Introduction to Ancient Civilizations Lesson Objectives: Define and use correctly the concepts/terms: ancient, civilization, early man, hominid, community, emergence, sedentary, sedentary community, prehistoric, nomad, river valley, specialized occupations, delta, and organized government. � Describe the lifestyle of nomadic man. � Compare the features of sedentary communities in early civilizations with contemporary Jamaican society. � Explain how sedentary lifestyles evolved by identifying the conditions that led to settled � ANCIENT Ancient: Belonging to the very distant past and no longer in existence. CIVILIZATION Civilization: A human society with a complex and advanced culture or the stage of human social and cultural development and organization that is considered most advanced. MIGRATION Migration: the movement of plants, animals, or people from place to place. HUNTER Hunter: one who tracks and kills animals for food, clothing, tools, or other resources. GATHERER Gatherer: one who scavenges the wild to collect food and resources. NOMADIC Nomadic: Settlement not permanent, people moving from place to place in search of food and grazing areas for their animals. SEDENTAR Y Sedentary: Settlement is permanent thus developing an organized way of life; a lifestyle permanently tied to one location. CIVILIZED Civilized- Having a highly developed society and culture. COMMUNIT Y Community- a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common. Terms Cont'd � Emergence- the process of coming into being or of becoming important or prominent. � Sedentary Communities- settlement patterns involving long term permanent settlements. TERMS (CONT'D) Early Man - early hominids, precursors of the human race in its present form. Hominid - a primate of a family (Hominidae) which includes humans and their fossil ancestors and also (in recent schemes) at least some of the great apes. � Prehistoric- relating to or denoting the period before written records. River valley - A long, narrow region of low land between ranges of mountains, hills, or other high areas, often having a river or stream running along the bottom � Specialized occupations - means an occupation which requires theoretical and practical application of a body of highly specialized knowledge in fields of human endeavor for example in weavers, basket makers, tool makers, artisans, etc. � TERMS (cont'd) � � Delta- is a wetland that forms as a river empties its water and sediment into another body of water, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. Organized government - is the system or group of people governing an organized community, often a state, but also other entities, for example, a company. The Early Man: Who was he? Describe his activities How did he live? The Early Man ● Scientists believe that the earliest hominids may have used caves as shelters. ● They probably ate vegetables and gathered seeds, fruits, nuts and other edible plants. ● Later, scientists speculate, meat was added to the diet as small animals were hunted. ● Eventually, humans hunted large animals. Characteristics of nomadic lifestyle - Moved in small groups from place to place in search of food - They had no permanent home. Shelter in caves - They were hunters as they track and kill animals to use as resources - They were gatherers as they depended on fruit trees for food and scavenge the wild - They did fishing - Direction of their movement was dependent on the direction of wild animals such as birds and changes in the sun, moon and stars. Reasons for nomadic lifestyle of early man (Why they move from place to place) - Totally dependent on nature for survival - Move to where resources such as food and water available - Change in climatic conditions - Threatened by natural disasters such as floods, hurricanes, diseases - Attack from other groups of people and animals Becoming Sedentary Sedentism refers to the decision made first by humans at least 12,000 years ago to start living in groups for long periods of time. Settling down, picking a place and living in it permanently for at least part of the year. Some features of sedentary communities in early civilizations are: Features of Sedentary lifestyle 1. Having residential areas where houses were built close to one another. 2. Having large-scale food storage, enough food so that feasting can take place 3. Having cemeteries 4. Having permanent architecture 5. Having an increase in population levels 6. Having non-transportable toolkits (such as massive grinding stones), 7. Having agricultural structures such as terraces and dams 8. Having permanent structures like animal pens 9. Creating and using pottery & metals 10.Creating and using calendars 11.Having some form of record-keeping, 12.Having a system of slavery
