Period 1
Technological and Environmental Transformations
To c. 600 B.C.E.
Transformations
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Unit 1 covers the largest period of time- from whenever
to 600 BCE.
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Farming came into existence
Mankind settled together
Writing was invented
Humans had to grapple with new ideas like culture, politics, and
new technology
Transformations- Before 8000 BCE
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Paleolithic= Old Stone Age
Migrated from Africa to Europe, Asia, the South Pacific,
and the Americas
15,000-10,000 BCE- Ice Age- Humans survived through
adaptations
World started getting warmer after around 9000 BCE
Transformations- 8000 BCE to 600 BCE
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Ice Age over!!!- Let’s go outside and do something
productive
Agriculture and transition from nomadic hunter-gatherers
to permanent settlers
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Creation of complex social structures, economies, and cultures
People living together needed law and order- government
Specialization of labor
Religions established
Artistic expression
Humans and the Environment
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Migration
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Humans appeared in Africa about 200,000 years ago
75,000 years later, migration out of Africa
Prime real estate- mild weather, large body of water
Population increased and large animals hunted to extinctionmoved farther and farther
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30,000 to 14,000 y.a. to North America across Bering Strait land/ice
bridge or primitive rafts
Rafts/boat to get to South Pacific islands and Australia
By 10,000 BCE, humans on every continent except Antarctica
Humans and Environment
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Fire and Tools
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Fire was a pretty big deal.
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Cook food, stay warm, clear underbrush, safety from predators
Wolves learned to come around campfire to beg for food- dogs
Tools
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Hunting
Gathering
Fishing
Sewing needles
axes
Humans and Environment
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Neolithic Revolution- New Stone Age- Farming
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Agriculture cropped up around 8000 BCE
Selective replanting = domestication
First in Middle East, then in China, Papua New Guinea, and
Mexico, and Africa
“Revolution” took about 5000 years
Early farming- slash and burn, use the field till dead, then move
on
Others used flooding (Nile,Yellow River)
Agriculture required organization, innovation, discipline, and
communication- CIVILIZATION
Pastoralists- domesticated livestock- no cities, but spreaders
Farmers and pastoralists drastically affected their environments
Humans and Environment
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Technology
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Which cam first, agriculture or technology?
First metal- copper- tools, art
Copper mixed with tin makes bronze- much stronger
Left Neolithic and entered the Bronze Age
Bronze strong enough to plow a dry field- allowing farming in
more areas
So- bronze and hard work= permanent farm OR bronze sword
and little work= someone else’s farm
Evolution of warfare
Bronze eventually gave way to iron- stronger and cheaper
Humans and Environment
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Don’t mess with Mother Nature
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Living by rivers helps with farming, but FLOODS
Monsoons in India
Dependent on agriculture means very vulnerable to drought
Culture- Writing
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Official moved from pre-history to history
Allowed transmission of ideas over large areas with
clarity
First- cuneiform in Mesopotamia around 3300 BCE
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Mostly record keeping, but also the Epic of Gilgamesh
King from Iraq walks around with his friend and kills a bunch of
monsters
Egyptian hieroglyphics- Book of the Dead, papyrus
Shang China- pictographs
Sanskrit in India- basis of Indian, Middle Eastern, and
European languages- Rig Veda
Olmecs- similar to Mayan writing, but no translation yet
Culture- Architecture
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Pyramids- tallest structures until Eiffel Tower in 1800’s
Mesopotamia- ziggurats (Tower of Babel)
Americas- large mounds and stone structures
India- spectacular temples
China- elaborate royal tombs
Impart the power of a king and his government or the
priestly elite and gods; military might; entertainment;
practical purposes
Urban planning
Culture- Religion
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Early mankind practiced rituals, including burial rites and
prayers
Many groups had dedicated holy men/women who were
believed to possess magical powers and knowledge
Increasingly complex- new centers of worship and burial
Most were polytheistic, ancient Hebrews and Persians
were monotheistic
Great variety in beliefs, but most had deities that were
connected to the physical forces of the world, some
means of communication, and formal burial
