Download The Spread of Homo sapiens

Chapter 1
The First Civilizations:
The People of Western Asia and Egypt
The Spread of Homo sapiens
1. It is estimated that the earth is as much as six billion years old. Creatures like human beings appeared in the last three to five million years. The
earliest of these, called hominids, lived in Africa. Known as Australopithecus afarensis, these first hominids lived in East and South Africa. Unlike
other animals, the hominids were capable of passing culture from one generation to the next. Australopithecine fossils have been found in Hadar,
Ethiopia, where at least thirty-five individuals (one a female) date from between 3.0 and 3.5 million years of age. At Laetoli in northern Tanzania,
fossil jaws, teeth, and footprints have been discovered that are 3.35 and 3.75 million years old. Younger, at 1.75 million years, are the fossil remains
of a four-foot individual, called Homo habilis (“skillful man”), found in Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. Significantly, crude tools were found near these
remains.
2. About 1.5 million years ago the second stage of human development occurred with the appearance of Homo erectus ("upright human beings").
These hominids used more sophisticated tools than Australopithecus and were the first to leave Africa and move into both Europe and Asia. Homo
erectus disappeared about 300,000 years ago.
3. Homo sapiens ("wise human being") made their appearance about 250,000 years ago. By about 100,000 B.C.E. two groups of Homo sapiens had
developed -- Neanderthal and Homo sapiens sapiens ("wise human beings"). Remains of the Neanderthal (first found in the Neander Valley in
Germany) have been discovered in both Europe and the Middle East. This specie has been dated between 100,000 and 30,000 B.C.E. They relied
on a variety stone tools and in Europe, Neanderthals buried their dead. Neanderthals also made clothes from the skins of animals killed for food.
Homo sapiens sapiens, on the other hand, appeared in Africa between 200,000 and 150,000 years ago. About 100,000 B.C.E., they began migrating
out of Africa. By 30,000 B.C.E. the Homo sapiens sapiens had displaced the Neanderthals who became extinct. Interbreeding between the two
races may have occurred.
4. The spread of Homo sapiens sapiens was a very slow process with people advancing beyond their old hunting grounds at a rate of two or three
miles per generation. What drove these people to migrate is unknown but surely two factors may have been that of seeking a more certain food
supply and pressure from competing groups for the same resource area, the loser moving on. Over tens of thousands of years these mobile Homo
sapiens sapiens came to populate the world. By 10,000 B.C.E. the process was completed.
5. The last stage of world occupation by Homo sapiens sapiens came about 15,000 years ago when Asians made their way into North America.
Driven by a search for a greater food supply or perhaps pursued by other groups, the first occupants crossed by way of Beringia connecting Siberia
and America. This bridge may have been either land as a consequence of lower sea levels or ice due to the ice age. Some may have come by sea
from Polynesia.
6. At Lascaux, in southern France, and Altamira, in northern Spain, cave paintings from the Paleolithic period (c. 15,000 B.C.E.) have been
discovered. The paintings, which feature cattle and horses, were part of the mythic-religious rites of hunting.
The Spread of Homo sapiens
Questions:
1. How did the hominids develop and spread to populate the world?
2. What distinguished the various hominids?
 The First Humans
 Australopithecines, c. 2-4 million years ago
 Homo erectus, c. 100,000-1.5 million years ago
 Homo sapiens
 Neanderthal, c. 100,000-30,000 B.C.E.
 Homo sapiens sapiens, c. 200,000 B.C.E.
 The Hunter-Gatherers of the Old Stone Age
 Paleolithic Age, c. 2,500,000-10,000 B.C.E.
 Nomadic people
 Division of labor
 Fire, 500,000 years ago
 Cave Paintings
The Development of Agriculture
1. Throughout early hominid development, the people were hunters, fishers, and gatherers, but not producers of food. The division of labor was
according to gender. Men were the hunters, fishers, tool and weapon makers, and warriors. Women, less mobile due to childbearing and
accompanying responsibilities, smaller in stature, and with less strength, gathered nuts, berries, wove baskets, and made clothing. It was in their
capacity as gatherers that women probably discovered how to plant and care for seeds.
