Period 1: Technological and Environmental Transformations HUMAN P REHISTORY TO COMPLEX SOCIETIES ( C. 4 MILLION BCE 3500 BCE)
Overview Prehistory: period before writing History: period after invention of writing (c.3500 B.C.E.) Writing allowed communities to record & store info. Basic development: Hunting and foraging (Paleolithic Era) Agriculture (Neolithic Revolution ) Complex societies (Major development = 3500 B.C.E. 500 B.C.E.) Summary: Explain how humans were able to adapt to their environment(s) and the effects of their adaptation.
Development of Hominids Animals adapt themselves to environment (Evolution) Video: Evolution 101 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j UM6NOARlO4 (4:30) Hominids (primate species including humans) adapt environment to themselves Use of tools Language Complex cooperative social structures
Fat Boy Slim VIDEO: https://www.youtube.c om/watch?v=ub747ppr mj8 (3:48)
Hominid Species Australopithecus = southern ape Discovery of skeleton AL-288-1, north of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Nicknamed Lucy 4 1 million yrs. Ago Homo erectus = upright walking man 2 million 200,000 yrs. ago Neandert(h)als = became extinct Homo sapiens = consciously thinking man Homo sapiens sapiens (that s us!) 200,000 yrs. Ago Scientists use radiocarbon dating on found bones, artifacts to determine age
http://www.handprint.com/ls/anc/disp.html
Global Migrations of Homo erectus and Homo sapiens 2011, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Push vs. Pull Factors Push Factors Factors that drive people from their current location Examples: Pull Factors Factors that draw people to a location Examples:
9 Migration By 13,000 B.C.E., Homo sapiens had migrated to every part of world Evidence = archaeological finds Sophisticated tools Choppers, scrapers, axes, knives, bows, arrows Cave and hut-like dwellings Use of fire, animal skins
Paleolithic Society Paleolithic Era = Old Stone Age Hunting-gathering peoples NO individual accumulation of property or social distinctions based on wealth = egalitarian existence. Social distinction based on age, strength, courage, virility/fertility
Hunting and gathering Hunting and gathering (foraging) lifestyle = Egalitarian Equal contribution Men (hunters) - Provides meat Interdependent Live in small bands (more efficient) Women (gatherers) - Provides plants, fruits, nuts, roots Exploit env. systematically (seasonal migrations) Hunt with purpose & use brain Development of weaponry, animal-skin disguises, stampeding tactics (Lighting of fires, etc., to drive game into kill zones)
12 Homo sapiens in the Paleolithic Era Humans adapt environment to themselves with (1) Use of tools Stone tools ( lithic ) Bow and arrow a dramatic improvement in humans power over nature (Why?) (2) Language Humans became able to accumulate/transmit info and technology Cave paintings (animals & humans), sewing, beads, necklaces, sculptures (3) Complex cooperative social structures Hunting and gathering, development of weaponry, animal-skin disguises, stampeding tactics (Lighting of fires, etc., to drive game into kill zones) 2011, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Venus figurines shows evidence of worship (what s important?)
2011, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 13
Mesolithic Era Middle Stone Age Improved tools (rafts, etc.) Domestication of animals Increased conflict Video: Domestication of dogs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mclq _8I1paY (2:27) Summary:
Paleolithic Era vs. Neolithic Era Agriculture became way to sustain life through continuous food source before McDonalds. Neolithic Era - New Stone Age Beginning of agriculture Humans relied on cultivation for subsistence Agriculture = cultivating of plants/animals (farming), pastoralism = focus is raising livestock (goats, cattle, sheep, llamas, etc.) Domestication (plant and animal) is crucial! Men: herding animals vs. hunting Women: nurturing vegetation vs. foraging Summary: Explain how the key issue of surplus food (agriculture) helped create human civilization.
Domestication of Plants
Neolithic Era New Stone Age Distinction in tool production Chipped vs. polished Effects of spread of agriculture Slash-and-burn techniques Exhaustion of soil promotes migration Diffusion of crops Slash-and-burn agriculture is still used today
Early Agriculture 10,000 2,000 B.C.E. http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/history/lecture03/r_3-2.html
Agriculture and Change Most important change = population explosion
Agriculture and Population Growth 20 2011, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Agriculture and Change Neolithic Settlements Agricultural economy and increasing population led to new forms of social organization. Settled in permanent villages Earliest known = Jericho in present-day Israel (before 8000 B.C.E.) w/ 2,000 ppl. Specialization of Labor Concentration of many people in villages led to specialization of labor - with food surplus, some people did other work. Example: Çatal Hüyük
Çatal Hüyük A reconstruction of the first city in the world, Catal Huyuk, Anatolia, present day Turkey. This city flourished from about 6250 BCE to 5400 BCE, and was excavated in part in 1961. The rectangular shape of the buildings: as there is no readily available stone to build defensive walls, the buildings were made to face inwards, with no windows on the outside. The only entrance to the city was through ladders leading onto the roofs of the outside buildings. The streetless city offered a high degree of protection from outside attackers in this way - if under attack, the outside ladders were withdrawn, and any would be attacker was faced with a solid wall and no gate or other weak point. http://www.lwcag.org/sub-racial/chapter-the-late-paleolithic-age.html
Agriculture and Change Specialization of Labor Social Distinction Specialization of Labor Pottery (needed to store/cook food) Metallurgy Copper (jewelry/tools) - 4000 BCE Bronze 3000 BCE Iron 1500 BCE Textile (domesticated plants/ animals for better fiber) Mostly women Social Distinctions Accumulated wealth Neolithic pottery, excavated from Yung Long & Tuen Mun (Hong Kong) Trade surplus food/manufactured goods for gems, jewelry Ownership of land (privatization) = economic power (especially for families who passed down wealth)
Agriculture and Change Neolithic Villages vs. Cities Cities cities = larger, more complex than villages (i.e. governors, administrators, tax collectors to run city & priests to transmit values/traditions) cities influenced political, economic, & cultural life of larger region (i.e. political = extending authority/military power, economic = marketplaces/trading, cultural = schools/temples to spread traditions/values)
Agriculture and Change Neolithic Culture Science Neolithic people observed natural world to ensure good harvest. Learned weather was based on position of sun, moon and stars (early calendar system) Religion Celebrated/worshipped other deities associated w/ cycle of life death Main purpose = survival of harvests (and in turn humans)
Agriculture and Resistance to Change Many hunter-gathering societies resisted farming Southern Africa Australia (Aborigines) Islands of SE Asia Northern Japan N. America (combined with seasonal farming) Central Asia (Mongols) Why? Agriculture became most important economic system, but not only one Hunting gathering and nomadic herding continued
Characteristics of Nomadic Societies Nomadic societies commonly referred to as barbarians Few records exist Violent lifestyle, outstanding fighters (reputation for cruelty) Hospitable Often peaceful, beneficial relationship with settled agricultural societies Seasonal travel (weather, food, etc.) Male dominated society (some women held important positions, even fought) Valued courage, heroism, talent Examples: Indo-Europeans, Hittites, Xiongnu (Huns like in Mulan!) Summary:
Origins and Early Spread of Agriculture