PRE-HISTORY

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The Peopling of the World, Prehistory2500 B.C.
Time Line
1,600,000 B.C.
4,000,000 B.C.
First hominids appear in Africa.
City of Ur flourishes in Sumer.
2600 B.C.
8000 B.C..
Homo erectus appears.
Neolithic Age begins first agriculture takes
place
2500 B.C.
4,000,000 B.C.
40,000 B.C..
2,500,000 B.C..
3000 B.C.
Paleolithic Age begins
Cro-Magnons appear
Bronze Age begins in Mesopotamia.
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Human Origins in Africa

• 1. Look at the graphic to help organize your
  thoughts. List
• the advances, discoveries, and inventions of
  hominids.

Upright walking, opposable thumb
Toolmaking, mastery of fire, language
Burial rights, care of their disabled, building
of shelters
Advanced hunting and language skills
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PRE-HISTORY

• PALEOLITHIC AND NEOLITHIC SOCIETIES TO THE RISE
  OF CITIES

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EVOLUTION OF HUMAN SOCIETY

• The Hominids
• Australopithecus
• Appeared in east Africa about 4 million to 1
  million years ago
• Walked upright on two legs, well-developed hands
• Fashioned stone tools, probably knew how to use
  fire later
• Homo erectus
• Flourished 1.5 million to 200,000 years ago, east
  Africa
• Large brain, sophisticated tools, definitely knew
  how to control fire
• Developed language skills in well-coordinated
  hunts of large animals
• Migrations of Homo erectus
• First migrated to north Africa
• Between 500,000 and 200,000 years ago migrated to
  Asia and Europe

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PALEOLITHIC AGE

• Homo sapiens
• Evolved as early as 250,000 years ago
• Brain with large frontal regions for conscious
  and reflective thought
• The advantages of intelligence over other species
  
• Migrations of Homo sapiens
• Beginning more than 100,000 years ago, spread
  throughout Eurasia
• Several ice ages between 120 and 25 thousand
  years ago
• Land bridges enabled them to populate Indonesia
  and New Guinea
• Arrived in Australia between 60,000 and 120,000
  years ago
• Between 40,000 and 25,000 years ago, migrated to
  North America
• The natural environment
• Homo sapiens used knives, spears, bows, and
  arrows
• Brought tremendous pressure on other species

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PALEOLITHIC CULTURE

• Neandertal peoples
• Named after the site of the Neander valley in
  S.W. Germany
• Flourished in Europe and S.W. Asia between 100
  and 35 thousand years ago
• Careful, deliberate burials-evidence of a
  capacity for emotion and feelings
• Cro-Magnon peoples or Homo Sapiens
• The first human beings of fully modern type,
  appeared 40,000 years ago
• Small family units, clans of generally no more
  than 15-20 people
• Organized hunting bands, led by elders with
  greatest knowledge of hunting, gathering
• Women could be leaders
• Venus figurines
• The figurines reflect a deep interest in
  fertility
• Cave paintings
• Best known are Lascaux in France and Altamira in
  Spain
• Subjects mostly animals Purposes aesthetic,
  "sympathetic magic

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ORIGINS OF AGRICULTURE

• Neolithic era
• "New stone age" - refined tools and agriculture
• Time period from about 12,000 to 6,000 years ago
  
• Most likely, Paleolithic women began systematic
  cultivation of plants
• Paleolithic men began to domesticate animals
• "Agricultural transition" is better than
  "agricultural revolution"
• Early agriculture
• The earliest evidence found between 10,000 to
  8000 B.C.E.
• Slash-and-burn cultivation involved frequent
  movement of farmers
• About 5000 B.C.E., agriculture well-established
  in Asia and Americas
• The spread of agriculture
• Advantages of cultivation over hunting and
  gathering
• Developed indigenously in several different
  cultural hearths
• Agriculture provided a surplus

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EARLY AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY

• Population explosion caused by surplus
• Emergence of villages and towns
• Jericho, earliest known Neolithic village (north
  of the Dead Sea)
• Agricultural society, supplemented by hunting and
  limited trade
• Mud huts and defensive walls
• Specialization of labor
• Neolithic site of Çatal Hüyük (south-central
  Anatolia)
• Developed into a bustling town with more than
  8,000 inhabitants
• Craft industries - pottery, metallurgy, and
  textile production
• Ruling class, priestly, craftsmen, and merchants
  were common
• Social distinctions
• Agriculture brought about private land ownership
• Social classes emerged, as seen in Çatal Hüyük
  site
• Beliefs
• Neolithic peoples celebrated deities associated
  with life cycle
• Increasing deification, anthropomorphism of
  nature, seasons
• Increasing masculinization of deities

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ORIGINS OF URBAN LIFE

• Emergence of cities
• Tended to emerge in hostile environments
• Harsh environments required stronger organization
• Cities were larger and more complex
• Cities influenced life of large regions
• Earliest cities in Southern Mesopotamia
• Other hearths of urban civilization
• Indus River Valley
• Nile River Valley
• River Valley of the Huang He
• Coastal Jungles of Mexico

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11
HOME
Humans Try to Control Nature
GRAPH
1. Look at the graphic to help organize your
thoughts. List the effects of the development of
agriculture.
Rise in population
Emergence of farming villages
More available food
More cultural developments
New farming tools
More stable communities
continued . . .
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5 Characteristics of Civilization