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Australopithecus
Homo habilis
Homo erectus
Homo sapiens
3.9-3 million years ago
2.4 million years ago
1.8 million years ago
280,000 years ago
• Evolution
– a fact not a theory
– “change over time”
• Natural selection
• Artificial selection
• Mutation
Biblical Criticism
• Form criticism is an analysis of literary documents, particularly the
Bible, to discover earlier oral traditions (stories, legends, myths,
etc.) upon which they were based.
• Tradition criticism is an analysis of the Bible, concentrating on how
religious traditions have grown and changed over the time span
during which the text was written.
• Higher criticism is "the study of the sources and literary methods
employed by the biblical authors."
• Lower criticism is "the discipline and study of the actual wording" of
the Bible; a quest for textual purity and understanding.
How old is Earth?
• Bishop James Usher (1581 – 1656)
Creation “fell upon the entrance of the night
preceding, Sunday, October 23,” 4004 BC.
• Modern science:
4.5 billion years.
Ocean fossils in the Canadian Rockies
• By the late 19th century most main-stream
Protestant dominations accepted the general
concept of evolution.
• Catholics have never believed in “absolute
truth” of the Bible.
• Whether there is a guiding force, an external
intelligence, behind this change is up to you.
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Australopithecus
Homo habilis
Homo erectus
Homo sapiens
3.9-3 million years ago
2.4 million years ago
1.8 million years ago
280,000 years ago
Band
Tribe
Chiefdom
State
Total Numbers
less than 100
up to a few thousand
5000-20,000
generally 20,000+
Social
Organization
egalitarian, informal
leadership
Economic
Organization
segmentary--poss. made kinship based ranking,
up of several "bands",
hereditary leaders,
leaders lack economic leaders control some or
control
all aspects of trade
class based hierarchy
central accumulation and
centralized bureaucracy,
redistribution, prestige
tribute, taxation, laws
goods, craft specialization
mobile hunter gatherers
settled farmers,
pastoralists, herders
Settlement
Pattern
temporary camps
permanent villages, no
one settlement dominates
others
fortified centers, ritual
centers
urban cities, towns,
frontier defenses, roads
Religious
Organization
shamans
religious elders,
calendarical rituals
hereditary chief with
religious duties
priestly class, pantheistic
or monotheistic religion
Architecture
temporary shelters
permanent huts, burial
mounds, shrines
large scale monuments
palaces, temples and
other public buildings
Recent or
Contemporary
Examples
Australian Aborigines
New Guinea highlanders
18th century Polynesian
chiefdoms
modern states
How do we explain the world around us?
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Myth
Magic
Religion
Philosophy
Science
• Art
• Music
• Poetry
Venus Figurines
35,000 – 11,000 BCE
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emblems of security and success
fertility icons
porn
representations of a mother goddess or
various local goddesses.
Band
Tribe
Chiefdom
State
Total Numbers
less than 100
up to a few thousand
5000-20,000
generally 20,000+
Social
Organization
egalitarian, informal
leadership
Economic
Organization
segmentary--poss. made kinship based ranking,
up of several "bands",
hereditary leaders,
leaders lack economic leaders control some or
control
all aspects of trade
class based hierarchy
central accumulation and
centralized bureaucracy,
redistribution, prestige
tribute, taxation, laws
goods, craft specialization
mobile hunter gatherers
settled farmers,
pastoralists, herders
Settlement
Pattern
temporary camps
permanent villages, no
one settlement dominates
others
fortified centers, ritual
centers
urban cities, towns,
frontier defenses, roads
Religious
Organization
shamans
religious elders,
calendarical rituals
hereditary chief with
religious duties
priestly class, pantheistic
or monotheistic religion
Architecture
temporary shelters
permanent huts, burial
mounds, shrines
large scale monuments
palaces, temples and
other public buildings
Recent or
Contemporary
Examples
Australian Aborigines
New Guinea highlanders
18th century Polynesian
chiefdoms
modern states
10,000 BCE
Paleolithic - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Neolithic
Domesticated Animals
Dog
Sheep
Pig
Goat
30,000 - 15,000 BC
11,000 BC - 9000 BC
9000 BC
8000 BC
Cattle
Domesticated Cat
8000 BC
7500 BC
Chicken
Donkey
Duck
Horse
Dromedary Camel
Goose
Yak
Bactrian Camel
6000 BC
5000 BC
4000 BC
4000 BC
4000 BC
3000 BC
2500 BC
2500 BC
Eurasia
Southwest Asia
Near East, China
Iran
Europe, Asia and
North Africa
Near East
India and Southeast
Asia
Egypt
China
Eurasian Steppes
Arabia
Egypt
Tibet
Central Asia
Domesticated Animals -- The Americas
Dog
30,000 - 15,000 BC
Eurasia
Guinea pig
5000 BC
Peru
Llama & Alpaca
2400 BC
Turkey
180 AD
Peru
Mexico,
United States
Domesticated Plants
• Bottle gourd
• Cereal grains
– Evidence of flour
– Chemical evidence for beer
10,000 BCE
9,000 BCE
10,000 BCE
3,500 BCE
Creation and Flood Myths
MYTH
“. . . A traditional story of unknown authorship,
ostensibly with a historical basis, but serving usually
to explain some phenomenon of nature, the origin
of man, or the customs, institutions, religious rites,
etc. of people: myths usually involve the exploits of
gods and heroes.”
Genesis
Traditional
Stories
“Jahwist”
Greek and Mesopotamian
Sources
“Priestly
Source”
Final form
by c. 538 BCE
Biblical manuscripts
• Septuagint (Greek)
c. 300 BCE
• Dead Sea Scrolls
c. 150 BCE – 70 CE
• Masoretic Text
Written c. 100 CE
Oldest text c. 1,000 CE
Gilgamesh
• Sumerian versions from 2150 BCE
• Best preserved version (in Akkadian)
dates from 1300 – 1000 BCE
1750-1180 BCE
2300-2150 BCE
Egypt
2686 - 332 BCE
Judah/Israel
830 BCE – 135 CE
1750-559 BCE
5000-2000 BC
The Ice Age
• Ends c. 12,000 BCE
Black Sea Flood
c. 5600 BCE
100 meter sea level rise above current sea level.
Summary
• Transition from Paleolithic to Neolithic.
– Younger Dryas
• Low-lying areas flood around the world.
• Slow development of sedentary cultures.