Download Locate the following places on the map using an atlas or maps in

Name: ________________________________
Due Date: 8/28/2013 - Second Day of Class!
Chapter 1 Reading Guide
From Human Prehistory to the Early Civilizations
C
L
Locate the following places on the map using an atlas or maps in your chapter (easier if you Google
these):
I’ve done C & L for you.
A. Egypt
H. Euphrates River
B. Mesopotamia
I. Indus River
C. Persia
J. Ganges River
D. India
K. Huanghe (Yellow) River
E. China
L. Yangtze River
F. Nile River
M. Mediterranean Sea
G. Tigris River
N. Indian Ocean
INTRODUCTION (P. 8)
1. What does “Neolithic” mean?
2.
What did Neolithic man know how to do?
3.
What did fire allow early humans to do?
4.
Where did early humans first evolve?
5.
When did humans develop the ability to speak? (Careful! You have to add the number you see to the one at the
top of the page.)
HUMAN LIFE IN THE ERA OF HUNTERS AND GATHERERS (P. 9)
6. List several disadvantages of humans:
7.
What do thumbs allow humans to do?
8.
Why is being an omnivore better than being just a carnivore or herbivore?
HUMAN LIFE BEFORE AGRICULTURE (P. 10)
9. What period of time preceded (came before) the Neolithic period?
10. When did the Old Stone Age end?
11. What did humans know how to do during the Paleolithic period?
LATE PALEOLITHIC DEVELOPMENTS (P. 11)
12. There are different types of monkeys and apes today but only one type of human, Homo sapiens sapiens. What
happened to the early types of humans that we have skeletons of?
13. What did people do to get food during the Paleolithic period?
14. Why did human groups WANT to have small populations?
15. How did women reduce their chances of getting pregnant in order to keep their populations low?
16. Who had more power during the Paleolithic age, men or women? (I could be trying to trick you here.)
17. What was the greatest achievement of Paleolithic people?
18. Pay careful attention to the footnote at the bottom of page 12. Instead of B.C. (as in 300 B.C.) or A.D. (as in 2010
A.D.) your textbook uses what for B.C. and what for A.D.? Give both the abbreviation and the full meaning. You
must know this for the AP exam.
In AP this is?
19. What does “Mesolithic” mean?
20. What caused the food supply to increase for Mesolithic peoples?
21. When the food supply increased what also increased?
22. What was the final stone age?
In AP this is?
THE NEOLITHIC REVOLUTION
23. What moved the human species towards more complex social and cultural patterns?
24. This invention/discovery also led to an increase in what else?
25. What are the 2 reasons for deliberate planting?
26. Where did farming originally begin?
27. What is the “Neolithic revolution”?
28. What are the positive and negatives that go with sedentary (staying in one place – not moving around) agriculture?
Positives
Negatives
29. In Central Asia, people resisted becoming farmers. Why did they do this and how did they make a living?
30. These nomads (people who move around) from Central Asia would play what role in world history? [This is VERY
important to remember for your AP exam. It will come up again and again during the school year.]
Hmmm…extra space…what could I use this for….
How about extra credit! 20 points on the first reading quiz for the first 10 people who sign up for Twitter (go to
Twitter.com) and follow me – ““Mrs_RobertsAPWH”. Make sure you type the underscore _ that serves as a space
when you search for me. There’s a catch: you also MUST CORRECTLY answer question 48 to get the points. Tweet the
answer. I will use Twitter during the year to give reminders and hints as well as extra credit. When I give tests I also use
Twitter to privately send scores out to those who request them so sign up!!
31. Examine the map on p. 14 or the one above. The following food crops are VERY important. They’re high in carbs
(energy) and easy to produce in large amounts.
a. Where did maize (corn) come from?
b.
Where did rice originate?
c.
Where did wheat start? (North Africa is one place. What’s the other?)
d.
Where did potatoes come from?
32. How did agriculture spur specialization?
33. What kind of innovation was very helpful to agriculture?
CIVILIZATION
34. The earliest civilizations formed in what 4 areas? (Don’t skip section main point bullets!)
35. Why did agriculture lead to communities rather than scattered farms?
36. When large villages like Catal Huyuk started to rule over smaller surrounding communities a need was created for
what two aspects of civilization?