Some became more popular and codified in writing
Culture- Vedic Religion
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Precursor to Hinduism
Foreign invaders brought the beliefs to India
Sacred books called the Vedas
No central prophet, central authority, or orthodoxy
Polytheistic
Importance of recitation of Vedas
Karma and reincarnation
Culture- Judaism
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World’s oldest monotheistic religion
Abraham probably lived around 3000 BCE
From Mesopotamia, but migrated to Israel as instructed
by the god Yahweh
Hebrews moved to Egypt, then Moses led them out
around 1200 BCE
Hebrew people endured the destruction of temples,
invasions, and occupations
Ten Commandments
Large temple rituals; hereditary caste of priests
Follow the rules and God will favor you
Culture- Zoroastrianism
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Once one of the most widely practices religions in the
world, few Zoroastrians remain
Centered in Persia
The prophet Zoroaster (7th c. BCE) taught that the world
was a battleground between good and evil
Good- creator Ahura Mazda
Bad (Corruption)- Ahirman
Strict code of personal morality to prevent corruption
State Building- Mesopotamia
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1st to sustain civilization
Settled- 8000 BCE; cities at 5300 BCE
Sumerians
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Babylonians
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Babylon; Ur
Ziggurats; cuneiform; Gilgamesh; wheel
Hammurabi (Code)
Written mathematics
Assyrians
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Military might- archers
State Building- Egypt
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Nile- regular flooding- richest farmland in ancient world
Old Kingdom; Middle Kingdom; New Kingdom
365 day solar calendar
Pharaohs; mummies; tombs
Pyramid builders mostly farmers during off season
Priests important
Hatshepsut- female pharaoh; records were destroyed
Ramses II- expanded Egypt into Nubia, Libya, and Syria
State Building- Indus Valley
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Modern-day Pakistan
Mohenjo-Daro (near the Indian Ocean) and Harappa
(northeast in Punjab)
Not much of a historical record
Archaeological records
Collapse due to drought? Or flooding?
State Building- Shang Dynasty
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China’s first (historical) dynasty
Centered on the Yellow River Valley, but spread over most
of central China
Bronze for aristocrats and priests, but not commoners
Highly stratified social structure
Conquered by Zhou from the northwest
State Building- Olmec
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Present-day Mexico from 1500 to 400 BCE
Precursor to Maya and Aztec
Written language (but not yet deciphered)
Extensive trade
Skilled architects
Colossal Head statues
Sophisticated calendar (that we can’t read)
Sport that was a cross between soccer and basketball
State Building- the Others
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Nubia- South of Egypt in modern Sudan
Minoans- Crete, off the coast of Greece
Mainland Greeks- Iliad/Odyssey; Mycenaean culture
Phoenicians- sailors and merchants from modern
Lebanon; alphabet
Bantu- sub-Saharan Africans spread from the Niger river
to most of sub-Saharan Africa
Economic Systems
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Economy- refers to any system where different people
interact to provide and buy different goods and services
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Basically, if anything exchanges hands, you’re looking at an
economy
The main point about the economy in this period is that
it began. (simple enough?)
Job Specialization- farming led to food surplus (a few
could feed the many)
Free time to work in religion, government, the economy
Trade- if you couldn’t produce something for yourself, you
got it from someone else and gave them either money or
your own goods in return
Social Structure
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Neo Rev had a huge impact on how we organized
Social Stratification
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Paleolithic- hunter or gatherer or both- all essential
Neolithic and beyond- more complex, more rigid, more
stratified
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We need to make sure people keep doing the terrible jobs that are
necessary.
Pyramid model
Male dominated
Social Structure - Kings
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Monarchy- usually reps of god on earth
Zhou- Mandate from Heaven = absolute power
Egyptians- pharaohs were incarnations of gods
Mesopotamia- emissaries of gods
Many Hebrew kings were prophets
Small upper class- warriors, priests, scholars who upheld
the power of the king (until they didn’t)
Social Structure- Everyone Else
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Skilled labor- reading/writing, fighting, merchanting(new
word!), or manufacturing
Unskilled labor- farming, palace cleaning
Slaves
Stuck where you were born (99.99% of the time)
Women- most civilizations put women below men
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Few legal rights
Often treated like property (could be sold or forced
marraiges)
Some exceptions, like Hatshepsut
This trend stuck around for a while