Chapter 1:

1. Chapter 1: Before History

2. Prehistory • What is “history”? • Documentation • Written records • Archaeological discovery

3. Development of Hominids • Animals adapt themselves to environment • Hominids adapt environment to themselves • Use of tools • Language • Complex cooperative social structures

4. Australopithecus

5. Australopithecus • “The southern ape”– Despite name a hominid • Discovery of skeleton AL-288-1, north of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia • Nicknamed “Lucy” • 40% of SWF, 3’5”, 55lb., bipedal, Brain 500 cc (modern human: 1400 cc), limited speech but opposable digit • Estimated date of death: 3.5 million years ago

9. Later Hominids • Homo Erectus, “upright man” • Larger brain capacity (1000 cc), improved tool use, control of fire • Homo Sapiens, “consciously thinking human” • Largest brain, esp. frontal regions • Most sophisticated tools and social organization • Migrations of Homo Erectus and Homo Sapiens

10. Global spread of hominids and Homo sapiens

11. The Natural Environment • By 13,000 BCE Homo sapiens in every inhabitable part of the world • Archaeological finds: • Sophisticated tools • Choppers, scrapers, axes, knives, bows, arrows • Cave and hut like dwellings • Use of fire, animal skins

12. Hunted several mammal species to extinction • Climactic change may have accelerated process

13. Relative Social Equality • Nomadic culture precludes accumulation of land-based wealth • More likely determinants of status: age, hunting skill, fertility, personality • Possible gender equality related to food production • Men: protein from hunting • Women: plant gathering

14. Paleolithic Era (“Old Stone Age”) • Evidence: • Archaeological finds • Extrapolation from modern hunter-gatherer societies • Nomadic existence precludes advanced civilization • Groups of 30-50 • Division of labor along gender lines

15. Big Game Hunting • Evidence of intelligent coordination of hunting expeditions • Development of weaponry • Animal-skin disguises • Stampeding tactics • Lighting of fires, etc. to drive game into kill zones • Requires planning, communication

16. Paleolithic Settlements • Natufian society • Modern Israel and Jordan • Wild wheat, herding • Jomon society • Japan • Wild buckwheat, fishing • Chinook society • Pacific Northwest • Berries, acorns, salmon runs • Groups of 1000 or more

17. Neandertal Peoples • Neander valley, western Germany • Flourished in Europe & SW Asia, 200,000 – 35,000 years ago • Also found in Africa, east Asia • Evidence of spirituality: ritual burial • Inhabited some of the same areas as Homo sapiens

18. Creativity of Homo sapiens • Constructed flexible languages for communication of complex ideas • Increased variety of tools – stone blades, spear throwers, sewing needles, barbed harpoons • Fabricated ornamental beads, necklaces and bracelets • The bow and arrow – a dramatic improvement in humans power over nature • “Venus” figurines • Cave paintings

19. Neolithic Era (“New Stone Age”) • Corresponds with the end of the last Ice Age • Distinction in tool production • Chipped vs. polished • Men: herding animals rather than hunting • Women: nurtured vegetation rather than foraging • Spread of Agriculture • Slash-and-and burn techniques • Exhaustion of soil promotes migration • Transport of crops from one region to another

20. Origins and Early Spread of Agriculture

21. Agriculture and Population Growth

22. Forming the Complex Society • Basic development: • Hunting and Foraging • Agriculture • Complex Society • Key issue: surplus capital • Major development of first complex societies 3500 BCE – 500 BCE

23. Early Agricultural Society • Emergence of villages and towns • Discoveries at Çatal Hüyük – a prominent village located in Turkey, occupied 7250-5400 BCE • Pots, baskets, textiles, leather, stone, metal tools, wood carvings, carpets, beads, and jewelry • Development of crafts –pottery, metallurgy, and textile production

24. Social Distinctions • Accumulation of landed wealth initiates development of social classes • Individuals could trade surplus food for valuable items • Archaeological evidence in variety of household decorations, goods buried with deceased members of society at Çatal Hüyük

25. Neolithic Culture • Farmers closely observed the natural world – an early kind of applied science • Elements of natural environment essential for functioning • Archaeological evidence of religious worship: thousands of clay figurines, drawings on pots, tool decorations, other ritual objects • Fertility: Venus figurines

26. Beginnings of Urbanization • Jericho: concentration of wealth, building a wall • Craft specialization • Social stratification • Governance • Cultural workers • Development of the city – a gradual process

28. The body of Tollund Man, a person from Iron Age Denmark. The corpse was preserved in bog deposits for almost 2000 years.

30. This is the body of a Bronze Age man that was found in the Italian Alps in 1991 by hikers during an unusually warm summer. He has been buried in this spot for 5200 years!