Introduction & The Ancient World

Chapters 1 & 2: Intro & The Ancient World

History Of Human History Of Human CivilizationCivilizationESS0054ESS0054

HISTORYHISTORY Is the systematic record of what people

have done in the past. The past can mean 10,000 years ago or

yesterday. History depends on memory; it is

remembered activities. What has happened but been forgotten,

which is, of course, the vast majority of what has happened, is technically not history.

PREHISTORYPREHISTORYIs what

happened to people in

period before before writingwriting

HISTORIOGRAPHYHISTORIOGRAPHYIs the written written

form form of history, as processed through an author’s brain and bias working

on the raw materials he or she

has found

CULTURECULTUREIs the human-created part of

the environment, the “way of life” of a group of humans

interacting with one another.

In prehistory, culture is often associated with and identified

by particular tools.

Is a complex, developed culture usually associated

with specific achievements such as agriculture, urban life, specialized labor, and a system of writing.

CIVILIZATIONCIVILIZATION

CIVILIZATION

Definition Edward L Farmer: a human being wide

culture emerged from the action of social norms, tradition and institutions that last from one generation to another.

Arnold J. Toynbee: the way of thinking and culture that allow the emerging of such institutions: politics, law, art, literature, religion, and moral aspect.

ARCHAEOLOGYIs the study of

prehistoric and/or historical cultures

through examination of their artifacts (anything

made by human).

The name means “the study of origin” and like

almost every other scientific name in the English language, it is derived from Greek.

CLUES TO THE PASTCLUES TO THE PAST

Archeologists: scientists who study the remains of past human life

They believe people have been around for 2 million years

5,000 yrs ago – prehistory

After writing developed - history This was the beginning of civilization

5,000 yrs ago (before writing was developed) PREHISTORY

after writing was developed HISTORY

Now5,000 yrs ago

Archaeology How did archaeology begin? About 500 years ago, people

found they could dig up old marble statues and ornaments made by ancient Greeks and Romans.

They sold the ornaments and made a lot of money. Scientists began to study these artifacts.

What are artifacts?

Anything made by people, not nature. The earliest artifacts were pieces of hard rock chipped into tools and weapons.

Archaeology About 1,700, some Italian farmers

discovered they were living on top of a Roman city named Herculaneum that had been buried for more then 1,000 yrs.

Then they also discovered Pompeii – another Roman city.

They also found that these cities had houses, streets, temples and theaters. They learned how the Romans lived.

The greatest archeological discovery The Rosetta Stone was found in Egypt in 1799.

Herculaneum

Herculaneum

Pompeii

Pompeii

Rosetta StoneFound in Egypt in 1799

It is a slab of stone on which is carved Egyptian picture-writing and its Greek translation.

The Greek translation gave archaeologists meaning to the Egyptian picture-writing.

With this find, archaeologists could learn much more about the history of Egypt and its people.

Legends

Every group of people on earth has legends (folktales)

They began as spoken stories. Passed down from generation to generation

Example: The Chinese Legend Local example: Mahsuri, Puteri

Gunung Ledang, anymore?

What interesting details do you see in this image? What roles do men and women play in this society? Because of their different capabilities, what might be some of this group’s

advantages? Disadvantages?

Prehistoric People

The Paleolithic Age

Hunting and Food Gathering People lived in small groups with 2 or 3

leaders. Leaders were always the strongest. More than half of the children died -

illness/killed by animals. Lived in open camps until food supply

diminishes. Then they move on (nomads). Hunted for food - women gathered nuts,

berries. Men killed animals.

The Paleolithic Age

The Neolithic Age

The Paleolithic Timeline

• Paleolithic period or Old Stone Age, • the earliest period of human development and • the longest phase of mankind's history. • beginning about 2 million years ago and ending in

various places between 40,000 and 10,000 years ago,

The Paleolithic Age

This development (human development) was exceedingly slow and continued through the three successive divisions of the period, the Lower, Middle, and Upper Paleolithic.

The most abundant remains of Paleolithic cultures are a variety of stone tools whose distinct characteristics provide the basis for a system of classification containing several tool making traditions or industries.

The Paleolithic AgeMaking Tools Tools made hunting easier. The first-hatchet

(hand-axe) was the first tool. Was shaped to fit a person’s hand. All

purpose tool - to scrape animal skin, cut down trees + chop plants.

Developing Language

Before language there were only sounds. Example: a yell meant a person is angry. Hand signals were used for important things like water or food.

Language was developed when they began hunting for large animals. When hunting in a group, they had to give each other clear instructions.

Paleolithic Arts/Writings

Making Clothing People discovered

that large animals provided skin. This can be used to cover their bodies.

First they wrapped skin around them. They invented needles using bones to sew the skin together.

People with clothes could live in cooler areas.

Discovering FireStarted when lightning struck a tree. Then they began making fire by rubbing sticks together.They learned to cook their food. Cooked food is easier to chew and digest.Used fire to keep warm, as weapons and to harden points of weapons.

Discovering Fire

The Paleolithic Age

The People First people:

1. Homo habilis (man with ability), 2. Homo erectus (man who walks upright),

3. Homo sapiens (man who thinks)

Homo sapiens:

2 kinds – Neanderthal and Cro-magnons

Neanderthal First remains found

near Neander River, West Germany.

More: Europe, Asia, Africa

Neanderthals were good hunters.

Used the pitfall technique.

They fished and hunted large animals ie. Bisons, elephants.

Neanderthal

Cro-magnons named after a rock shelter in

France where remains were first discovered.

Cro-magnons appeared 40,000 yrs ago in N. Africa, Asia + Europe.

The Cro-magnons were good tool makers.

They made flake tools, and materials more workable than stones.

They were artists - did cave paintings. Paintings were bright and they showed them hunting.

Anthropologists think that the cave paintings had religious significance to the Cro-magnons.

The Neolithic Age

Neolithic Revolution: the beginning of farming for early men.

Food gathering replaced hunting as a way of life.

Food Producing

People discovered to grow food. A woman spilled grain on the ground and in time it grew. They were barley and wheat.

People learned to breed animals. When hunters built fences to protect herds from wild animals, the herd became domesticated. From then, the people learnt they could breed animals for food.

They discovered too that domesticated animals could be bred with more qualities, ie. Fatter.

Early Villages

Once people began producing food, they began to settle in one place. They built permanent shelters that had good water

supply and soil. Villages were formed.

Earliest known village in the world - found in the Middle East.

The oldest - Jerico in Israel. Another early village is Catal Huyuk in Southern Turkey.

People began building houses to live in.

Houses were built using mud-brick. They had no doors and people went in and out by a ladder through a hole in the roof.

The houses had ovens for baking breads.

Outside were vegetable gardens and grain fields.

Increased in population.

Specialization

People began developing specialized skills like becoming potters, weavers and metal workers.

This was the result of increased food supplies. The things they made, ie pots were exchanged for

food. This was the beginning of trade. When they learnt to make pots from clay, the were

able to prepare, serve and store food better. They also learnt to weave cloth. They took wool from

sheep and spun into thread. Thread then was turned into cloth on a loom.

People also learnt to work on metals. They hammered metals to make jewelry and weapons.

The Neolithic Age

Government Neolithic people developed government for themselves

to manage land ownership. This is because their lives depended on the use of a given piece of land.

They took steps to set boundaries and pass land their children.

Religion At first, Neolithic people prayed to the forces of nature

- thunder, sun, moon and sea. Then they created gods and goddesses. Earth Mother

was important of all. She was god of fertility. Every house had a statue of her in it.