Download Foundations Answers - Pascack Valley Regional High School District

8,000 BCE – 600 BCE
FOUNDATIONS
Foraging Societies: Hunt and Gather. These were small groups of people who
traveled from point to point as the climate and availability of plants and animals
dictated. They were limited in their inability to store food long-term. NO personal
belongings and impermanent shelters.
Pastoral Societies: characterized by the domestication of animnals. Small scale
agriculture to supplement animal prodcuts as main food supply.
Neolithic Revolution: New Stone Revolution or Agricultural Revolution. Pre
civilizaiotns. People lived in relatively small, independent groups or communities.
People figured out how to cultivate plants, they stayed in one area. People began
to build a united identity.
The invention of agriculture ranks alongside the mastery of fire and the pocess of
industrialization as one of the nost important turning points in human history.
Mesopotamia:
 Land between the rivers
 Tigris nad Euphrates
 Sumer Babylon and Persia were a series of ancient civilizations –
thrived along their banks
 Mesopotamia is part fo a larger area—the Fertile Crescent
 Unpredicatble flooding
 SUMER:
o Southern Mesopotamia
o River management
o Succeeded in agriculture
o Cunieform –system of writing used by scribes
o 12 month calendar
o The WHEEL—enables longer distance trade
o Used Geometrty
o Baby.l Polytheism
o Built temples known as ziggurats to appease the gods
 BABYLON:
o Akkad succeeded Sumer and then Babylon rose to
powerhouse status
o King Hammurabi
 Code of law distinguished between major and minor
offenses
o Babylon fell due to the invasion by the Hittites. Known for iron
usage.
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o Assyrians then adopted iron usage. Harsh rule. Defeated by
Nebuchadnezzar who rebuilt Babylon
Babylon AGAIN: great city of Babylon—hanging gardens. Soon taken
over by the Persian Empire
Persians were a vast and major empire by 500 bce
Lydians: coined money
Phoenicians: Naval cities
Hebrews: Monotheism
EGYPT:
 Arid landscape and the Nile river –people clustered along the river
bank
 Predictable flooding
 Old, Middle, New Kingdoms of Egypt: Reached height under new
kingdom by 1400 bce.
 Achievements –united under King Menes built capital at Memphis
 Pharaohs constructed obelisks & pyramids.
 Hieroglyphics
 Astronomy
 Polytheistic
 Focus on life after death—the afterlife
 Take earthly belongings with them to the afterlife mummification
 Fell to the hands of greater empires—Persia, Greece, Rome (1100BE
began to decline)
INDUS:
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Contact with outside civilizations was more limited there than in
Mesopotamia which was under continual threat by invaders
Northwest India
Major Cities: Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro
More than 100,000 people
Enormous cities
Polytheistic
Great architecture and plumbing
City planning was top notch
Aryans were a nomadic tribe from north of the Caucasus Mountains
o They used horses and advanced weaponry
o Defeated thepopulations in the Indus Valley
o Settled in the Indus Valley
o Cultural Diffusion: Aryans
China:
 Shang and Zhou
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Yellow and Yangtze Rivers
Northern China Used chariots to defeat their enemies 1600-1100 bce
Limited contact with the outside world.
Traded with Mesopotamia
So isolated that they believed themselves to be the CENTER OF THE
OWRLD
All Under Heaven –what they called their civilization.
Ethnocentric attitude
Oracle Bones
Zhou:
 1100 bce Shang were ousted by Wu Wang who est the Zhou Dynasty
 maintained the traditions and customs developed ner the Shang
Dynasty
 Zhou ruled for 900 years
 Longer than any other dynasty
 Mandate of Heaven –that heaven would grant the Zhou power only as
long as it rulers governed justly and wisely.
o Dynasty just simply needs the blessing from heaven
o USED IRON
o When the Zhou fell, China ushered in an era known as the
Warring States
Mesoamerica:
 Chavin (Andes) and Olmec (Mexico)
 Olmec—mastered irrigation and sustained on corn, beans, squash.
o Polytheistic
o Mastered irrigation
o Writing system and calendar
 Chavin:
o High tech irrigation
o Metal tools and weapons
o Llamas as beasts of burden
INTERESTING POINT:
 NO CONTACT WITH EASTREN HEMISPHERE BUT
DEVELOPED SIMILARILY – NOT ALL DVELOPMENT IS
INFLUENCED BY CULTURAL DIFFUSION.
