His 101 chapter 1 -ancient near east spring 14

Early Homo Sapiens sapiens

The species to which all of us belong. Pre-history: the era before the

appearance of written records.

Records of Early Homo Sapiens Sapiens

What records exist? Early humans made their tools out of

stone. The Paleolithic Age refers to the “Stone

Age” The Neo-Paleolithic age refers to the “New

Stone Age.” The Neo-Paleolithic Age emerged during

the 11,000 years before 3,000 B.C.E.

Characteristics of Hunter-Gatherer Groups

Small bands of a few dozen people Moved incessantly in search of food No domesticated animals to carry

possessions Basic tools Few distinctions of wealth or status Few gender-based specializations of work No surplus—most activities devoted to

acquiring food and tools What are these conclusions based upon?

Cave Art

http://www.lascaux.culture.fr/?lng=en#/fr/00.xml

What conclusions can we draw from cave art?

From Hunter Gatherers to Urbanites

The Neolithic Revolution

Urbanization & Neolithic Revolution (11,00 years ago)

Neolithic Revolution (10,000 B.C.E. – 3,500 B.C.E.) Development of Managed food production

Characteristics of Urbanization Beginnings of semi-permanent and permanent

settlements Trade over short and long distances Individuals began to accumulate wealth Specialization of work Distinctions of Status and Rank

Cause and effect?

Geography: The Fertile Crescent

Area of modern nations of Turkey, Syria, the disputed territories between Israel and Jordan, Iraq and Western Iran, the Arabian Peninsula and Egypt.

Warmer climate enabled wild grains to grow. Plant resources enabled a surplus food supply. Some people shifted away from hunter-gathering to sedentary

settlements.

Geography: The Fertile Crescent

Evidence of early settlements: Catalhoyuk

7,500 to 5,700 B.C.E. 8,000 to 10,000 people lived in the

settlement. Religious artifacts and paintings but no

central religious institution identified. No central management of the

settlement identified Houses built next to each other. Entrance faced to the interior of the

settlement.

Catalhoyuk Geography

What geographic features may have played a role in the development of Catalhoyuk?

Catalhoyuk

What do these images suggest about Catalhoyuk society?

What do these images suggest aboutCatalhoyuk society?

Conclusions: Effects of Managed Agricultural Production and Sedentary Communities

Population increase Dietary changes (more carbohydrates) Diseases Accumulation of wealth Social stratification vs. egalitarian society Women’s work Trade over longer distances What issues might arise as a result of

these changes?

Geography of Egypt & Mesopotamia

Mesopotamian Civilizations

Sumer 4300-2900 B.C.E. Akkad 2350-2160 B.C.E. Ur 2100-2000 B.C.E. Old Babylon 1792- 1595 B.C.E.

Sumer

Encyclopædia Britannica Image Quest, "SUMERIAN LINTEL. - Sumerian Bronze Lintel Surmounting The Main Doorway Of A Temple, From Al'Ubaid, C2500 B.C.“.

Sumer: 4300-2900 B.C.E.

Mesopotamia Ubiad settlements (5900 B.C.E.) Distinctive features

Irrigation: managed unreliable flooding of rivers and minimal rainfall

Central religious structures Priestly class: religious ceremony &

agriculture

Urbanism in Sumer

Densely populated settlements Central Religion Increased grain and crop production. Increasing wealth & control of the

Priestly class Immigration to Sumer.

Cuneiform Writing

4000 B.C.E. clay tokens (keep track of inventory and facilitate trade?)

By 3300 B.C.E. inscriptions on flat clay tablets with symbols Reeds : wedge shaped symbol Pictographs not letters Several hundred symbols required scribes and schools Scribes were elite sons of priests and rulers

Purposes of Education? If a society values education, what does that say about the

society? If a society limits education, what does that say about the society? If a society devalues education, what does that say about the

society?

