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Unit 1—Foundations. 8000 BCE to 600 CE. We begin at about 8,000 BC when village life began in the New Stone Age. . . Also known as the Neolithic Revolution . NEW STONE AGE. A TOTALLY new way of living:. From. Hunter-Gatherers. to Agriculture. INVENTION OF AGRICULTURE.
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Unit 1—Foundations 8000 BCE to 600 CE
We begin at about 8,000 BC when village life began in the New Stone Age. . . Also known as the Neolithic Revolution. NEW STONE AGE
A TOTALLY new way of living: From Hunter-Gatherers to Agriculture
INVENTION OF AGRICULTURE • Mesopotamians first to engage in agriculture • Around 8000 BC • Cereal crops • Wheat • Barley • Herd animals • Sheep • Goats • Woman probably first farmer • Grain-collecting then noticed that stored wild grain could be grown on purpose
Agriculture changed how people lived • Agriculture (Farming) • Growth of Cities • Division of Labor (Specialization) • Trade • Writing and Mathematics
Human/Environmental interaction • Tools and weapons • Social and political organization • Homes • Lake houses in Switzerland • Long houses along Danube • Stone huts in Britain • Reed lean-tos in Egypt • Clay brick huts in Middle East • Broad language groups appeared
SOCIAL ORGANIZATION • Originally ruled by council of elders • Authority moved to single leader • Close-knit society • Communal granaries, ovens, and fields • Private property limited to personal possessions
POSSESSIONS • Needs of agriculture and stability • Clay pottery • Woven baskets • Woolen and linen clothing • Sophisticated tools and weapons • Plow
RESULTS OF AGRICULTURE • Required intensification of group organization • Neolithic farmers lived in settlements • Ranged from 150 (Jarmo) to 2000 (Jericho)
OUTSIDE CONTACTS • Neolithic communities had links • Walls indicate some fearful • Others were more peaceful • Obsidian and turquoise in Jericho from several 100’s of miles away • Either gifts or received in trade Jericho
Self-actualization (self-knowledge, fulfillment of personal potential) Esteem (autonomy, achievement, recognition) Social (belonging, affection) Safety (security, protection from harm) Physiological (Hunger, thirst, shelter) Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Civilization: Whose Definition? • 18th Century European • Civilized vs. primitive • White vs. everyone else
What does it mean to be civilized? • Historians have determined 6 characteristics of civilization: • Cities • Organized central governments • Complex religions • Social classes • Job specialization and the arts • Writing
Cities • Rivers provided: • water supply • transportation • food supply from animals • Rivers provided challenges: • flooding • irrigation • Required organized, mass labor (corvee) • Construction and repair of canals and irrigation ditches Euphrates River
Organized Central Governments • Central authority needed to control: • Labor • Storage of grain • Dispersion of foodstuffs among population • Early governments first led by priests • Later controlled by warrior chiefs or kings
Organized Central Governments • Governments became more complex as new responsibilities arose such as: • tax collecting • law making • handling public works projects • organizing systems of defense
Complex Religions • Generally polytheistic • Many gods represented natural forces • Others controlled human activities • Priests and worshippers tried to gain gods’ favor through complex rituals and sacrifice • Directed by unquestionable ruling class of priests • King regarded as a god or as a god’s agent
Complex Religions • Temples often built to honor specific gods and goddesses Mayan temple Egyptian temple Mesopotamian ziggurat
Social Classes • People ranked according to their profession Chief Priests Nobles Wealthy merchants Artisans Peasants/farmers Slaves Egyptian social structure
Social Classes • Priestly class is part of the beginning of social differentiation • Class structure based on specialization of labor • Generated class differences • Priests (“We talk to god, you don’t.) • Aristocrats/warriors (“We have weapons, you don’t.”) • Common people (“I guess we work...?”) • Slaves (“Uh, oh!!!”)
Job Specialization and the Arts • Artisans specialized in various jobs, such as: • Bricklayers • Blacksmiths • Production of luxuries (Things You Don’t Really Need) • Metal technology
Job Specialization and the Arts • Created great architecture and art • monumental architecture • pyramids, ziggurats, big cities • huge temples and associated structures • to fill the needs of a god-oriented state • under the control of the priestly class
Writing • Probably first used by priests • Earliest writing used pictograms Chinese calligraphy Egyptian hieroglyphs Mesopotamian cuneiform
Writing • Symbols later added to represent words and then sounds • Scribes were specially trained to read, write, and record information • Religion • Trade • Government • Learning became cumulative
UNIQUENESS OF CIVILIZATION • Civilization was not simply next inevitable step from Neolithic Age • Many peoples remained at simple food-raising stage for thousands of years—without developing any sort of civilization • Only four locations developed civilizations entirely on their own • China • Indus River Valley • Mesopotamia/Egypt • Central America and Peru
Primary Phase Cultures • ca. 3000-2500 B.C. to about 1800-1500 B.C. • Either disappeared or changed by 1500 B.C. • Common characteristics • Consistent, worldwide
Common Characteristics ?? • Water!! • Deserts of river cultures short on resources • River Valley Civilizations • Opportunity to adapt environment • Suitable for domesticated plants/animals • Relatively stable (a bit hot) climate
GEOGRAPHY influenced the development of river valley civilizations.
