased technological
advance  increased conflict
The Neolithic – Bronze Age (3000 BCE)
► Dev. agricultural societies – permanent settlements
Shifts from
New Stone ► Causes?
Age to
 Climatic shifts
Bronze
 The Domestication of Plants and Animals
Age?
- dogs, sheep, goats, pigs
► Results?
Results of the
rise of
Agricultural
economies?
►
 economic, political, and social organization
began in the Middle East – Tigris River Valley Civ
(~10,000 B.C.E.)
 resources to free up a small potion of population
increased levels of economic, political, and
religious activity
 Example: metal tool makers who specialized &
exchanged for food.
Metalworking technology spread out from Middle
East
Spread of Agriculture
Resistance
► Many
tribes used both hunting/gathering
and agriculture.
► Some resisted completely (Northern Japan)
► Others were unable to cultivate (Central
Asia – leads to tough nomadic invaders)
► Others used slash and burn agriculture –
farm intensively for several years and then
move on.
The Rise of “Civilization”
3500 B.C.E.
►
Elements of
civilizations?
Formal states, writing, cities, and
monuments
► Settlements / villages
►
 slash and burn agriculture / irrigation
Elaborate trading patterns
► extensive political territories
► Dev. alongside major rivers
►
River Valley
civilizations
Tigris-Euphrates
 water supply for ag. production
► 1st
RVC– Mesopotamia (region?)
Sumerians ~3500 B.C.E - dev. the first
known human writing - cuneiform
► Dev. astronomical sciences
► Dev. agricultural prosperity w/fertilizers
► Used silver for trade
Tigris-Euphrates Civilization
Babylonians
► developed




Hammurabi’s code
laid down the procedure for law courts
regulated property rights
duties of family members
set harsh punishments for crimes
Why is a
► This focus on standardizing a legal
written
legal
system was one of the features of early
system so
river valley civilizations
significant?
► Results??
Egyptian Civilization
Egyptians ► Emerged
in N. Africa along the Nile
River by about 3000 B.C.E.
► benefited from trade & influences
from Mesopotamia
► produced its own distinct social
structures & cultural expressions.
► Mathematical achievements and
impressive architectural structures
► 2700 B.C.E. - Egyptian pharaohs
built pyramids as their tombs
 used slave labor
In the margin of your notes, record
the:
1. Subject(s) of this piece of art—what is
being discussed or displayed.
2. The occasion—what is happening or
what led to this being done
3. The audience—who was it painted for, or
who was intended to view it
4. Purpose—why did the artist paint this,
how did s/he want to viewer to react
5. Speaker—who do you think painted this,
be general, not specific
6. Significance—what is the historical
significance of this piece of art
Indian and Chinese River Valley
Civilizations
Indian
►
►
►
Chinese
►
Indus River – 2500 BCE
 Cities: Harappa, Mohenjo Daro
 Trade w/Mesopotamia
Indo-European invasions caused devastation
Huanghe (Yellow) River
 Isolation
 Irrigation
 Horses/iron/coal
 P'an Ku – mythic ancestor of the Chinese
 Writing – ideographs (symbols)
1500 BCE - Shang dynasty
 Decline but great continuity
The Legacy of the River Valley
Civilizations
►Polytheism
►
►
►
►
►
►
Significance
of
monotheism
??
►
►
Religious ideas - many gods in aspects of nature Political structures - tightly organized city-states,
ruled by a king who claimed divine authority
System of courts
Kings -power over defense and war; leadership of
army
Science/technology  wheel, alphabets, mathematics, and divisions of
time
Mesopotamian art and Egyptian architecture
influenced the Greeks & Romans
The Phoenicians devised a simplified alphabet – 22
letters
Jews - smaller Middle Eastern group - first clearly
developed monotheistic religion
A/B
► Find
a partner. Someone is A and someone
is B.
► Partner A: List as many of the early
civilizations to partner B as possible.
► Partner B: Listen and if partner A misses
one – help them out. Then identify the
characteristics that are critical for a society
to become a civilization to partner A.
Discussion Questions
► Compare
the drawbacks of non-civilized
societies with civilized societies.
► Compare the advantages of an agricultural
based society with a hunter-gatherer
society.
Foldable – Compare & Contrast
the Classical Civilizations
►China
► Political
India
Systems / Leadership
► Law
► Religion
► Social
/ Family / Gender
► Writing system / Education
► Trade / Economics
► Technology
► Achievements
Greek/Roman