Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

Civilization was not inevitable; it was an act of human creativity. The first civilizations emerged some five thousand years ago in the river valleys of Mesopotamia and Egypt. There, human beings established cities and states, invented writing, developed organized religion, and constructed large-scale buildings and monuments – all characteristics of civilized life. Humanity’s rise to civilization was long and arduous. Some 99% of human history took place before the creation of civilization, in the vast ages of prehistory.

HOMINIDS• Humans AND other creatures that walk

upright.

HOMO SAPIENS• The species name for modern humans

• Homo Sapien means “wise men” because they had large brains

PALEOLITHIC AGE• Known as “Old Stone Age”

• The earlier and longer part of the Stone Age

• Tools were invented

• Hunting-Gathering

• Men hunted/women gathered

• Nomads

• Moved in search of food

EARLY HUMANS

• Where?• East Africa• ("Lucy")

• Oldest hominid found to date

• Opposable thumb

• Homo Habilis

• East Africa

• First to make stone tools

• Hominid

• Homo Erectus• Hominid

• Known as “upright man”

• East Africa

• First group of hominids to migrate from Africa

• First to use fire• Warmth, food, protection

• Neanderthal• Hominid

• NOT ancestors of modern humans

• First to have ritual burials

• Cro-Magnons• Skeletally identical to

modern humans• Five and one half feet

tall• Migrated from North

Africa to Europe & Asia• Planned hunts• Replaced Neanderthals

NEOLITHIC AGE – AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION

• “New Stone Age”• Shift from “food-gathering” to “food-producing”• Change in climate• Communities develop!• Village Towns Cities

• Polished stone tools

• Pottery

• Wove cloth

SLASH-AND-BURN FARMING• Cut trees or grasses and burned them to clear a

field.

• Remaining ashes fertilized the soil

• Burn top layer to produce ash which is then used as fertilizer for that area

DOMESTICATION OF ANIMALS• Taming of animals (Horses, dogs, goats,

pigs)• Ability to stop animals and keep in one

place stops nomads which creates cities• Even though now we have civilization we

still do not have cities!

CIVILIZATIONS• Cities (people located close together have to find a way to live

with each other).

• Organized Government (Provide protection, public works, organization, record keeping (scribes)).

• Division of Labor (There are social classes and each class has a job to fulfill)

• Excess of Food Production (Allows for population increase)

• Calendar (know when to plant and when to perform religious ceremonies)

• Organized Religion• Writing System (Cuneiform)

CHARACTERISTICS OF CIVILIZATIONS• 1. Advanced Cities

• Center of trade for a larger area

• 2. Specialized Workers

• Artisans (skilled workers)

• 3. Complex Institutions

• Government

• 4. Record Keeping

• 5. Advanced Technology

SUMER – 1ST CIVILIZATION• Located in Mesopotamia

• Signaled the beginning of written history – (cuneiform)• “Bronze Age” – bronze tools & weapons

• Irrigation works

• Trade with other people

• An early form of money

• Religious & Political institutions

• Lunar calendar

• Elaborate brick houses, palaces & temples

THE CITY OF UR• On Euphrates River• 30,000 people• Highly sophisticated civilization• Worshipped many gods, Nanna• Each Sumerian city had its own patron god• Birthplace of the biblical patriarch Abraham

GROUP WORK• Create your own fictional

civilization that has all 5 of the characteristics of a civilization.