Gudea: detail of a diorite statue of Gudea of Lagash, Photograph, fromEncyclopædia Britannica Online, accessed May 21, 2012, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/media/107069/Sumerian-inscription-detail-of-a-diorite-statue-of-Gudea-of

Science and technology

4300 - 2900 B.C. E. Copper trade routes Copper primarily used for weapons

3000 B.C.E. discovery that copper could be alloyed with arsenic to produce Bronze. Historians categorize the period as the Bronze Age

Invention of the wheel Potter’s wheels as early as 4th millennium B.C.E. Two wheeled chariots and 4 wheeled carts from about 2600

B.C.E. Mathematics

Lunar calendar: based on the cycle of the moon, 12 months Divided time into 60 minute intervals

Sumerian Society & Culture

Each urban center had a patron god Most land belonged to the temple. Temple: controlled production of textiles

and the labor of women and children Ruling Class: Priests and temple officials

Free Dependents & Slaves

About 50% of each Free Dependants

Subsistence farmers Artisans and temple laborers:

free labor to temple but owned no land Slaves

Usually prisoners of war Slaves could buy their freedom but master controlled

price. Slaves were property. Many slaves were women.

Encyclopædia Britannica Image Quest, "ZIGGURAT OF UR-NAMMU - In Ur, Sumer; Seen From The Southeast.“

Sumerian Religion

Humanity: wrested from the inhospitable earth and created for one purpose: To serve the gods

Gods: placated by building temples (ziggurats) Afterlife:

No light Food, clothing, and diversions had to be provided to the

dead How might the Sumerian environment have

influenced Sumerian religion?

Development of City-States: Kish, Ur, Lagash

Why did a common religion fail to unite the Sumerians? Each Sumerian settlement recognized all

the Sumerian gods but viewed their own settlement as the property of one god who would be glorified by exalting their city usually through war.

Intense competition often led to open warfare.

Settlements were basically independent city-states.

How did rulers legitimize their authority?What conflicts might arise between priests and rulers?What might these artifacts demonstrate about the Sumerian religion?

Akkadian Empire

Empire, Big Men, Legitimacy and War

Akkad

Akkadian Empire 2350-2160 B.C.E.

Encyclopædia Britannica Image Quest, "Sargon Of Akkad (2334 BC - 2279 BC),

Sargon I

Akkadian Empire (2350-2160 B.C.E.)

Akkad (city-state) Maintained own language

Sargon: first “Lugal” (big man) to attempt to impose centralized rule over the region Installed Akkadian-speaking governors to rule

over conquered cities Made former city-states pay taxes to him Controlled trade routes Merged Sumerian and Akkadian gods and

appointed a single High Priest (usually daughters)

How does this artifact reflect ideas of legitimacy and the power of leaders?

Encyclopædia Britannica Image Quest, "SANDSTONE STELE. - Sandstone Stele Of The Victory Of Naramsu'in, King Of Akkad.C 2389-2353 B.C.“.

War, Bureaucracy, Commerce, Art & Literature

UR

Dynasty of UR (2100-2000 B.C.E.)

1st King of UR was Ur-Nammu Similar ruling style to Sargon

Incessant warfare between small kingdoms to establish dominance Centralization of government Commercial expansion Patronizing art and literature to exalt the ruler’s personal gods

Hammurabi, Diplomacy and Law and Propaganda

Babylon

Empire of Old Babylon (1792 B.C.E. – 1595 B.C.E.)

1792 B.C.E. Babylon: weak Kingdom Hammurabi saw potential for military & commercial

dominance used negotiation and political strategy rather than brute

military strength to forge alliances created antagonisms between rival cities while acting as

neutral mediator Initiated military conquests after rival kingdoms depleted

resources and exhausted their peoples because of incessant warfare

Written law code What is the purpose of a written law code?

Hammurabi (1792-1750 B.C.E.)

Encyclopædia Britannica Image Quest, "Head Of Hammurabi, From Susa, Diorite”

Encyclopædia Britannica Image Quest, "CODE OF HAMMURABI. - Detail Of Top Of Black Basalt Stele, C1792-1750. B.C.”