 NO RIVERS!
 DISPROVES THE FACT THAT RIVERS ARE NECESSARY FOR
EARLY CIVILIZATIONS DEVELOPMENT
West Africa:
 Bantu Migrations
 Stateless Society
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1500 BCE farmers in the Niger and Beneu River valleys in West
Africa began migrating sout and east, brining with them their
languages
Bantu Migrations continued for 2000 years.
Moved south of the Sahara because it was too dry and hot
They also had IRON
1. What is the impact of interaction among major societies at this time?
(Trade, systems of exchange, war, diplomacy)
As the Neolithic Revolution rolled around, the concept of land became tied
to a group of people vs. in a nomadic civilization, people roamed and
shared the land. If someone else comes along and drinks from a
civilzations river or builds a house on their hill, they might begin to think of
the newcomers as intruders or invaders, not as neighbors. Now people
start to interact through trade, conflicts = things get complicated.
Agricultural societies become more complex leads to specialized labor
and the growth and development of civilizations. Invention of Irrigation
Techniques
Agricultural Revolution impacted he environment – digging up the ground,
irrigation, roads being built, animals used ofr labor, pulling plows etc…
As civilizations were conquered, their cultural heritage, religions, laws,
customs, and technologies were rarely lost.
The Assyrians learned from the Hittites how to use iron. Harsh rule—they
conqured and exiled—helped to spread cultural diffusion.
Indus traded cotton with Mesopotamia through the Khyber Pass of the
Hindu Kush Mountains.
Aryans invaded the Indus Valley area and settled—brought with them other
aspects of their polytheism – Vedas and the Upanishads where they
recoded their beliefs. Became the basis for Hinduism
Egyptian mastery of transportation led to exchanges between Egypt and
Mesopotamia and around the Mediterranian
Indo Europeans used the horse and were therefore able to traverse a great
distance. Example is the Hittites from Anatolia
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Many agricultural stuffs came from Mesopotamia to Egypt
Egypt’s writing may have been influenced by Mesopotamia
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“divine kingship” came from the Sudan—
both had long distance trade
Both were influenced by other cultures
o Egypt—Nubian civilization
o Mesopotamians learned how to domesticate horses from pastoral peoples
in Russia
o Egypt got the chariot from the Hyksos
Long Distance trade did reach China as early as Shang Dynasty
2. Describe the relationships of change and continuity across the world
in this period.
Continuity:
Continuity from Paleolithic days: the use of weapons and tools (Paleolithic
were made from bones and stones—Neolithic started to use metals – in
this regard it’s a change). Bow and Arrow was a paleolithic invention.
Homo Sapiens— Created the Venus Figurines (exaggerated female bodies)
to depict female sexuality and fertility—emphasis on females and the
importance of fertility is throughout this era.
Politheism
Continuity in Egypt:
The early pharaohs claimed to be gods living on the earth in human form, the
ownersand absolute rulers of all the land. In that respect they continued the
tradition of divine kingship inherited from the early agricultural societies of the
Sudan.
Change: Later they viewed rulers as offspring of Amon, the sun god, so that the
pharaoh was a son of the sun.
CHANGE:
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Growth of Cities
Paleolithic socities were more egalitarian –men started to become
involved in political settings as cities developed- women stayed
home.
As cities grew private property became a new concept- rivalries and
tensions over territory developed with the growth of cities.
3. What is the impact of technology and demography on people and the
environment for this period? (Population growth, decline, disease,
manufacturing, migration, agriculture, weaponry)
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Surpluses in food vastly increased he population and
supported the establishment of cities and specialzed labor.
Irrigation techniques increases population
Slash and Burn technology to clear space and create fertile
land for crop growth
Domestication of animals—increased deaths due to diseases
Metal workers hard stones such as granite used and formed
into famrming tools such as hoes and plows.
