Lecture 1: The Birth of Civilization

The Hominids (6-7 million years old)

Hominid Family The extinct and

extant humans, chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans.

Homo: 1.5-2.5 million

years genus that includes

modern humans and their close relatives

Forced out of trees by a warm spell in Africa when savannah spread

Early Hominids

Homo Habilis: 2.5-1.4 million years

ago Crude stone tools Furs Learned to make fire

Homo Erectus 1.3 million to 300,000

years ago Skilled Hunter-

Gatherers Controlled Use of Fire

Later Hominids

Homo Neanderthalis 250,000-24,000 years

ago Europe and Asia Adapted to the cold First religious humans Died out when things

warmed up

Homo Sapiens 50,000 years ago to

now Came out of Africa Adapted for

Endurance Running and temperate to hot climate

US

The Stone Age

The Paleolithic (1-2 million BC to 10,000 BC):

Hunter-Gatherer tribes Mesolithic Era (10,000 to 6,000 BC):

Herding of Animals Begins Horticulture

Neolithic Era (7,000 to 3,500 BC):

Horse and Ox domesticated for transport / labor Better agriculture. Grains (Eurasia, Africa); Corn (America) Cities now arise Some can specialize in craft and other skills

Ancient Mesopotamia in Bronze Age

River-Based Civilization Irrigation Agriculture

Monarchical Cities Fighting for Dominance

Sumeria (3-2000 BC)

Babylon and Amorites (1900-1600 BC)

Babylon founded by Amorites in 1900

Center of a local empire

Code of Hammurabi (1792-1750 BC) Fixed laws, fixed

punishments Influenced by class Backed by the gods GE: p. 39-42

Sumerian Tech

Bronze armor and weapons – spears and bows Lacked siege technology

Cuneiform Writing Babylonians (base 60 numbers) created basis

of our time keeping and measurement of circles (360 degrees) and thus our latitude & longitude

Invented the Wheel (Pottery, Carts)

Sumerian Society

Religion Polytheistic Humanity exists to

feed the gods with Sacrifice

Story of the Flood (Epic of Gilgamesh, GE, p. 16-22)

Classes: Nobles (War) Commoners (Craft) Slaves (Farm)

Literate Scribe class Trade by Barter

Ancient Egypt

The Gift of the Nile Annual Floods =

Super Agriculture Land

The Old Kingdom (2700-2200 BC):

Ruled by the Pharoah, a Living God

What was buried with you, you took to the Afterlife

This inspired Pyramid construction for the Pharoah

Great Pyramid Sphinx

Ancient Egypt

The First Intermediate Period and Middle Kingdom (2200-2052 BC / 2052 BC – 1786 BC):

Pyramids sacked during time of anarchy

Reunited Kingdom has a weaker Pharoah

But it pushes south, west, east

Everyone can pass to afterlife now!

The Second Intermediate Period and New Kingdom (1786-1575 BC / 1575 BC – 1087 BC):

Barbarians (Hyskos) take over for a while

Once overthrown, Egypt builds an Empire

Fights Hittites, both sides then stomped by Iron Age Barbarians (Sea Peoples)

Society

Akhenaten:

Pharoah who tried to overthrow the priests; institute monotheistic sun worship

After his death, his son Tutenkhamen goes back to the old ways

Women in Egypt Below ruling elites, did much

of the same work as men

Pharoahs married their sisters

Hatsheput ruled in her own right, depicted male in art

GE, p. 52-4.

Other Middle Eastern Nations

The Hittites (1500-1200 BC):

Iron-Age Chariot Warriors, Foes of Egypt The Assyrians (1000-612 BC):

Ruled by terror and hate; everyone teams up to kill them Neo-Babylonian Empire: (626-539 AD):

Post-Assyrian empire Biblical king Nebuchanezzar Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

Harappan or Indus Culture (2600-1700 BC)

70 cities

Common city structure, writing, measures, styles Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro (35,000 +) SEWERS!!!!

Economy: Export Cotton, Import Metals and Gems

Religion: Poorly Understood

Collapse: Ecological Disaster, Aryan Invasion

The Aryans

Steppe Nomads who hit Iran and India 1800-1500 BC

The Vedas—Ritual Texts of the Aryans Around 1000-600 BC, the Brahmins (Priests) write the Brahamanas (commentaries on the Vedas) and the epics: The Mahābhārata and the Ramayana

Aryans gradually mix with the conquered folk but tend to treat darker skinned folk (Dasas) as inferior, even much later.

Originally lived pretty crudely; by 700 BC, they live in nice cities and have rediscovered writing

Class System

Brahmins (Priests) Rshatriva (Warrior) Vaishya (Free Commoner) Shudra (Servant) Dasas (Least Desirable Jobs, treated as scum)

Class is hereditary and considered due to behavior in past lives; you have a dharma, religious duties of your class. Carry it out and you move up the chain, fail and you go down the chain.

Bhagavad-Gita, GE, p. 75-8.

Aryan Religion

Classic Nomadic Polytheism → Very Abstract and Philosophical over time

Original Aryans worshiped manlike and animal-man gods, like Indira, a thunder/war god who rode an elephant or Ganesh, god of Elephants

Priests gradually came to see this as silly and moved on to more abstract issues

Early China

Yellow River Valley (4000 BC onwards)

Grain cultivation and wattle and daub pithouses The Shang (1700s-1000s)

Bronze age city states with chariot warrior nobles Ancestor worship and a Celestial kingdom Human Sacrifice

The Western Zhou (1050 BC-771 BC)

Feudal State Idea of the Mandate of Heaven

The Iron Age

Eastern Zhou (771-486 BC)

Central authority is crumbling Warring States Period (401-256 BC)

Agriculture improves but government collapses Shift from noble charioteers to professional soldiers with

crossbow, spear, iron armor. Huge armies Kings arise and establish literate bureaucracies

Philosophical ferment

Migration to the Americas

Humans arrive during last Ice Age (13,000 years ago)

Push South in Waves

Technological Isolation

Stone Age Arrival Stone Tools and Dogs No Agriculture or other animals

Low Levels of Long-Distance Trade Slows Idea Spread

Everyone Mostly Invents It On Their Own, Unlike Eurasia and Africa

Bio-Isolation

Lack of Draft Animals Fewer indigenous diseases Cultural Impacts

Healthier Cities But Smaller Cities due to Poor Farming Less Long Distance Trade

Corn and Agriculture

4000 BC – Breeding of Corn Begins in Mesoamerica

Americans grow high-protein plants (such as beans)

Three Sisters Cultivation Corn on a fertilized mound Beans grow up the Corn Squash surrounds and protects

Mesoamerica (2000-1500 BC)

Culture Zone in Central-South Mexico and Central America

Obsidian is primary weapon / tool material

Stone housing

City-States

Mesoamerican Calendar

Sacrifice of blood and humans

Andean South America: Preceramic and Initial Period: 3000-800 BC

Oldest Ritual Center: 2800 BC

Mix of Seafood, Squash, Beans, Chili Peppers

Cotton Clothing

2500 BC: The Llama is domesticated

2000 BC – Pottery is invented, Agriculture Rises

Chavin de Huantar and the Early Horizon (800 BC-200 AD)

Chavin de Huantar—900 BC, Peru Highlands

Trade and Agriculture

Declines between 500 and 300 B.C

Skilled metal workers and textile makers

Religion involved hallucinogens and shamanism