2. The Age of Agriculture, during the Neolithic ("New Stone") Revolution, began following the end of the last ice age around 10,000 B.C.E. and would
last to about 4000 B.C.E. The shift to agriculture was slow and probably lasted from about 10,000-7000 B.C.E. Accompanying the domestication of
grains was also the gradual domestication of many animals such as dogs, pigs, cows, goats and sheep.
3. Between 8000 and 7000 B.C.E. agriculture appeared independently in five different areas: the Near East about 8000 B.C.E.; in China, Africa, and
Mesoamerica about 4000 B.C.E.; and in India by at least 3600 B.C.E. In the Near East the revolution was centered on wheat, barley, and lentils.
Wheat was also the standard in India. Millet and rice were cultivated in southern Asia and China. In Mesoamerica, beans, potatoes, and corn were
domesticated. Millet and yams were key in western Africa.
4. The growing of crops led to the establishment of permanent settlements. One of the oldest known agricultural villages was Jericho in Palestine
dating from about 8000 B.C.E. By 3000 B.C.E. when writing was invented, there were urban civilizations in the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates
Rivers in Mesopotamia, the Nile River in Egypt, the Indus River Valley in India, and the Yellow River basin of China. The Mesoamerican urban
civilizations would develop in the first millennium C.E.
Questions:
1. Examine the transition from hunting-gathering to agriculture.
2. Why was there a sexual division and labor and what were the consequences of this?
The Development of Agriculture
 The Agricultural Revolution (c. 10,000-4000 B.C.E.)
 Neolithic Revolution
 Independent development
 Middle East, 8000 B.C.E.
 Balkans, 6500 B.C.E.
 France, Central Europe, and Coastal Mediterranean,
4000 B.C.E.
 Western Asia and Nile Valley of Egypt, 6000 B.C.E.
 Northwestern and Central India, 7000-5000 B.C.E.
 Southeast Asia and South China, 5000 B.C.E.
 North China, 6000 B.C.E.
 Mesoamerica, 7000-5000 B.C.E.
 Villages
 Writing
 Metalworking
 Emergence of Civilization
 Characteristics of Civilization
Urbanization
Religious structure
Governmental bureaucracy
Military structure
Social structure based on economics
Materialism
Writing
The Ancient Near East
1. Protoneolithic culture developed independently in northern Syria and the Jordan Valley at Jericho near the Dead Sea in Palestine. Existing as
early as by 8000 B.C.E., Jericho covered several acres by 7000 B.C.E. Massive fortified walls 6 feet 6 inches at the base and at some places 20
feet high surrounded the city. Enclosed within the wall were the houses of the two thousand inhabitants. In the north on the central plateau of Asia
Minor above the Taurus Mountains was the Neolithic town of Çatal Hüyük which covered about thirty-two acres and housed about six thousand
inhabitants living in one story mud-brick houses built around inner courtyards. Reaching its zenith between 6700 and 5700 B.C.E., the community
apparently grew wealthy due to trade in obsidian that was used in jewelry, mirrors, or knives. With adequate rainfall and both plants and animals to
domesticate, agriculture apparently began in these plains rather than the river valleys.
2. The headwaters of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers are found in the mountains of Armenia (modern Turkey). The land between the two rivers is
a rolling plateau broken by limestone suitable for pasturage. Beyond the Tigris are wooded hills and fertile, well-watered valleys. The Euphrates
flows over a course of about 1675 miles while the Tigris winds for almost 1150 miles and joins the Euphrates about 120 miles from the Persian Gulf
at the Shatt al-Arab. Subject to rains, tributaries, and the melting snow in the Zagros Mountains between April and May, the two rivers irregularly
flood leaving deposits of rich alluvial silt in the swamps of the delta. Such conditions fostered the necessity for water management through irrigation
and drainage canals. This required both population concentrations (cities) and organizational and bureaucratic controls. One of the earliest cities
was Uruk near the Euphrates. It occupied an area of about a thousand acres and was surrounded by a six-mile long wall with defensive towers
every thirty to thirty-five feet. The housing consisted of both the flats of peasants and larger dwellings of civil and religious officials.