Pottery made to use for cooking—hunter gatherers didn’t
need these because they couldn’t store food. No use for
lugging large bowls around—food producing society,
however, needs containers to store surplus foods –both
practical and artistic
Metallurgy earliest metal was copper. Jewelry and simply
tools. Smelting and casting of copper.
Bronze—
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MESOPOTAMIA: Because copper and tin were rare/expensive,
most people could not afford bronze implements. Immediate impact
on military affairs . also helped farmers with new tools that were
better than bone, wood, stone or obsidian etc…
CHINA: bronze technology transformed Shang China. Came from
southwest Asia with horses and horse drawn chariots, carts,
wagons, and other wheeled vehicles. Shang rulers monopolized the
use of bronze.
EGYPT: Bronze came later than in Mesopotamia. Use of bronze
became widespread in Egypt only after the seventeenth century
BCE when the Hyksos relied on bronze weapons to impose their
authority on the Nile Delta. High cost of copper kept bronze out of
the hands of subordinates
Iron – MESOPOTAMIA: AFTER 1000 BCE MESOPOTAMIAN CRAFTSMEN
BEGAN TO MANUFACTURE EFFECTIVE TOOLS AND WEAPONS WITH IRON
AS WELL AS BRONZE. –HITTITES CREDITED WITH MAKING TOOLS
 CHINA: during the first millennium BCE the technology of iron
metallurgy spread to China and gradually made bronze weapons
obsolete. Zhou kings were unable to control access to them.
 EGYPT: independtly developed in sub Saharan Africa.
 INDIA: AFTER 1000 BCE THE TECHNIQUES OF IRON
METALLURGY WERE INTRODUCED IN INDIA—ARYANS USED
IRON AAXES AND TOOLS TO ADVANCE INTO REGIONS
PREVIOUSLY inaccessible to them—jungle covered valley of the
Ganges River etc.
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Textile Production harder to detect the beginning of this b/c
the fibers disappear after time. Fiber from plants and
animals—selective breeding. Used technology that spun fibers
into cloth. Women probably did this work. –work that could be
done while nursing children.
Weaving invented to shape baskets and nets
Shipbuilding in Mesopotamia
Whieels invented for use on carts and sails for use on boats.
Dams for the unpredictable Tigris and Euphrates
Knowledge of how to use metals: copper and tin create bronze
– enhanced the growth of civilizaitons became the Bronze Age.
Later—IRON
o Hittites knew how to use IRON
SHANG: Accomplished bronze workers
o Horse Drawn Charitos spoked wheel, experts in pottery
and silk . decimal system and highly accurate calendar.
Bantus built canoes
4. Describe the systems of social structure and gender structure
(Comparing major features within and among societies, assessing
change)
The concentration of people into permanent settlements and the increasing
specialization of labor—provided the first opportunity for individuals to
accumulate wealth. Individuals could trade surplus food or manufactured goods
for other items of value. PRIVATE PROPERTY IS A NEW CONCEPT – land the
ultimate source of wealth in an agricultural society. Owned land had economic
power.
Egypt: the first female ruler in history was Egyptian Queen Hatshepsut –
expanded Egyptian trade expeditions. Egyptian women had many rights. During
the New Kingdom women could buy and sell property, inherit property, and
choose ot will their property how they pleased,. Women also had the right to
dissolve their marriages. Women were still expected to be subservient to men
and were valued most when they bore children. Young girls not educated nearly
as well as young boys.
Egyptian Social Structure:
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In Egypt and Nubia alike, ancient cities were centers of
considerable accumulated wealth, which encouraged the
development of social distinctions and hierarchies.
Like Mesopotamia, slaves played important roles, as did peasants.
Unlike Mesopotamia, Egypt had a centralized government.
Unlike Mesopotamia, Egpyt had a military force and elaborate
bureaucracy of administrators and tax collectors
PATRIARCHIAL
All authority to men
Women in charge of domestic work
Men and women could own land.
Indus:
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Social Structure
Adapted from the Aryans was very rigid—became the basis of the
Caste System
Brahmans were the closest to God and they were on the top then
warriors and then peasants
No social mobility between castes—no intermarrying of castes
Women: All chiefs, warriors, priests in Aryan society were men.
Women had no public authority.
