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Chp 1: Early Humans and the First Civilizations
 Theory of evolution: human species emerged between 2 to 2.5 million years
ago
o Important evolutionary distinction: opposable thumbs and omnivores
 Paleolithic Age (Greek – “Old Stone”) 2.5 million to 10000BCE
 Hunter Gatherers – no knowledge of farming or raising animals
 Fire tamed and making of tools
o
Provided warmth, light, cooking, protection, migration to colder
climates
o
Shelter in caves
Late Paleolithic Developments
 120,000 years ago: Homo sapiens sapiens – “wise human being”
o Originated in Africa
 Hunting-gathering societies (Hunting-Foraging Societies)
o Population growth was slow
o Women breastfed infants for several years to limit their own fertility
o Significant equality between the sexes because of common economic
contributions
 Argument of higher caloric value provided by women’s
gathering, more consistent than hunting
 100,000 years ago: Speech developed
 Religion: rituals, cave paintings, Goddesses (ex: Venus figurines)
 Culture was developed= systems of belief that helped explain the
environment and set up rules for various kinds of social behavior
 Greatest achievement of Paleolithic People= sheer spread of human species
 Calendar designations
o BC=Before Christ AD=anno Domini “year of our lord”
o BCE=Before Common Era CE= Common Era (less Christian
centered)
o Can use any event to designate time EX: Islamic Calendar beginning
622CE
 14,000 years ago- last ice age ended- human development accelerated
 12,000-8,000 BCE= Mesolithic/Middle Stone Age
o Human ability to fashion stone tools greatly improved
o More animals domesticated (ex: cows)
The Neolithic Revolution c. 10,000- 4000 b.c.e. (“New Stone”) –
consequences:
Agriculture!
 Occurred in different times in different places (a primary argument behind
Guns, Germs, and Steel.)
 Neolithic Revolution occurred in different times in different parts of the
world
 9,000BCE- people increasingly depended on harvests led to deliberate
planting of seeds ~Systematic Agriculture
 New animals domesticated ex: pigs, sheep, goats, cattle
 Development of agriculture began in the Middle East 10,000 to 8,000BCE
“Fertile Crescent”
 Many exceptions to agricultural societies
 Agriculture set the basis for more rapid change in human societies
 Revolution b/c of magnitude of change involved
 Patriarchy – society dominated by men
Rise of Cities
 Ex: Neolithic village Catal Huyuk in Turkey
 4000BCE- discovery of metal tools in Middle East- first copper to Bronze Age
(3000BCE) metal tools and weapons more effective-to Iron Age(1500BCE)
Hunting/Gathering Neolithic
Farming
Domestication Improved
Revolution
of Animals
tools
More Sedentary
Food Surplus Population
Specialization Rise of
increase
of Labor
cities
Civilization
 Common features: cities, writing, formal states: Mesopotamia, Egypt, Indus
River basin, China
 Agriculture encouraged the formation of larger as well as more stable human
communities
 Slash and Burn- technique- agricultural but still moved around
 Pastoral/ Herding peoples moved in tribal lands with strong kinship ties
(domesticated animals, but moved around looking for food)
 Irrigation devices for fields improved agriculture and irrigation and defense
encouraged villages
 Catal Huyuk: Turkey- founded 7,000BCE
o Houses made with sun-dried mud brick
o Self-sufficient
o Large villages ruled over smaller communities
o 3000BCE Catal Huyuk along the Indus River
Civilization
***What are the Characteristics of a civilization, and what are some explanations for
why Early Civilizations emerged?
5 Characteristics of a Civilization: Advanced Cities, Specialized Workers, Complex
institutions, Record Keeping, Advanced Technology
 Urban focus – cities, centers for SPICE (Social, Political, Interaction,
Cultural, Economic)
 New Political and Military Structures – government and armies develop
 Economic Power – classes
 Organized Trade – complex materials
 Religious Structure – gods crucial to success
 Writing – kings, priests, merchants, artisans
 Intellectual Activity-architecture
Group Work
Tigris-Euphrates Civilization
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Mesopotamia
Irrigation important- community organized
3500BCE developed cuneiform
Astronomy
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Numbers based on 10, 60 and 360
Ziggurats
Each city had a patron God
Religion
o Sumerian religious notions- ideas of the Gods creation of the earth
from water (Origin Story) and the divine punishment of humans
through floods (Epic of Gilgamesh), later influence the writers of the
Old Testament.
o Religious ideas of a gloomy cast believed in an afterlife of punishmentoriginal version of concept of hell
Sumerian city-states with king with divine authority
Kings/ Noble class/ priesthood- controlled land worked by slaves
Sumerians: wheeled carts, fertilizers, silver as money
Hammurabi’s Code:
o “When Marduk commanded me to give justice to the people of the
land”
o Harsh punishment to prevent false accusations
o Use of ordeal- ex: holy river
o Class differences according to social ranking
THE ORDEAL CLIP
Pg 13 Code of Hammurabi- read and answer questions
Egyptian Civilization “ The Gift of the Nile”
 “The Egyptian Nile, surpasses all the rivers of the world in sweetness of taste,
in length of course and usefulness. No other in the world can show such a
continuous series of towns and villages along its banks.”