37. A 5th area of civilization arose later where?
38. Of those 5 areas, which 3 had some connection and which 2 were isolated from the rest? Write the 3 that had
some connection inside the larger bubble and write the 2 that were isolated in the 2 smaller bubbles.
39. What advantages do cities provide civilizations?
40. What was the first system of writing called and what did it look like?
41. Why did civilizations develop writing?
42. When did writing become widespread?
43. Why is history mostly about civilizations?
44. How did people who lived in civilizations see those who did not live in civilizations?
45. What does “barbarian” mean and where does the word come from?
46. List several negative aspects of civilizations:



47. In general, where were the first civilizations located? Why?
INDIVIDUAL CIVILIZATIONS – welcome to PERSIA! It stands for Political, Economic, Religious, Social, & Area (as in
geography)
Here are some guiding questions to help you understand what each component of PERSIA is about. Use these when you
get stuck and aren’t sure what you should take notes on.
Political
Who is in charge? What is power based on? Who gives that person or group power? Is there a contract? What's
the government structure? Are there significant wars, treaties, courts, or laws?
Economic
How do people earn their food? Is it based on agriculture, commerce, small trades or professions, or industry, like
manufacturing or technology? Where's the money? What are the valued and traded commodities? What
technologies or industries define culture?
Religious
What is the meaning of life? Where did the group come from? What happens when they die? How do they spend
their lives? Who talks to god(s)? What are the basic beliefs? Are there leaders or documents that define religion?
Are there conversions? If so how?
Social (this is probably the trickiest one to remember – just remember SOCIAL=PEOPLE!!)
How does the group relate to one another? How do people communicate? What do people do together? How is
the group organized? What are the family and gender relations? Are there social classes? How do they live? Are
there inequalities? What is unusual about this society or social class?
Intellectual
Who are the thinkers? What groups are given the chance to learn? How do people learn? Where does knowledge
come from? How do people or societies apply knowledge to solve problems? What kinds of innovations occur?
What resources do they find or adapt? What new things are created that had not previously existed? What do
they contribute to science, math, education, or philosophy? How does technology contribute to the economy,
military, or art? What key literature or poetry does this group produce or value? What does this literature focus
on? What music do they have? What style of painting is practiced? What does their architecture look like? What is
distinctive about their art? What type of clothing is worn here?
Area
What does the land look like? What are the major features? What is the climate? How does geography affect the
people? How do they change their environment? Where do most people live? Why? What do people produce in
various areas? Are there different peoples/languages/religions, etc. in various areas of this land or are they all the
same? What are the borders? Where is the capital? Do people have to compete over resources?
Note that you will not always find information in your text for every single PERSIA categorical item. Use PERSIA to take
notes on and compare the civilizations below.
Fill in the blank boxes. You MAY find info about one civ in another civ’s section. LOOK!
Keep in mind that when I help you by doing part of your work, to show you how to fill out a chart for example, that DOES
NOT MEAN TO IGNORE THE PART I DO!!
TIGRIS-EUPHRATES (p. 18-20)
INDUS RIVER VALLEY (p. 22)
Unknown
POLITICAL
ECONOMIC
Pottery industry
Farming
Silver use for trade/money.
Trade with Egypt & Indus River Valley.
Unknown but probably combined with IndoEuropean invaders/migrants’ religion later.
RELIGIOUS
Classes:
SOCIAL
Kings
Nobles/Priests
Slaves
INTELLECUTAL
Houses had running water.
Writing/Alphabet – not deciphered.
AREA
Middle East
Mesopotamia
Valley between the Tigris and Euphrates
Rivers.
Arid – irrigation needed.
Hard to defend – flat w/ few natural
barriers.
EGYPT (p. 20 & 22)
CHINA - SHANG DYNASTY ([p. 22-23)
POLITICAL
ECONOMIC
RELIGIOUS
SOCIAL
INTELLECTUAL
Horse riding, pottery, bronze use, iron use,
coal, writing on bones (Oracle Bones) led to
ideographic symbols, astronomy, art focused
on delicate designs, music. Silk production.
Simple mud houses.
North Africa
Less open to invasion.
Nile River
Arid - Irrigation needed.
Mediterranean Sea north.
Desert west and south.
