Chapter 1

1. Chapter 1 Section 1 Early Humans

2. Early Humans • Historians-people who study and write about the human past. Archaeologists study artifacts, objects made by human beings. • By looking at artifacts they can see how people developed technology, the skills and tools people use to meet their basic needs. • Anthropology is the study of the origins and development of people and their societies.

4. Early Humans • Historians call the early period of human history the Stone Age (used stone for tools and weapons). • Earliest part of the Stone Age is the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age.

5. Early Humans • During the Old Stone Age or Paleolithic era, people lived as nomads, insmall hunting and food gathering groups. These people: • made simple tools and weapons out of stone, bone, or wood; • developed a spoken language • How did this change life? • invented clothing; • used caves and rocky overhangs for shelter; • learned to build fires (Key for survival during Ice Ages) • for warmth, cooking, light, and ceremonies.

6. Early Humans • Cave paintings may have been part of animist religious rituals. • Also, may have thought paintings would bring good luck in the hunt.

10. Neolithic Times • After the Ice Age ended, people began to change their way of life. • They domesticated animals • They learned how to grow food

11. 2 The Neolithic Agricultural Revolution Neolithic Agricultural Revolutionwas the change from nomadic to farming life. PEOPLE AFTER PEOPLE BEFORE Learned to farm and were able to produce their own food. Relied on hunting and gathering. Settled into permanent villages. Nomads lived in small hunting and food-gathering groups. Learned to domesticate, or tame, animals. This provided a dependable source of meat. Waited for migrating animals to return each year.

12. Neolithic Times Farmers began cultivating lands along river valleys and producing surplus, or extra, food. Surpluses helped populations expand. As populations grew, some villages swelled into cities.

13. Neolithic Times • Earliest known community is Jericho • Another well-known community is CatalHüyük • People eventually began to practice specialization.

14. Section 2 Mesopotamian Civilization

16. Mesopotamia’s Civilization • Civilization- a complex society (have cities, organized governments, art, religion, class divisions, and a writing system.

17. Why Were River Valleys Important? • The first civilizations arose in river valleys. • Good farming conditions • Travel made easier (trade)

18. The Rise of Sumer • Earliest-known civilization is Mesopotamia. • Located between the Tigris and Euphrates River • Hot, dry climate • Random flooding of the rivers

19. The Rise of Sumer • Farmers began to use irrigation. • Allowed them to grow plenty of food and support a large population. • By 3000 B.C., many cities had formed in Southern Mesopotamia (known as Sumer)

21. What Were City-States? • Sumerian cities were isolated from each other by geography. • Each Sumerian city became a separate city-state. • City-state-city that had its own government and is not part of a larger unit.

22. What Were City-States? • Often went to war with each other. • Cities were surrounded by walls

24. Gods and Rulers • Polytheistic-belief in many gods • Built a temple called a ziggurat • Priests and priestesses were powerful

26. What Was Life Like in Sumer? • Kings lived in palaces • Ordinary people lived in small mud-brick houses. • Most people were farmers • Some people were artisans (skilled workers) and some were merchants or traders

27. What Was Life Like in Sumer? • 3 social classes in Sumer • Upper class-kings, priests, and government officials • Middle class-artisans, merchants, farmers, and fishers • Lower class-slaves who worked on farms or in temples

29. A Skilled People Mesopotamia has been called the “cradle of civilization.” They had many ideas and inventions. Invented the wagon wheel, plow, and sailboat

30. Why Was Writing Important? • Greatest invention was writing. • Helps people keep records and pass on ideas • Writing in Sumer was called cuneiform. • Scribes-record keepers • Honored position in society.

31. Sumerian Writing: cuneiform Cuneiform is created by pressing a pointed stylus into a clay tablet.

32. Cuneiform

34. Sumerian Literature • World’s oldest story comes from Sumer • Epic of Gilgamesh • Epic-long poem that tells the story of a hero.

35. Advances in Science and Math • Used geometry to measure fields • Created a number system based on 60. (60 minute hour, 60 second minute, and 360 degree circle) • Recorded positions of the planets • Developed a 12-month calendar

36. Sargon and Hammurabi • Over time, conflicts weakened Sumer’s city-states. • Sargon-King of the Akkadians conquered all of Mesopotamia around 2340 B.C. • He set up the world’s first empire. • Empire lasted for more than 200 years

38. Sargon and Hammurabi • 1800s B.C., a new group of people became powerful and built the city of Babylon • In 1792 B.C., Hammurabi (King of Babylon) began capturing cities to the north and south and created the Babylonian Empire • Hammurabi is best known for his law code

40. SECTION 3 The First Empires

41. The Assyrians • About 1000 years after Hammurabi, the Assyrians built an empire in Mesopotamia • The Assyrians built a large army to protect their land. • Around 900 B.C., they began to take over the rest of Mesopotamia.

42. Why Were the Assyrians So Strong? • They were well organized (foot soldiers, archers, cavalry, and chariot riders) • 1st army to use iron weapons (Hittites developed a way to make iron stronger and Assyrians used it) • Ferocious warriors

46. A Well-Organized Government • 650 B.C., empire stretched from the Persian Gulf in the east to Egypt’s Nile River in the West • Capital city was Nineveh • Kings divided empire into provinces (political districts) • Kings built roads to join empire and stationed soldiers there for protection

48. The Chaldeans • The Chaldeans captured Nineveh in 612 B.C. • They controlled all of Mesopotamia from 605 B.C. to 562 B.C. • Chaldeans were led by King Nebuchadnezzar

50. The City of Babylon • Chaldeans rebuilt the city of Babylon as the glorious center of their empire. • Largest and richest city in the world • Huge ziggurat in the center • The Hanging Gardens at the king’s palace (built to please Nebuchadnezzar’s wife)