Early River Valley Civilizations Environment • Flooding of Tigris and Euphrates unpredictable • No natural barriers • Limited natural resources for making tools or buildings Mesopotamia • Flooding of the Nile predictable • Nile an easy transportation link between Egypt’s villages • Deserts were natural barriers Egypt • Indus flooding unpredictable • Monsoon winds • Mountains, deserts were natural barriers Indus River Valley • Huang He flooding unpredictable • Mountains, deserts natural barriers • Geographically isolated from other ancient civilizations China • Mountains and ocean natural barriers • Warm temperatures and moderate rainfall • Geographically isolated from other ancient civilizations Mesoamerica & Andes
Mesopotamia – Fertile Crescent • Sumer – The Earliest of the River Valley Civilizations • Sumerian Civilization grew up along the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in what is now Kuwait.
Sumerian Writing: cuneiform Cuneiform is created by pressing a pointed stylus into a clay tablet.
Sumerians invented: • Brick technology • Wheel • Base 60 – using the circle . . . 360 degrees • Time – 60 minutes in an hour, 60 seconds in a minute • 12 month lunar calendar • arch • ramp • ziggurat
Ziggurat – Holy Mountain Click on the pictures for more information on ziggurats.
Babylon • First know written law code • “Rule of Law” • Hammurabi’s Code - 1792 BC
EGYPT“The Gift of the Nile” • Hieroglyphics • Pyramids • Geometry • Advances in medicine and surgery Nile River Sahara Desert
Indus River Valley2500 BC – 1500 BC • Harappan culture • Well planned cities • Grid pattern • Modern plumbing • Built on mud brick platforms • Protected against seasonal floods • Larger cities • Houses built of baked brick • Smaller towns • Houses built of sun-dried mud brick
Aryan Migration • pastoral depended on their cattle • warriors horse-drawn chariots
Varna (Social Hierarchy) Brahmins Kshatriyas Vaishyas Shudras Pariahs [Harijan] Untouchables
Shang China1600 BC – 1122 BC • Yellow River Valley • Bronze, jade, stone, bone and ceramic artifacts • Advanced culture • Divinations • Religion • Astronomy • Calendar • Art • Medicine
Shang China1600 BC – 1122 BC • Religion • Human as well as animal sacrifices • Regarded their land as only civilized land and called it Zhongguo (Middle Kingdom) • Lack of contact with foreigners led to belief in: • Strong sense of identity • Superiority • Center of earth • Sole source of civilization
Zhou China1122 BC – 256 BC • Bronze, jade, silver, gold • Mandate of Heaven • Power to rule came from heaven • Power could be removed if ruler not just • Veneration of ancestors • All must honor family responsibilities • Period ended with Era of Warring States
Mesoamerica and Andean South America2900 BC – 1400 BC • Mesoamerica • Maize, chili peppers, avocados, beans • Pottery • Stone bowls • Beads • Waddle and daub structures • No draft animals
Mesoamerica and Andean South America3500 BC – 1400 BC • Andes • Textiles technology • Sophisticated government • Religion • Lacked ceramics • Largely without art • Most impressive achievement was monumental architecture • Large platform mounds • Sunken circular plazas
Civilization • A civilization is built on what is required of men, not on that which is provided for them. • Antoine De Saint-Exupery 1900-1944, French Writer • Increased means and increased leisure are the two civilizers of man. • BenjaminDisraeli 1804-1881, British Statesman Prime Minister • To be able to fill leisure intelligently is the last product of civilization. • Toynbee, Arnold1852-1883, British Economic Historian and Reformer
Civilization • Cities that served as administrative centers • Political system based on control or defined territory rather than on connections of kinship • Significant number of people engaged in specialized, non-food-producing activities • Status distinctions, usually linked to accumulation of substantial wealth by some groups • Monumental building • System for keeping permanent records • Long distance trade • Major advances in science and arts • Richard W. Bulliet
Civilization • "All peoples from small bands of hunters and gatherers to farmers and factory workers live in societies. All societies produce cultures: combinations of the ideas, objects, and patterns of behavior that result from human social interaction. But not all societies and cultures generate the surplus production that permits the levels of specialization, scale, and complexity that distinguish civilizations from other social organizations. All people are capable of building civilizations, but many have lacked the resource base, historical circumstance, or, quite simply, the motivation of doing so.“ • Peter Stearnson culture vs. civilization
Mauryan Empire (320 BCE-320 CE) • Chandragupta • Unified northern India after Alexander the Great withdrew • Set up efficient bureaucracy • Asoka (grandson) • Dedicated life to Buddha • Continued bureaucracy • Hospitals, roads
Gupta Empire (320-647 CE) • Chandra Gupta I • Bureaucracy • Allowed local government in south