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 Led by king(pharaoh)- God-like status
o Ruled with Ma’at (responsibility)
 Kingdom of Kush located to south and eventually invaded Egypt
 24 hour day
 Polytheistic with complex rituals to prepare people for the afterlife (Horus)
o Heart weighed against feather
o Mummification to preserve body
o Sarcophagus- so ka (spirit) could find body
Indian and Chinese River Valley Civilization
 2500BCE Indus River= Harrapa and Mohenjo-Daro
o Houses with running water and sewer system
o Writing has not yet been deciphered
o Indo-European migration
 China- along Huanghe (Yellow River)
o Organized state- regulated irrigation
o 2000BCE- Chinese had advanced technology and elaborate intellectual
life
o Shang Dynasty: BRONZE CASTING
o Mandate of Heaven
***Why is “CIVILIZATION” a loaded term?
Heritage of the River Valley Civilizations
 Monument building- invention of the wheel- taming of the horse- alphabetskey math concepts- well organized monarchies and bureaucracies
 Most River Valley Civilizations declined by 1000BCE
 Phoenicians- 1300BCE- developed 22 letter alphabet (predecessor to Greek
and Latin)
o Purple dye
o Traders along Mediterranean Sea
o Colonies in North Africa (ex: Carthage)
 Lydians: introduced coined money
 Jews- first clearly developed monotheistic religion- settled near
Mediterranean Sea around 1200BCE
o Single God, guided destinies of Jewish people
o Wrote Hebrew Bible (Torah)
o Basis for development of Christianity and Islam
o Contract between God and Chosen People
o God was omnipresent, orderly and just
o Ethical conduct and moral behavior (Ex: 10 Commandments)
The First Civilizations
 Distinctive culture and political institutions with basic tools of civilization
including writing and formal government
 Pattern of division among the world’s peoples
 Cultural Diffusion
Duiker and Speilvogel
Chapter 1
 Definition of prehistory- before written record
 Hominids: Australopithecines –to- Homo erectus- to- Homo sapiens (one
group = Neanderthals)-to- Homo sapiens sapiens
 “out of Africa” theory still most dominant theory
 Paleolithic Age- rough equality between the sexes
o Fire about 500,000 years ago and Tools
o Cave Paintings (art, communication, higher-order thinking skills)
 Agricultural (Neolithic) Revolution 10,000-4000BCE
o Shift from hunting-gathering to systematic agriculture
 Hunting/gathering –to-Neolithic Revolution-to-agriculture-to-domestication
of animals-to-food surplus-to-population increase-to-specialization of laborto-rise of towns and cities.
 Religion: “earth mothers” / Venus figurines= fertility
 Characteristics of Civilization:
o 1. urban revolution
o 2. New political and military structures
o 3. New social structures based on economic power
o 4. Complexity in a material sense
o 5. Religion
o 6. Writing
o 7. Artistic and intellectual activity
 System of writing vs. Record-Keeping
 Mesopotamia
o Walled cities, sun-dried mud bricks, ziggurat, theocracy, social classes
(90% of pop.=farmers), slavery
o Sumer (first cities)-to-Akkadians (Sargon)-to- Amorites/Old
Babylonians (Hammurabi)
o Religion: selfish gods and goddesses- humans subservient
o Writing- Cuneiform- Epic of Gilgamesh
 Egypt
o Annual flooding of the Nile- cyclical rather than linear progress
o Kingship-divine/ pharaoh
o Couldn’t rule arbitrarily/ set principles= Ma’at spiritual
precept that conveyed the ideas of truth & justice but
especially right order and harmony
o Preparation for afterlife- Osiris/Isis
o Pyramids, hieroglyphics
o Amenhotep//Akhenaton
o Hatshepsut-female ruler w/ ceremonial beard- trade, expeditions
 Phoenecians
o Mediterranean Sea, trade and colonization= Carthage
o Alphabet
 Hebrews
o Judaism
o Abraham- father/covenant with God
o Moses- exodus from Egypt
o Covenants, laws, prophets
o 10 Commandments
 Assyrians (Ashurbanipal) to Chaldeans (Medes)
 Assyrians
o Climate of terror
o Key Kings:
 Sennacherib (704-681 BCE)
 Ashurbanipal (669-626 BCE)
 Chaldeans
o Nebuchadnezzar II (605-562BCE)
o Capital at Babylon (“Hanging Gardens”)
 Persians
o Cyrus (559-530BCE)
o Darius (521-486 BCE)
o Satrapies- road system-communication-10,000 immortals
o Religion- Zoroastrianism- struggle between good and evil