3. Overland trade routes in Mesopotamia usually followed the Euphrates because the banks of the Tigris are frequently steep and difficult. The
excellent location of Babylon allowed it to dominate the trade of Mesopotamia. Merchants followed the Tigris north to the lands of Assyria and
Armenia while the Euphrates led northwest to Syria, Palestine, and the Mediterranean.
4. The early residents of Mesopotamia, the Sumerians, arrived at the mouths of the Tigris and Euphrates around 4000 B.C.E. and by 3000 B.C.E.
had created a number of independent city-states, most notably Ur, Uruk, and Lagash. Vulnerable due to the ease of invasion from the north and
constant warring over land and water rights, Semites from Akkad conquered the area. By 1700 B.C.E., the Sumerian element was completely
submerged due to the union of Mesopotamia by the Amorite (Semite) Hammurabi (1792-1750 B.C.E.) of Babylon.
5. The Hittites, Indo-Europeans, arrived in Asia Minor about 2700 B.C.E. By about 1750 B.C.E. the Hittite Empire had extended itself to Babylon
where the dynasty of Hammurabi was extinguished. Hittite strength came from being the first in the Near East to master the technology of smelting
iron. This gave them both a military and commercial advantage. The empire disappeared about 1200 B.C.E. in part due to the attack of marauders
called the "Sea People."
Question:
1. What physical and geographical characteristics might affect development of organized society?
The Ancient Near East
 Mesopotamia
 Sumerian city-states, c. 3000-2350 B.C.E.
Wheel
Social groups
 Nobles
 Commoners
 slaves
 Akkadian Empire, c. 2340-2100 B.C.E.
Sargon
 Amorites (Old Babylonians)
Cuneiform
Epic of Gilgamesh
Code of Hammurabi
Ancient Egypt and the Nile
1. The Nile River flows north almost 4200 miles from its southernmost source in modern-day Burundi in central Africa. In ancient times, the arable
portion of the Nile Valley extended about 800 miles upriver from the mouth. The river floods every spring from about June to the end of October over
a narrow strip of land that is never more than thirteen miles wide. Catch basins built by the Egyptians trapped water over the soil that allowed the salt
to settle. Because the color of the soil left by the flooding Nile is black, Egyptians called their country Kemet which means black.
2. At the Nile Delta about one hundred miles from the Mediterranean Sea, the river splits into a number of branches that flow to the sea. This
territory, north of Memphis, is called Lower Egypt while the land upstream to the south along a narrow ten to twenty mile wide valley, is referred to
as Upper Egypt. Like the delta of the Tigris and Euphrates, engineering works were required to make full use of the waters. Unlike the Tigris and
Euphrates that required large population centers to help control the unpredictable rivers, massive intervention was not needed. For this reason, the
population remained rural.
3. Granite and sandstone for building were mined near the First Cataract. Minerals came from the hills and deserts to the east. Nevertheless, Egypt
lacked copper and timber that were acquired from Sinai and Palestine. The Nile Delta was the source of salt for Egypt
4. The Nile was reflected in the Egyptian creation myth which declared that before creation there was a watery void and then, just as the Nile recedes
leaving little hillocks of mud, the primeval watery void subsided leaving an island hillock upon which sat the creator-god Atum who brought into
existence all other beings and phenomena of the universe. (John A. Wilson, The Culture of Ancient Egypt, p. 59)
5. For administrative purposes, the Old Kingdom was divided into twenty-two provinces in Upper Egypt and twenty in Lower. After 2000 B.C.E.,
most pharaohs made Thebes their capital. The temples to Amon and tombs of the pharaohs and their queens were built into cliffs at nearby Luxor.
6. South of the delta is Memphis, the capital of the Old Kingdom (2700-2200 B.C.E.). North of the capital is Djoser's Pyramid, the first pyramid to be
built, and Giza where the Great Pyramid and the Sphinx are located. These pyramids served as burial places for the pharaohs of the Old Kingdom.
The largest of the pyramids is Khufu (Cheops) dating from about 2540 B.C.E. Standing 481 feet high and 756 feet on each side, it covers thirteen
acres and is composed of 2.3 million stone blocks averaging 2.5 tons each. The pyramid was covered with limestone blocks (subsequently removed
for building Cairo). The four sides coincided closely to the four points of the compass.