Only males could inherit property
Only men could provide over family rituals that honored ancestors
(like China)
Formal education in Sanskrit remained a mostly male preserve
Women rarely learned the Vedas
Shang: Patriarchal structure led by the eldest male
 Gods controlled all aspects of peoples’ lives
 Asked for the help of their dead ancestors as their advocates with
the gods. Great significance to the extended family.
 ZHOU:
o Developed the feudal system in Japan.
o King was the ruler of the entire empire
o Too big for one person to manage—nobles were given
power over smaller regions, within the empire.
o Established a bureaucracy—lasted until feudal lords
overthrew Zhou Dynasty in 256 BCE
o Ruling elite class, free artisans and craftsmen, a large class
of peasants, and slaves completed the social class structure
o Women were subordinate to men- After the Shang Dynasty,
not even queens or empresses merited temples dedicated
exclusively to their memories—at most they had the honor of
being associated with their husband.
o Women lived in the shadow of men
o BECAUSE men were in charge of ancestor veneration and
therefore had the most important role in the home.
Mesopotamia:
 With specialized labor and long distance trade cities provided many
opportunities for the accumulation of wealth
 Social distinctions in Mesopotamia became much more sharply
defined than those of Neolithic villages.
 Ruling elites and priests—priests and priestesses lived in temple
communities
 Less privileged classes for free commoners, dependent clients, and
slaves.
 Slaves: prisoners of war, convicted criminals, and heavily indebted
individuals who sold themselves into slavery to satisfy debts (often
granted freedom after debt repaid)
 Patriarchal society that vested authority over public and private
affairs in adult men.
 Hammurabi’s code—men as head of homes
 Men had the power to sell their wives and children into slavery to
satisfy debts.
o WOMEN: in the law they were subordinate
o Women began to wear veils!!!
  Death by drowning to the women for adultery vs. men who could
have loose sexual relations with slaves, concubines, prostitutes
without penalty
5. Describe culture and intellectual developments and interactions
among and within societies.
Epic of Gilgamesh Mesopotamia—5th King of the City Uruk. A part of both
mythology and folklore in Mesopotamia. He was wise, strong, and magnificent as
bestowed on him by the Gods. Heroic stories told in the Epic of Gilgamesh
Sacred Writings of the Jews (the Old Testament of the Christian Bible) –Jews
adopted from Epic of Gilgamesh –altered the story and adapted it to their own
interests and purposes –concept of flood story shows they participated in the
larger society of Mesopotamia. Known as Israelites led by Moses to Jerusalem.
Egypt—used pictographs, hieroglyphics on papyrus
Vedas—Left behind by the Aryans in Mesopotamia. Collection of sacred hymns,
songs, prayers, and rituals—Vedas reveals hierarchical, male-dominated society.
6. Describe changes in functions and structure of states and attitudes
towards states and political identities (political and cultural),
including the emergence of the nation-state.
As people congregated in cities
they needed to find ways to resolve disputes—sometimes between residents
within individual settlements
other times between whole settlements themselves—that ineveitably arose as
individual and group interests conflicted. In search of order
settled agricultural peoples recognized political authorities and built states
throughout Mesopotamia. The establishment of states encourage the creation of
empires
as some states sought to extend their power and enhance their security by
imposing their rule on neighboring lands.
7. * What is the ‘Capital’ of the world for this time period? Why? Describe the
legacy of this ‘Capital’.
Egypt? Greatest legacy—iron, Mediterranian trade, would be a crossroads for
Persia, Greece, Rome. We know the most about it because we deciphered their
writing. Centralized government.
8. ** How do the major civilizations of this time period compare?
(politically, economically, Culturally.)
Politically
Mesopotamia Many city states with their
own government
Hammurabi of Babylon
ruled from 1792-1750—
first written legal code
1. retribution, 2. Lower
social stutus had more
severe punishment, 3.
