We begin at about 8,000 BCE
when village life began in
the New Stone Age. . . Also
known as the
Neolithic Revolution
NEW STONE AGE
TOTALLY
Hunter-Gatherers
to Agriculture
• Mesopotamia [Southwest Asia]
(We think, but new evidence is proving contrary!! It may have been CHINA!)
• Around 8000 BCE
• Cereal crops
• Wheat
• Barley
• Herd animals
• Sheep
• Goats
• Tools and weapons
• Social and political organization
• Homes
• Broad language groups appeared
To meet the needs of
agricultural production:
• Pottery
• Baskets
• Wool and Linen
• Tools and Weapons
• Required intensification
of group organization
• Neolithic farmers lived in
settlements
• Ranged from 150 (Jarmo) to
2000 (Jericho) in population
• Neolithic communities WERE in contact
• Walls indicate some were more fearful
• Others were more peaceful, no walls
Jericho
• Settlement (Civilization) was NOT simply
next inevitable step from Neolithic Age
• Many peoples remained at simple food-raising stage for
thousands of years (Pastoralists)
• Only FIVE locations developed civilizations
entirely on their own
•
•
•
•
•
China
Indus River Valley
Mesopotamia
Egypt
Central America and Peru
Early River Valley Civilizations
Environment
Mesopotamia
Egypt
Indus River
Valley
China
Mesoamerica
& Andes
• Flooding of Tigris and Euphrates unpredictable
• No natural barriers
• Limited natural resources for making tools or buildings
• Flooding of the Nile predictable
• Nile an easy transportation link between Egypt’s villages
• Deserts were natural barriers
• Indus flooding unpredictable
• Monsoon winds
• Mountains, deserts were natural barriers
• Huang He flooding unpredictable
• Mountains, deserts natural barriers
• Geographically isolated from other ancient civilizations
• Mountains and ocean natural barriers
• Warm temperatures and moderate rainfall
• Geographically isolated from other ancient civilizations
Mesopotamia – Fertile
Crescent
EGYPT
•
•
•
•
•
•
Nile River Valley
Hieroglyphics
Engineering: Pyramids
Geometry
Advances in medicine and surgery
1st Monotheist Religion
Nile
River
Sahara
Desert
Indus River Valley
2500 BCE – 1500 BCE
• Harappan culture
• Well planned cities
• Grid pattern
• Modern plumbing
• Built on mud brick platforms
• Protected against seasonal floods
• Larger cities
• Houses built of baked brick
• Smaller towns
• Houses built of sun-dried mud brick
Aryan Migration – Spread of Hinduism?
 pastoral  depended on their cattle
 warriors  horse-drawn chariots
Shang China
1600 BC – 1027 BC
• Yellow River Valley
• Advanced culture
• Religion
• Astronomy
• Calendar
• Medicine
• Bronze, jade, stone, bone and ceramic artifacts
• Less contact with foreigners led to belief in:
• Strong sense of identity
• Cultural Superiority
• Center of earth
• Sole source of civilization
Zhou China (sounds like “Joe”)
1122 BCE – 256 BCE
• Bronze, jade, silver, gold
• Mandate of Heaven (NOT theocracy!)
• Power to rule came from heaven
• Power could be removed if ruler was unjust
• Veneration of ancestors (RESPECT, NOT worship)
• All must honor family responsibilities
• Period ended with division (Warring States)
• Confucianism developed in response to LACK of
organization
Mesoamerica and
Andean South America
2900 BCE – 1400 BCE
• Mesoamerica
• Maize, chili peppers, avocados, beans
• Pottery
• Stone bowls
• Beads
• Waddle and daub structures
• No draft animals
Mesoamerica and
Andean South America
2900 BCE – 1400 BCE
• Andes
• Textiles technology
• Sophisticated government (Socialism)
• Religion
• Lacked ceramics
• Monumental architecture
• Large platform mounds
• Sunken circular plazas
Classical China
Qin [Ch’in] Dynasty



•
(221-206 BCE)
Han Dynasty








(202 BCE-220 CE) = EPIC!
Classical India
Mauryan Empire (320 BCE-320 CE)
• Chandragupta
• Unified northern India after Alexander the Great withdrew
• Set up efficient bureaucracy
• Asoka (grandson)
•
•
•
•
Dedicated life to Buddha
Continued bureaucracy
Hospitals, roads
Law Codes
Gupta Empire (320-647 CE)
Chandra Gupta I
Bureaucracy
Allowed local
government in south
 Patriarchal
 Hinduism
 Caste system
continued
 Advances
 Medicine
 Math (decimal, pi)
Classical Persia
Persian Empire (550 BCE-651 CE)
Classical Greece
Early History
(3000 BCE-750 BCE)
Homer
Geographic Influence =
TRADE
City-States
Alexander the Great
(336-323 BCE)
Athenian Contributions
Classical Rome
Ancient Rome
(1500 BCE-500 BCE)
•
•
•
•
Republic
500-27 BCE
Empire
27 BCE-476 CE
Germanic Invasion = Fall of Rome 
Trade Routes
of the Classical World
Goods Traded
spices
gold & ivory
Classical Mesoamerica
Geographically isolated = slower development, but no less
capable
Maya
(1800 BCE-800 BCE)
Chavin
(900 BCE-200 BCE)
•External Forces
• Internal Forces
•
•
•
•
Overpopulation
Economic problems
Social disruption
Political struggles
• Population size and density decrease dramatically
• Society tends to become less politically centralized
• Less investment is made in things such as architecture,
art, and literature
• Trade and other economic activities are greatly
diminished
• The flow of information among people slows
• The ruling elites may change, but usually the working
classes tend to remain and provide continuity
• Every society must:
• answer basic biological needs of its members: food, drink,
shelter, and medical care.
• provide for production and distribution of goods and services
(perhaps through division of labor, rules concerning property
and trade, or ideas about role of work).
• provide for reproduction of new members and consider laws
and issues related to reproduction (regulation, marriageable
age, number of children, and so on).
• provide for training (education, apprenticeship, passing on of
values) of individuals so that they can become functioning
adults in society.
• provide for maintenance of internal and external order (laws,
courts, police, wars, diplomacy).
• provide meaning and motivation to its members.