7. During a religious struggle in which the worship of Aton was introduced and the temples of rival gods were closed, Amenhotep IV or Akhnaton
(1367-1350 B.C.E.) sought to lessen the power of the priesthood of Amon-Re at the capital of Thebes by moving the center of government two
hundred miles north to Akhetaton (near modern Tell-el-Amarna) where an immense temple to Aton was built.
Questions:
1. What impact did the Nile have upon Egyptian civilization?
2. Describe how the physical environment of Mesopotamia and Egypt differed and the manner in which this might contribute to the emergence of
different civilizations.
Ancient Egypt and the Nile
 Egyptian Civilization
 Upper and Lower Egypt united, 3100 B.C.E.
 Old Kingdom, 2700-2200 B.C.E.
 Middle Kingdom, 2050-1650 B.C.E.
 Ma’at
 Pyramids
 Hieroglyphs
 New Kingdom, 1567-1085 B.C.E.
 Hyksos
 Amenhotep IV (Akhnaton)
The Pyramid at Gizeh
The Temple of Queen Hatesheput in the Valley of King
Ancient Palestine and the Jewish Kingdoms
1. Phoenicia was centrally located on the main trade routes between Egypt, Asia Minor, and Mesopotamia. The first Phoenicians (Canaanites)
established their urban centers at Sidon, Byblos, and Ugarit about 3000 B.C.E.
2. From the Hittites, the Phoenicians learned how to smelt iron and passed the techniques west to the Greeks and south to the African continent. The
Phoenician urban civilization also served as a center for manufacturing, the skills of which were learned from the conquering Egyptians who in return
were influenced by Phoenician cults and religious ideas.
3. Phoenician culture was influenced by Babylonian mythological stories of the beginning of the world, the birth of the gods, and the creation of
humanity. It may have been through the Phoenicians that the Babylonian origin myths were passed to the Hebrews and Greeks.
3. The northern Phoenician coast is isolated by the Lebanon Range but approachable from the sea by a series of harbors at Tyre, Sidon, and
Byblos. By about 2000 B.C.E., Byblos was supplying Egypt with timber from nearby forests. It also traded Egyptian papyrus which the Greeks
called byblos after the city from which it came (biblia came to mean book in Greek). The port went into decline after 1100 B.C.E. as Tyre and Sidon
became more powerful. Before 1100 B.C.E., Tyre was controlled by Egypt and traded with the people of Asia Minor and the Aegean.
4. Palestine is about 150 miles long and less than 10,000 square miles in area. The coast is harborless and except for the rich Plain of Esdraelon
the land is barren limestone. Although the area had neither sufficient rainfall, means of irrigation, nor economic resources, its location on the chief
trade routes from east to west was an invitation to migrating people from the deserts and the mountains. As Palestine became a battleground for
stronger nations, the culture of the region came to reflect the influence of Babylon, Egypt, and the Hittites.
5. The name Hebrew may come from the ancient Semitic word abar meaning "to cross or pass over" and perhaps refers to the passage of Abraham
and his followers into Canaan across the Syrian Desert from Ur.
6. The Semitic Israelites began their exodus from slavery in the Nile Delta about 1230 B.C. Crossing a series of shallow lakes, they drove south
down to the barren, rock-strewn Sinai, the Wilderness of Zin. At Mt. Sinai their God gave Moses the Ten Commandments. About 1200 B.C.E. the
Israelites crossed the Jordan River into Canaan where they came into conflict with the Philistines who were part of the Sea Peoples who had
settled the coastal plain of Palestine. The wars forced the scattered Israelite tribes to unite under a king. Once the Philistines were defeated,
Israelites split into two halves: in the north, Israel with its capital at Samaria, and in the south, Judah centered on Jerusalem.
Questions:
1. What role did the Phoenicians play in cultural diffusion?
2. How did the environment and contact with other people shape the Israelites?
Ancient Palestine and the
Jewish Kingdoms
 Indo-Europeans
 Phoenicians
 Hebrews
 Abraham
 Yahweh (YHWH)
 Exodus from Egypt, 1300-1200 B.C.E.
