Early Humans and Civilizations

Neolithic Revolution

• Beginning around 10,000 to 8,000 BC, humans began to domesticate animals and raise crops. This shift in the way humans began to obtain food is known as the Neolithic Revolution.
• Humans now begin to build permanent settlements
• A more steady food supply allows larger populations of humans in one area, as well as better disease resistance.
• Early humans may have used the "slash-and-burn" farming method.
• No evidence to why humans began to farm. Theories include climate change and accidental discovery.

Formation of Early Civilization

Civilizations Emerge

• Due to people settling in one area for extended periods of time, groups of people began to develop unique cultures.
• Anthropologists are able to study the remains of these early settlements and give us a look into that group's culture.
• Some of these groups of people would develop into advanced civilizations, while other cultures would die off before reaching this stage.
• As civilizations grew into larger advanced civilizations, their culture and technology would expand. An example of this is civilizations entering the "Bronze Age," or a period where tools and weapons are made from bronze instead of stone.
• Bronze > Stone
• Evidence of culture in these civilizations is not just tied to their tools and buildings, but also to monuments that they may have built. Ex. Stonehenge

• Advanced Civilizations bring a change in the economy and social structure.
• People begin to hold jobs that do not include farming or hunting.
• Religion becomes more organized and social classes begin to form.
• In order to be characterized as civilization, a group of people must meet 5 characteristics.
• Advanced Cities
• Is it a center of trade? Are goods exchanged?
• Specialized Workers
• Is there specialization? Farmers? Artisans?
• Complex Institutions
• Is there a government? Set of laws/moral code? Religion? Economy?
• Record Keeping
• Are records being kept? Are they recording their history? Is there a form of writing? Ex. Cuneiform
• Advanced Technology
• Have they entered the Bronze Age? Are they improving on old tools and weapons?

Evidence Supporting Migrations

• Early humans were nomads and hunter-gathers, not staying in one place for very long, following their food sources.
• Evidence that supports this is their fossils, artifacts, and cave paintings.
• This life style would only allow groups of 70 or less humans to be able to survive together.

Great Britain

Ireland

Everything up to this point in human history is known as the Old Stone Age.

Stonehenge

The Americas

• Crossed land bridge between Serbia and Alaska approximately 14,000 years ago during the Last Glacier Maximum.
• The first major group of humans to settle the Americas are known as the Clovis culture, known for the shape of the arrowheads that they produced.
• Using common features of these arrowheads has allowed anthropologists to track migration routes for these humans.
• This culture eventually dies off but as groups migrated, this culture may have formed the basis of many Native American cultures.
• Recently, spear points have been found in Texas dating back 15,500 years ago, suggesting that humans migrated to the Americas much earlier than first thought.
• As humans migrated southward, we begin to see the establishment of the early civilizations that would later become the Souix, Cherokee, Aztecs, Mayans, and Incas, as well as other Native American civilizations throughout the Americas.

Review and Why It Matters Today

Early Chinese Civilizations

• Fossil records show humans existed in China about 1.7 million years ago but did not begin to set up cities until about 2000 BC.
• Many of these cities were established along the Huang He and Yangtze Rivers that would bring fertile soil known as loess along its banks.
• Only 10% of China's land is suitable for farming and this land lays between these two rivers.
• Natural barriers prevented the Chinese from trading with other civilizations but did not prevent invaders from entering from the west and north.
• The Chinese created dynasties to rule over the people. The first of these was the Shang Dynasty.
• Chinese culture
• Any outsiders were not civilized. China was the center of civilization in their eyes.
• Family was extremely important. Most important virtue was respect for one's parents. Women were treated as inferiors.
• Sharp divide between social classes of warrior-nobles ruling class and peasants. "Feudalism"
• Family was linked to religion. Spirits of your ancestors had the power to bring good fortune or disaster to living members of the family. These spirits were not gods.
• Could be consulted through the use of oracle bones.
• Developed a complex system of writing where a symbol stood for a syllable or a unit of language. No link between being able to read and speak the language.
• Around 1027 BC the Zhou overthrew the Shang. To explain this change in the ruling family, the Mandate of Heaven was established.
• This created what was known as a dynastic cycle.
• Zhou had vast improvements to roads and canals, coining money and cast iron.

Mesopotamia

• Located in the "Fertile Crescent," an area of fertile farm land between the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers.
• Humans began to settle the region, near the Persian Gulf, before 4500 BC.
• Sumerians arrived around 3,300 BC.
• Area has no natural barriers to provide protection, unpredictable flooding and few natural resources for building.
• The Sumerians counted these problems with irrigation ditches, city walls made of mud bricks, and traded grain, cloth, and crafted tools with people of other areas for stone, wood and metal.
• Each city would be its own independent entity known as a city-state, functioning similarly to how a country would operate today.
• Priests and rulers would share control. Eventually, military leaders would gain control and become rulers.
• Ziggurats would be largest buildings in cities and serve as the government buildings, as well as religious centers.
• Increased trade with the area will lead to cultural diffusion with other cultures. Jewelry from India has been found in this area and vise versa.
• Sumerians were polytheists, worshiping many gods. See "Epic of Gilgamesh."
• Social classes existed and women had more rights than later civilizations.