AREA
VISUALIZING THE PAST: MESOPOTAMIA IN MAPS (p. 19)
48. Locate Mesopotamia on this map. Now look at the smaller map inserts. Why did those empires spread east to west
but NOT south down the Arabian Peninsula? There’s a strong clue on the bigger map.
DOCUMENT: HAMMURABI’S LAW CODE (p. 21) [very important for the AP exam!]
NOTE: the term “villain” used repeatedly in this document does NOT mean “bad guy”. It’s an old word for a serf. Serfs were
poor farmers who lived on the land of a noble (upper class person) and paid their rent in labor and/or the crops they grew.
49. What penalties were common for crimes under Hammurabi?
50. Do you think there was much crime under Hammurabi? Why?
51. Were people treated equally in Babylonian society? Cite evidence from the document to prove your contention.
52. Were men and women equal? If not, who had more power? Cite evidence from the document to support your
argument.
53. Which of Hammurabi’s laws do you feel was the fairest? Summarize it in your own words.
IN DEPTH—THE IDEA OF CIVILIZATION IN WORLD HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
54. The Chinese, as well as American Indians, Greeks, and Romans, believed that barbarians could become civilized by
doing what?
55. The Chichimecs and other nomadic barbarians would conquer, settle down and then do what, resulting in their
becoming civilized?
56. How did Europeans change the concept of civilization in the 18 th and 19th centuries?
THE HERITAGE OF THE RIVER VALLEY CIVILIZATIONS
57. List several of the achievements of the river valley civilizations you feel are the most important:




58. Of the four river valley civilizations focused on in this chapter, which ONE has the strongest connection to
civilizations that followed it in that region?
59. What was the key contribution of the Phoenicians to world history? (HINT: you’re using it right now).
60. What did the Lydians contribute to world history?
61. What did the Jews contribute to world history?
62. What does “monotheism” mean?
63. What does “polytheism” mean?
64. What two later religions were strongly influenced by Judaism?
65. Why did Judaism not spread like Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam would later?
THE FIRST CIVILIZATIONS
66. What common factor contributed to both India and Egypt’s river valley civilizations declining?
67. Was there a great deal of contact between the river valley civilizations? Why?
68. Why would Egypt and Mesopotamia’s river valley civilizations have the most contact? (HINT: Did you label your
map yet?)
GLOBAL CONNECTIONS: THE EARLY CIVILIZATIONS AND THE WORLD
There is some information here you may want to go back and add to your GPERSIA chart.
69. Which river valley civilization served as a middle man or connection between other civilizations?
70. What connected Egypt to peoples to its south such as Ethiopia?
71. What territories would China influence eventually?
72. What key technology was China already using that made women and rich people very happy?
 READ THE FOLLOWING PASSAGE AND ANALYZE THE PICTURES ON THE NEXT PAGE TO ANSWER
THE QUESTION AT THE BOTTOM.
An Inscribed Oracle Bone and Chinese Characters
(1600-1100 BCE)
The inscriptions on the oracle bones have become very important historical evidence in the study of early Chinese civilization.
The oracle bones, known in Chinese as jia gu wen, are either tortoise shells (jia) or ox shoulder blades (gu) with scripted texts
(wen). The first oracle bone was discovered in 1889 in An Yang County, the capital of the Shang Dynasty (1,600-1,100 B.C.E.),
and so far nearly 100,000 pieces have been unearthed.
It is believed that the original function of the oracle bone scripts was for fortune telling. The scripted bones were thrown into
fire, and the priests read the crack signs from the bones and told fortunes. The inscriptions on the oracle bones represent the
earliest form of the Chinese written language. Unlike most of the languages in the world, the Chinese language has never
evolved from its original pictographic and ideographic structure into alphabetic or syllabic form. It maintained its ancient
flavor into contemporary times, due largely to China's long period of cultural isolation. The chart shows the evolution of
early Chinese writing from pictogram to ideogram and to phonogram.
This inscribed oracle bone above dates from the Shang Dynasty. The markings reflect the earliest known form of Chinese
written language.
The pictures above are examples of cuneiform, the earliest type of writing known. It started in the Middle
East/Mesopotamia about 1,500-2,000 years before Chinese writing began.
Compare cuneiform, the ancient Mesopotamian writing system, with China's oracle bone characters. What are
the differences and similarities? Use the above text and pictures along with page 17 & 19 for more information
on cuneiform to answer the question.
Similarities
Differences