1. Early Peoples to
Neolithic Revolution
Homework
Topic 1 Reading
Task due 3pm
Friday 12 Sep.
Paleolithic huntergatherer
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Characterize THREE elements of the lifestyle of the
Paleolithic hunter-gatherer group. For each
element, explain WHY it probably was that way.
Explain the typical beliefs of animists and offer a
hypothesis to explain how these beliefs connect
with their lifestyle.
Present
Paleolithic huntergatherer
• 99% of human history
• Tools = stone, bone,
wood
• Low pop. Density (1/sq
mi)
• Nomadic
• Extensive leisure time
• Rugged existence
Hunter-Gatherers
• Small nomadic bands,
clans, tribes; Follow
animal herds for food
and seasonal plants
Hunter-Gatherers
• Culture: animistic,
antagonistic to
strangers, generally
males hunt and
females forage,
relatively egalitarian
society
Hunter-Gatherers
• rarely surplus food, and
since they are nomadic
little ability to store any
surplus. Thus
independent leaders,
bureaucrats, or artisans
are rarely supported by
hunter-gathering
societies
Hunter-Gatherers
• What was the technological status of huntergatherers?
o Minimal, usually stone-age tools; limited to what could carry
o Everyone in the hunter-gatherer society is master of their technology.
Hunter-Gatherers
• What limited the population size of hunter-gatherer
tribes?
o One acre of land that is farmed can support sixty to a hundred more
people than one that is left uncultivated
o Infanticide; elderly leave the tribe
Hunter-Gatherers
• Characterize the belief system of hunter-gatherers.
o animistic
• How did the diet and nutrition of hunter-gatherers
differ from early farmers?
Hunter-Gatherers
• How does the workload
of a hunter-gatherer
compare to farmers?
o About 3 hours a day average –
Hunter-gatherers have a lot
more free time than we do
Hunter-Gatherers
• What physical characteristics of humans are best
adapted to Paleolithic life?
o gene pool has changed little since 35,000 years ago
o from a genetic standpoint, current humans are still late Paleolithic preagricultural hunter-gatherers
o Strong cravings for salts and fats
o Physical differences bt. Males and females
o “ADD”
Neolithic
Revolution
3500 BCE – Sumer
3000 BCE - Egypt
Neolithic Revolution
• “Neo” = new “lithic” = stone [age]
• Revolution = farming
• Nothing since this time more revolutionized human
life
• Shift from H-G to farming was gradual and not
uniform around globe
• Earliest = “fertile crescent” (modern Iraq) – 8000 BC
Neolithic Revolution
cont’d
• Limitations: plants that
could be
domesticated, animals
available for
domestication
Neolithic
• Fertile Crescent:
majority of modern
cereals and grains from
this stock; more animals
here could be
domesticated (dogs,
pigs, camels, horses)
Neolithic
• North America: limited
plant availability, no
large mammals
(hunted to extinction
by first human
immigrants)
Neolithic Revolution
cont’d
• Villages become more permanent as farmers stick
by to protect their crops and livestock
• Farming » Change belief systems
o Regard for animal spirits and lunar cycles replaced by sun worship and
concept of after-life
• Farming » Technology
o Tools (ex. Plow)
o Dwellings
Neolithic Revolution
cont’d
• Farmers can support
specialized professions
because of food
surplus: warriors, priests,
bureaucrats
Neolithic
• Farmers develop higher
levels of technology:
bronze, iron, steel,
writing
Neolithic
•
Farming communities develop
immunity to diseases caught from
livestock with which live (Pizarro
captures Incan emperor
Atahualpa with small band and
smallpox wipes out natives) .
Who started it?
• Who do you think (and who do you think most
Anthropologists think) started farming?
o Maybe females, because they were most involved with plants and such?
o Could this be connected to the fact the females have been mostly
responsible for medicines in history?
Mother Goddess
• Why do you think the
earliest Neolithic myths
viewed a mother
goddess as superior
force?
• What celestial bodies
do you think are usually
associated with the
female? The male?
NEW Ideas of the
Neolithic
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Ownership, property
Warfare
Religion
Calendars
Mathematics
Writing
Neolithic Revolution
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•
Explain why farming
developed in early
river civilizations and
how farming leads to
civilization.
Describe any FOUR
elements of the
typical early river
civilizations.
Early Civilizations
Compare and contrast
any THREE elements
(economy,
government, beliefs,
writing, technology,
legal systems, ) of the
civilizations
Mesopotamia and
Egypt.
