The March to Civilization

1. The March to Civilization History 10 Mme Waite

2. Time Line • 4 million years ago- first upright hominid • 1.7 million years ago - Homo erectus appears • 400 000 years ago - Homo sapiens him • 100 000 years ago - Neanderthals appear in Europe • 50 000 years ago - Modern-looking humans move out of Africa, into Europe, replacing Neanderthals • 35 000 years ago - Great leap forward - innovations in art and technology • 20 000 years ago - Bow and arrow developed by Paleolithic hunters • 9000 BCE - Neolithic rev’n - towns develop/Animals & plants domesticated • 4500 BCE - Earliest civilizations emerge in Mesopotamia, Egypt, India and Asia • 3500 BCE - Cuneiform (earliest known form of writing) is developed in Mesopotamia • 2900 BCE - Sumerian civilization dominates Mesopotamia

3. Human settlement • 100 000 years ago, you would have found three distinct populations in Europe, the Near East, Africa and Asia. • Homo sapiens sapiens, our direct ancestors eventually inhabited all these regions, although at different times: • Australia - 40 000 years ago • The Americas - 12 000 years ago • The Arctic - 10 000 years ago

4. The Neanderthals -lived between 100 000 and 40 000 years ago -named after the Neander Valley in Germany where the first skeleton was found in 1857. -were powerfully built but only about 5’3”

5. Neanderthal Society • Males worked together to hunt game • Not clear if there was any formal social relationship; I.e., males probably lived separately from females and children • There was no formal leadership or social interaction

6. Living conditions • Neanderthal remains reveal a difficult life - high infant mortality • Adults died before age 40 • Homes were simple • Food was never guaranteed • Danger and death a constant threat

7. Characteristics of a Civillization • It has a centralized government • It has a system of agriculture • People have specialized employment • Taxes are paid to the government • There is a class structgure • There is trade • Writing is developed • There is some type of state religion

8. Great Leap forward • Neanderthals disappear with the arrival of the invading, anatomically modern human from Africa. Homo Sapiens sapiens had • Better intelligence and therefore • Better tools and weapons • Around 35 000 years ago, the “Great leap forward” began - humans evolved anatomically and showed signs of innovation.

9. Great Leap Forward (cont’d) • Remember that for millions of years, hominids evolved very slowly; but now changes would occur that separated humankind from all other animals. • * “..the achievements of humanity in the past 35 000 years are astounding, especially when we consider that in the previous 60 000 years, Neanderthal culture remained virtually unchanged!” p. 31.

10. Homo Sapiens sapiens: • Showed curiosity, ingenuity and creativity • Built tools from metal, like spears • Tools had a purpose - awls for sewing, axes for cutting, mortar and pestle for preparing food • Developed weapons, from bows and arrows, to darts and barbed harpoons • Built watercraft to navigate rivers and oceans • Developed interest in trade and aesthetic expression • Developed an interest in jewellery; sculpture, painting became important

11. The Neolithic Revolution • Means “New Stone Age” • Refers to the period AFTER 9000 BCE, when polished stone tools were used • Animals were domesticated; crops were planted • There was a shift from hunting & gathering to agriculture • This development of a society led to the establishment of civilizations.

12. A quick review: • Ok, with all the dates and timelines, when, in fact, did human history begin? • Some historians say human history began with the arrival of the first fully human beings about 50, 000 years ago. From this point onward, humans societies evolved and developed rapidly. • Between 50,000 - 10, 000 BCE virtually every corner of the earth was populated.

13. The earliest civilizations include: • Mesopotamia, Egypt, India and China • Common characteristic: they developed along river valleys - • Mesopotamia - the Tigris and Euphrates rivers • Egypt - The Nile • India - The Indus river valley • China - The Yellow river These rivers allowed for -steady source of water -fertile soil -means of communication/transportation -exchange of goods and ideas

14. Mesopotamia - the cradle of civilization • Means “land between the rivers” • Nomadic life was abandoned for the land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers • What important inventions were developed? • Codified laws, the concept of Kingship, writing, and the wheel were all invented by Mesopotamians! • The south was called “Sumer” and the north was called “Akkad” but they unified under the name “Babylonia.”

15. An inhospitable land • Despite the arid soil, baked by the sun, natural levees, embankments built up by sediment over thousands of years of flooding, could be drained, planted, irrigated and cultivated. Swamps also provided food for livestock, and were an important building material. • However, the area was susceptible to flooding and river-side communities were often at risk. See page 40.

16. Who were “Mesopotamians”? • 3000 BCE Sumerians arrive from central Asia • 2600-2200 BCE - the Akkadians and Amorites arrive • 2000 BCE The Indo-Europeans - Luvians and Hittites • 1800 BCE The Hurrians from the Caucasus in Asia

17. What were the contributions of these groups? • Sumerians had an elaborate class structure - the king & nobility at the top, “free clients” who worked for the nobility; commoners who owned their own land and produced and traded goods, and lastly slaves

18. Akkadians & Babylonians • A Semitic chieftain called Sargon conquered the Sumerians in 2331 BCE at Akkad, where the name Akkadians comes from. • Sargon unified Mesopotamia and spread its culture throughout the area. • Another Semitic people, the Babylonians, dominated trade and eventually took control of Mesopotamia, under the leadership of King Hammurabi in 1750 BCE. • His claim to fame is his law code, inscribed on a stone pillar for all to see. Punishment fit the crime and introduced the concept of “an eye for an eye.”

19. Ziggurats • Were temples to the Gods, built by Mesopotamians. • were made of mud brick and built on platforms in case of flooding. • One of the most famous is the “Tower of Babel”, restored by Nebuchadnezzar* who hoped to raise the tower up to heaven. The completed tower was considered one of the great wonders of the ancient world. The base was 91 m on each side!

20. Nebuchadnezzar* • King of Neo-Babylonian Empire from 605-562 BCE. • According to the Bible he conquered Judah and Jerusalem and sent the Jews into exile • He is credited with the construction of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, built for his homesick wife, Amytis, to remind her of her home in Persia.

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