Government had a
responsibility to its ciizens
(if u were robbed, the govt
would reimburse you)
Economically
Traded with Egypt
and as far east as
Indus for Indus
textiles
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Culturally
Polytheism
Except Jewish
culture
Patriarchial and
hierarchical society
Specialized labor
Social Structure—
There was almost total
urbanization in Mesopotamia
No authority in rural parts
meant no protection so
people were forced to the
cities
Conflict, environmental
devastation destroyed Sumer
b/c it was vulnerable to
outside forces
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Egypt
Indus
Divine pharaohs –
centralized government
with a bureaucracy
Dependent on
Nile river for trade
into the
Mediterranean
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Polytheism
Patriarchal and
hierarchical society
 Specialized labor
 priests followed
Extensive long
pharaoh,
distance trade due
commoners and
to tech. innovation
slaves
with boats.
 Professional
military and a
bureaucracy to
collect taxes
 Females could take
on administrative
jobs if they were
educated
 Traded with
 Polytheism
Mesopotamia
 Greatly influenced
 Cultivated
by Aryans
cotton for trade
 Never deciphered
writing system
 Patriarchal and
hierarchical society
 Specialized labor
 Fertility—very
important
 Aryans made ritual
sacrifices like
Mesoamericans.
RELIGION
 Upanishads:
philosophical texts
and Vedas—
hymns and songs
of the Aryans
China
Shang Kings relied on a
large corps of political
allies. They did not rule a
highly centralized state.
Rather, their authority
rested on a vast network of
walled towns whose local
rulers recognized authority
of the Shang kings.
Mandate of Heaven /
Dynastic Cycle
There is evidence
of long distance
trade with India—
Chinese pottery in
Mohenjo Daro
Mostly self
sustaining
agriculture with
large peasant and
slave population
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Zhou state was much
larger than the Shang –
decentralized
administration/bureaucracy
Centralized rule in Qin
Dynasty which was after
the Warring States (after
the Zhou)
Mesoamerica Olmecs: the Rubber
* only non
People Authoritarian in
river valley
nature
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Influence
extended into
modern Mexico
and Latin America
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Polytheism
Patriarchal and
hierarchical society
Specialized labor
Veneration of
ancestors and the
importance of
family unit
Oracle Bones came
from royal archives
Early writing was
pictographs
No alphabet
The Book of Songs
^ a collection of
verses on themes
both light and
serious
Most Zhou writings
have perished –
written on bamboo
Polytheism
Patriarchal and
hierarchical society
Specialized labor
Chavin in the Andes- there
is no evidence to suggest
that Chavin cultural and
religious beliefs led to the
establishment of a state or
any organized political
order.
–spread by
military force but
also by trade .
traded jade no
metal technology.
Used obsidian
Chavin—Rich
Marine Life –little
communication
with other South
American peoples
– cultivation of
maize slowly
spread into Andes
. Andean gold
silver and copper
metallurgy
traveled north to
Mesoamerica
Similarities between first permanent settlements:
 Specialization
 Social stratification
 Trade (metals)
Similarities between first cities and complex societies:
 surplus
 cities
 specialization
 trade that is transregional
 organized government
 complex religions
 written language
 arts and architecture
DATES:
8000 BCE first agricultural villages
3200 BCE era of Sumerain dominance
 Hammurabi 1792-50 BCE
4000-3000 Beginning of the Bronze Age in Mesopotamia
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Astronomical
observations and a
calendar to keep
track of
seasons…invented
writing but little
survives of it—
cultivatd corn which
is a continuity
through time into
the subsequent
eras.
2000 BCE Bantu Migrations
Unification of Egypt 3100 BCE King Menes Built a centralized state ruled by the
pharaoh, the Egyptian king.
2500 BCE High point of Harappan society
 Aryans in Indus 1700 BCE –greatly impact Indus culture/social structure
1300 BCE Refinement of Iron Metallurgy—important in weapons –
 Hittites were not the original inventors either of horse drawn chariots or of iron
metallurgy—in both cases they built on Mesopotamian preedents—but in both
cases they clearly improved on exisiting technologies and introduced innovations
that other peoples readily adopted.
Shang Dynasty 1766-1122 BCE
Zhou Dynasty 1122-256 BCE (followed by Warring States period 403-221 BCE)
1200-100 BCE Olmec
1000 Chavin people of Andes
Three Cards:
CARD 1: List all major river valley civilizations and significant economic, political,
cultural features—include technology
CARD 2: Continuities and Changes over time (from Neolithic to pre Classical
civilization)
CARD 3: Major points of comparison and contrast