Mesopotamia
Map Identification
History Begins at Sumer
by Samuel Noah Kramer…
Rise of Sumer
• ~3000 BCE
• City-states
• Conquered
repeatedly
• Sumerian culture
conquers the
conquerors
o Spread by them
• Who was first,
Egypt or
Mesopotamia?
• Tell Hamukar
o New dig
o Probably older
Uruk Period
• 3800-3200 BCE
• Creative
• Inventions
o Wheel
o Plough
o Metal casting
• Weapons,
jewelry
• Agriculture
o 1st orchards
• Dates, figs,
olives
First Writing
• Cuneiform
• “wedge-shaped”
• Gradually
literature emerges
but at first…
o Gov’t records, legal
docs, religious
• Inefficient system
o Blocks of clay
o Hard to learn!
• Ideographic and
phonologic
elements
o Durable – thousands of
these records survive!
Uruk Period, cont’d
• 3800-3200 BCE
• Rise of citystates
o Small, independent
o Ur, Uruk, Lagash,
Eridu
• City walls
o ~5mi circum.
o At first just markers,
then defense later
period
• Buildings = mud
brick (no stone
local)
Building
• 1st cities no street
plans
o Sometimes no streets
bt. Houses – walk over
roofs to get home!
• 1st impressive
bldgs = temples
o Ziggurats
o Priestly class = impt
Dynastic Period
• ~2800-2350 BCE
• Fierce competition
bt. Cities grwos
• 1st palace
complexes are
built
• Local “lugals” =
big shots = first
kings
• 1st monarchy =
“theocratic
monarchy”
o Gods put king in place
& he speaks for them
Warfare increases in
importance
• Simultaneous growth of
large landowners and
warrior class “warrior
aristocracy”
• Social tensions evident
• Tension: kings/priests –
warrior elite
Geography
• “Middle East is the
crucible of
conflict and the
graveyard of
empires” – Dr.
Rufus Fears
• No natural barriers
• 2 rivers
• Mountains on
edges
• Wealth and
prosperity of
region attractive
to stronger
peoples outside
First Empire
• Akkadians
o Akkad
o north
• After 2350
BCE
• Sargon I “The
Great”
o 2371-2316 BCE
o Moved south
o Interesting life
story
• Infant in
reed basket
taken by
queen’s
attendants
in river…
Sargon I
• When conquered, did
not destroy Sumerian
culture
• Disseminated
throughout kingdom
• Next come the
“Amorites” or “New
Babylonians”
Amorites
• Conquer &
spread
Sumerian
culture
• Becomes
common basis
for life among
Semitic
peoples in that
region
• Pretty nasty
ppl…
Religion of Sumer
• Sumerian gods are
o Immortal
o Have superhuman powers
o Otherwise like humans
• Religious rights =
appease gods
• Religion =
pessimistic/fatalistic
o Unpredictable river
o Constant conquests
• Polytheistic
• Synchretistic
• Gods
o Of Sky
• Male, war, gov’t, forces in
nature
o Of earth
• Female, fertility,
abundance, wealth,
fotune
o animistic
Religion, cont’d
• No ethical
function
• First attempt to
understand /
systematize
natural forces
Beliefs
• Polytheistic
o
o
o
o
o
An – sky
Enlil - storms
Marduk
Tiamat
Enki
• After-life
• Deal-making
Legal Legacy of Sumer
• Sumerian law = no
philosophical
underpinning (like our
Constitution)
• List of rules and
punishments (fines,
capital, sometimes cruel)
• Social struggles evident
here
• Carved in stone = public
= means it’s for everyone
Hammurabi’s Law Code
• Contrast the Code of
Hammurabi to the
American concept of
justice.
• Code of Hammurabi
o C. 1790 BCE
o Babylon
Government
• "temple-communities" –
a class of priestbureaucrats controlling
the political and
economical life of the
city in the name of the
city gods
• Priest-king
• City-state
o Ur
o Uruk
o Eridu
• Ziggurat
• Sacrifice
• God/goddess
Economy
• Agriculture
o surrounding land of each citystate - individual tracts,
irrigated w/ system of canals
and dams.
o wheat and barley
• Trade
o transportation of textiles and
crops by Sumerian merchants
to other lands,
o exchanged for stone, metals,
and timber.
o traded to other Sumerians or
used to fabricate jewelry, tools,
and weapons to be traded
later.
Technology
• Water control methods
o
o
o
o
Sluice
Dam
Canal
Irrigation
• Mathematics (60based)
• Calendar
• Chariot
• Wheel – potter’s wheel
(mass production)
• Bronze!!
• plow