 King Soloman (c. 971-931 B.C.E.)
The Assyrian and Persian Empires
1. The Armenian highlands and the plains of Babylon bound the lands of ancient Assyria on the north and south. In the east, the Zagros Mountains
lying just beyond the Tigris River hemmed in Assyria. These geographical roadblocks kept the Assyrians from ever permanently expanding north
and east. To the west, however, the absence of natural boundaries and strong powers after the demise of the Hittite Empire permitted Assyrian
expansion to the Mediterranean.
2. Mesopotamia and the surrounding lands were satisfactorily endowed but those of Assyria were not. Although iron deposits were present, the
Assyrians had to seek other mineral resources from Armenia, Persia, central Asia Minor, the Danube region, and Egypt. Regular rainfall meant no
large irrigation works were needed and as a result Assyria became a land of farming villages with few significant cities. Trade was generally carried
out by foreigners. The aggressive nature of the Assyrians may have been due to threats from their war-like neighbors to the north and east and from
Babylon to the south. These threats prompted political cohesion and militarism.
3. By 700 B.C.E., Assyria controlled Mesopotamia, parts of the Iranian plateau, parts of Anatolia, Syria, Palestine, and Egypt down to Thebes.
The Assyrian army used a variety of tactics including guerrilla and siege warfare as well as terror, especially laying waste the land of enemies by
destroying dams, burning crops, cutting down trees, obliterating towns, and committing atrocities against the people. Prisoners were often deported
from their lands to Assyria where they repopulated areas decimated by warfare. Over the course of three centuries some four to five million people
were deported to Assyria resulting in a very racially and linguistically mixed people.
4. Babylonia became wealthy due to its location on the trade routes crossing Mesopotamia, a strong agriculture, and a developed textile and metals
industry. An eight-mile wall, encircled by a moat filled from the Euphrates surrounded the capital of Babylon. The city was adorned with temples
and palaces including the Hanging Garden, which consisted of terraces and an artificial mountain upon which was a lush garden irrigated by water
piped to the top.
5. The original homeland of the Persians was Persis in the southwestern corner of modern Iran. The western coast along the Persian Gulf is narrow
and harborless. Hemming in this hot arid region to the east are abrupt mountains rising to six thousand feet. Beyond the mountains is a high plateau
broken by valleys, which are fertile and blessed with adequate rainfall. Here in a temperate climate a considerable population could be supported.
Nevertheless, this was not the basis for an empire since there was no outlet to the sea and the only routes west were through the mountain roads to
Susa and Babylon. The harshness of Persis is characteristic of all of Persia. High mountains that isolate the interior from the sea surround a vast
central plateau, which extends from the Tigris-Euphrates valley in the west to the Indus valley in the east. On this broad plain lay scattered oases
and two immense salt deserts (Dasht-i-Lut and Dasht-i-Kavir covering some 38,000 square miles) which physically form a barrier between the east
and west. The Dasht-i-Kavir southeast of the Caspian Sea is mostly covered with salt instead of sand and is devoid of water or plant life. Facing the
impossible desert, nomads migrating into Persia from central Asia and the steppes of Russia would turn east to India or west to Mesopotamia.
The Assyrian and Persian Empires
6. Darius (521-486 B.C.E.), after a year of civil war, began strengthening the empire. He built a canal linking the Red Sea and the Mediterranean by
way of the Nile, campaigned into western India extending Persian territory to the Indus River, and conquered Thrace making the Macedonian king a
vassal. In 499 B.C.E., the Ionian Greek city states revolted and after receiving aid from mainland Greeks, invaded Lydia and burned the provincial
capital of Sardis. The rebels were punished and Darius invaded the Greek mainland culminating in his defeat at the Marathon in 490 B.C.E.
Question:
1. How did the geography of the Near East impact the character of the Assyrians?
 Assyrian Empire
 Ashurbanipal (669-626 B.C.E.)
 Iron weapons
 Horse-drawn war chariots
 Terror
 Persian Empire
 Indo-European
 Cyrus (559-530 B.C.E)
 Cambyses (530-522 B.C.E.)
 Darius (521-486 B.C.E.)
 Zoroastrianism