Babylonians

• Sumerian city-states would war with one another and eventually be conquered by Sargon of Akkad.
• Took control of both northern and southern Mesopotamia, Sargon created the first empire.
• Around 2,000 BC, nomadic warriors known as the Amorites invaded and eventually took over, establishing their capital at Babylon on the Euphrates River.
• This Babylonian empire reaches its peak during the reign of Hammurabi, between 1792 BC to 1750 BC.
• Hammurabi is famous for the code of laws he established, known as "Hammurabi's Code." Ex. Eye for an eye.

Egypt

• Civilization develops alongside the Nile River in current day Egypt due to its fertile soil.
• The Nile River would flood regularly, allowing Egyptians to predict when it would flood.
• Deserts on each side of the Nile created a natural barrier to protect the Egyptians.
• These two factors allowed Egypt to flourish and become a lasting civilization.
• Egypt was originally two separate kingdoms but would be united around 3000 BC by a king named Narmer.
• This would be the first of 31 Egyptian dynasties, spanning 2,600 years.
• From this point on, kings would be known as pharaohs and be considered gods, making Egypt a theocracy.
• When pharaohs died, they would be mummified and buried inside a pyramid. Pharaohs would spend most of their lives planning for their death and afterlife.
• Egyptians created a system of writing where they would use pictures to symbolize words known as hieroglyphics. Originally written on stone and clay, Egyptians would eventually use papyrus reeds.
• This period of Egyptian history known as the "Old Kingdom" would be brought to an end about 2180 BC and the "Middle Kingdom" period lasted from 2040-1640 BC when invaders from Israel known as the Hyksos took over for approx. 100 years.

The Pyramids

• Great example of Egyptian architecture and knowledge of engineering, math and craftsmanship.
• Egyptians had a system of written numbers that would have helped plan the designs for the pyramids.

Indus River Valley Civilizations

• Humans ventured into the subcontinent of India well before 7000 BC and farming in this area by 3200 BC.
• Little is known about this group of people and their civilization.
• Hindu Kush mountains protect against invaders, while fertile silt is brought by the flooding of the Ganges and Indus Rivers each year.
• Seasonal winds, known as a monsoon, help control the climate, creating a dry season from October to February, and a wet season from June to October.
• The Indus River Valley Civilizations had sophisticated city planning, laid out on a grid system with a fortified area known as a citadel.
• Also created a sophisticated plumbing and sewage system, just as good as any system that modern humans could create up until the 19th century (1800s AD).
• Developed a system of written language that has yet to be decipher. Very unique language.
• Evidence suggests that social classes did not differ much in terms of what was available to the people in each class, and few weapons have been found suggesting that warfare and conflict were limited.
• Animals may have played a large role in their culture as they are seen on items such as pottery, statues, toys, and seals on trade goods.
• Possible theocracy. May be linked to the modern Hindu religion.
• Evidence of trade with peoples of Mesopotamia through the use of ships.
• Civilization begins to die out around 1750 BC for reasons unknown. Possible tectonic plate movement may have caused rivers to change paths, forcing people to move or die.

Hominid Development Timeline*

Homo Habilis

• 2.4 million to 1.5 million BC
• east Africa
• very small brain, 700 cubic cm
• first to make stone tools

Homo Erectus

• 1.9 million to 50,000 BC
• found in Africa, Asia and Europe
• small brain, 1,000 cubic cm
• first to apply technology, improving their stone tools- more closely resembling our knifes and hammers of today

Australopithecus

• 4 million to 1.8 million BC
• southern and eastern Africa
• very small brain. 500 cubic cm
• first to walk upright

Homo Sapiens

• This is you
• 1,300 cubic cm brain
• Created the iPhone and Fortnite

"Cro-Magnon" (Early Homo Sapiens)

• 40,000 to 8,000 BC
• found in Europe
• brain size 1,400 cubic cm
• first fully modern human
• created art

Neanderthal

• about 200,000 to 30,000 BC
• Europe and Southwest Asia
• brain was 1,450 cubic cm
• first to have ritual burials, possibly a religion

* All the Hominids that we currently know (2012)

Early Human Migrations

Early Humans and Civilizations

Chapters 1-2

• List and explain the importance of the various stages of hominid development discussed in class.
• Discuss the importance of the Neolithic Revolution to modern civilization. This should include some discussion of how villages grow into cities.
• Classify American culture as it relates to the five characteristics of civilization. For example, St. Louis would be an advanced city.
• Review Hammurabi’s Code and its importance to modern day civilization. Explain whether or not the code could be effective in today’s society
• Compare and contrast the 2 of the 4 early civilizations discussed in class. Include differences in social classes, religion, government, etc.

What Is History And Where Does It Begin?

History is the study of what has happened in the past.

The history of the universe begins with the "Big Bang (Theory)".

The history of Earth begins when particles of matter from the Big Bang begin to clump together to form a mass in space.

The history of humans begins when hominid creatures (our distant relatives) begin to walk upright on two feet.

We know what our history includes because anthropologists and archaeologists are able to use artifacts, bones, and more recently, DNA evidence, to explain what came before humans began to write things down as they happened.

As new discoveries and technological advances are made, our history and the history of other things, can change.