Hammurabi’s Legacy

Old Babylonian Empire lasted 2 centuries Effectiveness of writing as political tool

Treaties & diplomatic agreements Communication between heads of state Propaganda and law

Used religion unify peoples of his empire under a supreme god who

gave the ruler the right to rule. Used law

create impression that leader was protector of the people.

Purposes of written law code?

Geography of Egypt & Mesopotamia

Developed contemporaneously with Sumer

Geography and culture were very different

Egypt

Narmer Pallete

http://www.ancient-egypt.org/index.html ; http://www.ancient-egypt.org/index.html

What is the importance of geography to Development of Early Civilizations?

Geography Land renewed every

year by annual flooding of the Nile

Nile Valley was richest agricultural region in ancient Near East

Surrounding desert protected Egypt from invading armies

Geography Periodic flooding Few natural

resources Incessant warfare

between city-states

Egypt Sumer

History of Ancient Egypt: 3 Dynastic Periods interrupted by Archaic Periods

Pre-dynastic Egypt (C. 10,000-3100 B.C.E.) 4750 B.C.E. 1st known settlements southeast of

the Nile Delta 3500 B.C.E. extensive commercial contacts

with Sinai Peninsula, Sumer and Sudan Copper trade

Nile River: increased interaction between settlements & urban centers

3100 B.C.E Confederation of cities in upper and lower Egypt

Hieroglyphic Writing (C. 3200 B.C.E.)

Papyrus Lighter, easier to write on and more transportable. Sewn into scrolls: large amount of information in a

small space Valuable export for Egypt

Much information about Pharaohs…little about common people

By 2686 Pharaoh was considered divine and the embodiment of Egypt itself

The Old Kingdom (C. 2686-2160 B.C.E.)

Pharaoh owed taxes and labor Local governors (related by birth or marriage to

Pharaoh) administered cities in Pharaoh’s name. Scribes: literate bureaucrats. Free Laborers did most of the work and lived

poorly. Slaves had specific rights including the right to

own, sell and inherit personal property.

Women in the Old Kingdom

Officially prohibited from attending scribal schools, some elite women were literate

Women allowed to appear in court as their own person and could sue for divorce, defend herself and testify as a witness.

Women: 1 husband Men > 1 wife

Religion

Egyptians superior to other peoples the gods had protected their land they were ruled by a god (Paraoh).

Osiris, Isis, Seth, Horus Followed geography of the Nile

cycle of renewal, rhythmic, inevitable.

Pyramids

Step pyramid (right) Khafre’s pyramid (below)

Inside the Great Pyramid

Egypt Sumer

Continuity: Egypt maintained distinct and independent identity from 5000 B.C.E. – 30 B.C.E.

Egyptians considered their land to be the center of the cosmos

Pharaohs were considered living gods who headed a powerful centralized bureaucratic state

Diffusion: successive wars between city states and kingdoms = cultural diffusion and short-lived empires

Sumerians and Akkadians Competition between gods ensured incessant warfare

Competing deities gave Lugal-Kings divine right to rule. Less centralized government

Cultural Differences between Egypt and Sumer

First Intermediate Period (2160 B.C.E.- 2055 B.C.E.)

Egypt no longer united by 2160 Increasing power of local governors Climatic changes interrupted flooding cycle of

the Nile. Diminished Egyptian control of precious

metals like Copper and Gold. Diffusion of wealth and culture 2055 B.C.E. Mentuhotep II of Thebes

conquered the Northern Kingdom

Middle Kingdom (2055- C.1650 B.C.E.)

Mentuhotep II overthrown by his vizier (chief counselor) Amenemhet.

Amenemhet’s descendants ruled for 200 years as the Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt. Built extensive fortifications and extended trade

Dominated Nubia Expedition to Punt (Somalia) Palestine & Syria also under Egyptian influence

Egypt was not an imperial power but did take an active interest in events beyond their border.

Mentuhotep II

Amenemhet I

Questions?

If you were preparing an exam for Chapter 1 what big picture questions would you ask students?