WH Holt: The Beginnings of Civilization

1. WH Holt: The Beginnings of Civilization

2. How do we learn about the past? • Archaeologists – study bones and artifacts • Anthropologists – study culture • Paleontologists – study small fragments of bones and skulls

3. Evidence shows… • The first hominids originated in Africa more than 3 million years ago. • Charles Darwin – slight variations to all life forms have made them what they are today • Ability to make tools • Use of technology to make life easier • Use and control fire • Farming crops • Use of language, written and spoken

4. What basic things do all humans have in common?

5. 1959 Anthropologists Mary and Louis Leaky found fragments of a skull in Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania. 1.75 million years old. Called “Nutcracker Man” from an australopithecine, an early human or hominid.

6. 1974 Donald Johnson, an found a partial australopithecine skeleton in Ethiopia, he called the find “Lucy”.

7. In the 1970’s Mary Leaky studied in an archaeological site in Laetoli, Tanzania. There she discovered human foot tracks dating 3.5 million years old.

8. 2001 a scientific team discovered a skull in Chad (central Africa) dated 6-7 million years old.

9. Early Hominids:Australopithecine • “Southern Ape” • Appeared In Africa about 4-5 million years ago. • Stood upright and walked on two legs • Brain was about 1/3 the size of modern humans

10. Homo Habilis • Name means “handy man” • Appeared in Africa about 2.4 million years ago • Used crude stone tools for chopping and scraping • Brain was about half the size of those of modern humans

11. Homo Erectus • “Upright man” • Appeared in Africa about 2-1.5 million years ago. • Used early stone tools such as hand ax • Learned to control fire • Migrated out of Africa

12. Homo Sapiens • “Wise Man” • Appeared in Africa about 200,000 years ago • Migrated around the world • Same species as modern humans • Uses a wide range of tools, created fire, developed language.

13. Why did hominids migrate? • 1.6 million Years ago the earth experienced “Ice Ages”

14. The Stone Age or Paleolithic Era. • 2.5 million to 10,000 years ago • Stone tools. • Lived as nomads, hunters and gathers, used spears, digging sticks, knives, fish hooks, chisel-like cutters • Over time canoes were used, shelter was built, as communities began to be built which included a common culture.

15. began to create art with bone and shells, and even used natural materials to create color. Anthropologists also believe these early people practiced a religion of “animism, All living things in nature have spirits. The Stone Age or Paleolithic Era

16. New Stone Age or Neolithic Era • Began in Southwest Asia 8000BC and lasted until 3000BC. • BIG change was Development of Agriculture! People learned to Farm and stay put.

17. New Stone Age or Neolithic Era • Changing in climate allowed for longer growing seasons and drier land for cultivating wild grasses • Farming provided a steady source of food with the growing populations • Planted seeds for food • Domesticated animals for meat, milk and wool.

18. New tools during the New Stone Age • Learned to polish and grind stones to shape tools with sharper edges • Tools included chisels, drills, and saws

19. Early Agriculture • People gathered grain • Experimented with planting • Domesticated plants and the plants spread

20. New Stone Age or Neolithic Era • Problems? • Diseases crossed from animals to humans….

21. Bronze Age • Around 3000BC the “new stone age” lead to the “BRONZE AGE” early people used bronze and metal to create tools.

22. CatalHuyuk: Located in present day Turkey was a farming village home to 5-6 thousand people over 30 acres

23. Another find: 1991 hikers in Italy’s Otztal Alps find a frozen body “the Ice man” shown to be 5.300 years old from the Neolithic age.

24. Foundations of Civilization • Villages grew larger into cities and farms grew to produce more than was needed called a surplus to support even more people. • Larger population, job specialization, economic changes, and growth into cities

25. As populations grew: • job choices grew • division of labor occurred ( specialized trades) • Traditional economy expanded to producing more than just needs and began to produce wants.

26. First city: Uruk home to 40-50 thousand people between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers (Fertile Crescent) around 3000BC on 1,000 acres.

27. Characteristics of Early civilizations: • Developed cities ( in fertile river valleys) • Organized governments (created laws and justice systems) • Formal religions (ceremonies and rituals)

28. Characteristics of Early civilizations: • Specialization of labor (engineers and soldiers) • Social classes ( based on wealth) • Record keeping and writing (pictographs and records to predict weather and seasons) • Art and architecture ( reflected values of society)

29. Early civilizations were at the mercy of their environment and as movement occurred a cultural diffusion occurred across civilizations as did expansion and warfare.

30. Economic Changes • Irrigation systems • People learned to become craftsmen • Traders profited from a broader range of goods to exchange • The wheel and the sail enabled traders to transport more goods over longer distances

31. Social Changes • Social structure developed as the cooperation and labor of many people were required to build and operate large irrigation systems • Religious beliefs changed from worshipping nature, animal spirits, and idea of an afterlife to many gods and goddesses who had control over the rain, wind, and other forces of nature