Emergence of Civilization

World HistoryChapter One

Definitions

• History – a record of events since people first developed writing 5000 years ago

• Prehistory – long period of time before people kept written records

• Civilization – highly organized society with complex institutions and attitudes that link a large number of people together

• Anthropologists – scientists who study skeletal remains of early human like creatures and people to determine how they looked, how long they lived, and other physical characteristics

Definitions Part 2

• Archaeologists – scientists who excavate ancient settlements and study artifacts

• Artifacts – human made material objects such as tools, weapons, or coins

• Culture – what a human group acquires through living together and includes language, knowledge, skills, art, literature, law, and life styles

• Radiocarbon dating – a technique that allows the age of organic matter to be identified by measuring the rate of decay

Definitions Part 3

• Paleolithic Age – aka the Old Stone Age, when human like creatures first appeared– Most artifacts that survived were stone

• Neolithic Age – came after Paleolithic age• Ethiopia 1974 – female skeleton dated

3.7million years old (an Australopithecines named ‘Lucy’)

• Tanzania 1978 – Found a female skeleton dated 1.8 million years old in Olduvai Gorge

“Lucy”

Early human characteristics

• Had strong jaws, receding chins, low foreheads, heavy eye ridges

• Ate veggies, seeds, fruits, nuts, plants

• Hunted small animals• Began using tools and

migrated to find food

Paleolithic Age

• Universe is approx 15 billion years old and started with tremendous explosion

• Man begins in the Paleolithic Age (3 mill years ago to 10,000 years ago)

• Birthplace of humanity: East Africa• First humans were nomadic, hunters, gatherers• Grouped up; formed labor divisions; social bonds; made

weapons; judged weather patterns• The weak died off and the strong genes survived• Developed language, tools, fire, religious beliefs, had witch

doctors(specialists that communicated with the gods)

Neanderthals

• Appeared 30, 000 to 100, 000 years ago in Germany

• Powerful, huge heads, protruding foreheads, no chins

• Buried their dead in mounds• Painted, collected flowers, had weapons• Women used utensils• Were 4-5 ft in height

Neanderthal hunters

Burying the dead

Cro-Magnon

• Appeared in Europe about the same time the Neanderthals disappeared

• From Africa or Asia• Had better tools and weapons (spears)• Painted animals• Lived in caves• Died out at the end of the Stone Age

Cro-Magnonskull

Humanskull

Cro-Magnonman

Average height of early humans

Neolithic Age

• Began 10,000 years ago with end of Paleolithic Age and with discovery of farming

• Neolithic Revolution began in the hilly regions of Iran and Iraq

• 1st domesticated animal = dog• 1st farm animals to be domesticated = sheep &

goats

Remains from Neolithic Age

Farming

• Results of farming1. Permanent settlements2. Grew barley and wheat3. Began to trade salt and iron ore4. Commerce began because of food surplus5. Private property emerged6. Farming villages led to ruling elite (government)7. Made baskets and tools to help with farming

Farming in the old days

Neolithic Settlements

• Oldest Neolithic settlements began around 8000 B.C.

• Three major ones:– Catal Hujuk– Jarmo in Iraq– Jericho in Israel

• Jericho: had 2,000 people; public works; huge walls made of mud brick; highly developed government; advanced in technology; had the wheel, pottery, good soil, wooden plow

Jericho

End of Neolithic Age

• Neolithic Age ended with discovery of metal

• Copper was first• Combined copper and

tin = bronze• Bronze = more durable

and sharper cutting edge

• Bronze Age begins

Religion and Civilizations

• Religion during the Neolithic Age was polytheistic (many gods)

• Alters were erected by wealthy priests• Civilizations (large urban settlements with a

varied social structure, large number of people, highly organized government, and complex religions) began 5,000 years ago in the Middle East

Neolithic Religious Altar

First Civilizations

• Two major civilizations in Middle East:– Mesopotamia (Greek meaning “land between two

rivers” – the Tigris and Euphrates) in Iraq– Egypt area (around the Nile River)

• Reason for success: geography• River valleys flooded (fertile soil)• Drained swamps, built canals and dykes for

irrigation• Learned rules, math skills, engineering, and record

keeping

Sumer

• First people in Mesopotamia were Sumerians• Migrated to Sumer around 5000 B.C.• Developed city-states (Ur, Lagash, Babylon)• Developed cuneiform (wedge-shaped pictures

and symbols they used for writing by punching holes in clay tablets)

• Built houses, palaces, temples, and schools• Invented medicines, lunar calendar, epic poems

Ancient cuneiform

Ancient cuneiform

Sumer continued…

• Invaded in 2350 B.C. by Semites from Arabia led by Sargon the Great

• Used Sumer as a base• Semites conquered territory from the Persian Gulf to the

Mediterranean Sea• Semites collapsed around 2200 B.C. and the Ammonites

invaded (destroyed everything)• 200 years of chaos followed then Hammurabi made Babylon

powerful (Hammurabi’s code – first written law code)• Sumerian language and nationality disappeared but culture

and legal forms lived on

END OF CHAPTER 1!!!