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Chp 1: From Human Prehistory to the Early 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 (Old Stone) 2.5 million to 8000BCE
 Fire tamed about 750,000 years ago
o Provided warmth, cooking, protection, migration to colder
climates
 500,000 to 750,000 years ago= Homo erectus
o Less ape-like species, larger brain and erect stance,
better tool use- spread in Africa and into Asia and Europe
Late Paleolithic Developments
 120,000 years ago: Homo sapiens sapiens
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 with Homo erectus
 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
 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
 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
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
Population Specialization Rise of
Surplus
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 part of civilization along the Indus
River
Civilization
 Civilization= subjective construct
 Define “civilization”- societies with enough economic surplus to
form divisions of labor and a social hierarchy involving
significant inequalities
 Most had writing- example Cuneiform 3500BCE- recipe for beer
 Writing important but many people illiterate until less than 200
years ago
 Question of African civilization- griots/ oral history still a form of
record-keeping
 Writing vs. record-keeping
 W/ civilization, more fully patriarchal societies emerged
 Nomads- still important contributors to world history (esp.
Trade)
 Civilization increased human impact on the environmentdeforestation, pollution
Tigris-Euphrates Civilization
 Mesopotamia
 Irrigation important- community organized
 3500BCE developed cuneiform
 Astronomy
 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
punishment- original 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
Egyptian Civilization
 3000BCE formed along Lower Nile River
 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 horsealphabets- key 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-todomestication of animals-to-food surplus-to-population
increase-to-specialization of labor-to-rise of towns and cities.
 Religion: “earth mothers” / Venus figurines= fertility
 Characteristics of Civilization:
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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)-toAmorites/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