Friday, September 13 & Monday, September 16, 2013
History of World Civilizations
Lecture Notes
Previous reading assignment: Pages 1-7 to get the “Big Picture”
History of World Civilizations, Part I, “From Hunting and Gathering to Civilizations, 2.5
Million—1000 B.C.E”
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Always: Put ANY hard or different words that you encountered as you read on
the board. We may talk about them now or later—but please put them down—
even write words you may encounter in other readings—for other classes. It’s
okay here. We like new words . Let’s assign kids to write them on the website
for us. Volunteers?
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Homework for the weekend and Wednesday: Please finish reading Chapter 1 and
continue taking notes on the chapter. I will collect (review) these Monday &
Wednesday
I.
1.
Let’s take a few minutes to talk to each other about how many notes we
took. What did you find you could eliminate? What roadblocks did you
hit when you were given the assignment to take fewer notes? Ordered
share.
2.
Let’s talk about the big themes in World History that you have read about
so far.
3.
“The human species has accomplished a great deal in a relatively short
period of time.” How long? How can we show this in a way that we can
understand? Talk.
4.
“For better or worse, has taken control of the destinies of countless other
species” (9). Discuss
Extra Credit Component:
1. If you chose to read Ishmael, by Daniel Quinn, you may receive up to
50 extra credit points. First you must do a few things.
a. Make sure it’s okay with your parents. Ishmael does not have
an “R” rating. It is not violent and there are not any swear
words in it. It just may question your human belief system.
After all, it is about a Gorilla.
b. How do I earn the extra credit? It’s easy. I would like it if you
discussed it online with your classmates and me. I have a page
devoted to “Ishmael Discussion Page.” I will pose a few
questions throughout but it would be better if you do. So just
bop into the page and let it rip. Talk, question and comment.
That is the best way to earn the credit. There is no set limit to
how many times a student must post or reply. I will know if
the student is reading, engaged, questioning and learning the
extra credit. If student is not—don’t bother.
c. The only other way to let me know that you have read and are
engaged in the book is to sign up on our “AMES/CAS/EE”
Calendar that I have posted in the room. I have passes that you
fill out and I sign. I have the open times that I can meet with
students on the days of the calendar. It’s that easy. Sign up and
we will talk about the book. Remember, no time/due date but
the end of the year—several discussions are preferable to just
one. Make an appointment after maybe 3 chapters in and then
again in a few more. You will be doing all of the talking at this
meeting. The website conversation is much easier. Your
choice.
d. The only due date to earn the extra credit would be the first
week of June—be aware that this is an extremely busy time of
year and if you chose to discuss the book with me, and not your
classmates at this late date, it may be difficult to set something
up.
BACK TO CLASS . . .
5.
“The human species has accomplished a great deal in a relatively short
period of time.” How long? How can we show this in a way that we can
understand? Talk.
“For better or worse, has taken control of the destinies of countless other
species” (9).
6.
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We can all agree, that indeed, humans have taken over the world. How
did this happen? Stearns et al. (the book writers) assert that humans had
many positive attributes early on for this, but they also point out the not so
positive attributes early humans had. Can we list them? (9, 10, 11)
+ Positive traits that allowed humans to
dominate
 Negative traits that may have hindered
human domination
1. Discussion Question? What has caused our world to shrink?
a. Paleolithic Era: Anywhere from 4 million to 2 million years ago to the end of the
last ice age, which was about 12,000 to 10,000 B.C.
b. What does Paleolithic mean?
1. Human Life before Agriculture notes:
a. Early Paleolithic: Please understand that the trend through these eras was larger
size, increase in brain capacity, and more upright stature. Homo erectus and
improved species spread from Africa to Asia and Europe—perhaps gaining 1.5
billion by 100,000 year ago. These groups were often co-existent, with the newer
species achieving more success. All of these groups spread quickly across the
globe and this is the early human’s greatest achievement.
b. Late Paleolithic:
1. Homo sapiens sapiens—that’s us folks. No smarter—just more complex and .
. .?
2. Out of Africa—and to conquer the world . . . or? So what’s the story?
3. Speech about 100,000 years ago—
4. Communal cooperation and tool use
5. rituals about death—and created cave paintings—Lascaux France Cave
Paintings (Insert pix here)
Mesolithic notes:
How did the end of the Ice Age change the food dynamic? Less big game to hunt meant
the need for a more stable food supply. By 9,000 BC, people were leaning more towards
gathering, rather than just hunting.
Q. What were they gathering?
They were also domesticating animals. Why? They had to hang around and protect their
food source.
(I had a professor in college who believed that beer is the reason for civilization.)
Q. How might agriculture have grown out of gathering?
This is how farming began. Agriculture started around 9,000 but it was uneven and not
yet widespread. When it does become widespread (c. 5,500 BC) this is the beginning of
the Neolithic Era.
What does Neolithic mean?
Agriculture began in the Middle East, and there is early evidence of farming in India,
North Africa, Europe, and Asia.
There is an early Neolithic settlement in Turkey that is discussed in your book. It is
called Catal Huyuk. Scientists have gathered lots of data on the politics, economics, and
culture of the Neolithic Period. Another early settlement of note is Skara Brae in
Scotland.
Let’s talk about metal.
When and where does metalworking first occur? What metal?
The Copper Age begins about 4,000BC in the Middle East.
Why was metal so helpful? Stronger, more durable farm implements and weapons.
What comes next?
Bronze Age c. 3,000BC
And finally?
Iron Age c. 1,500BC - We are still living in the iron/steel age today. Or are we?
How did people get iron?
Q. Do you think most of the tribe was involved in metalworking once it was discovered?
Let’s talk about specialization…
_
Now we are going to look at the first civilizations
Where does the word civilization come from?
The ingredients for civilization are the following: What? Write it down on board.
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Well organized government
social classes
cities and monuments
division of labor
artistic skills
writing
religion and
rituals
Read the third paragraph on page 17
What does it the main idea in this paragraph?
What words do we need to know to understand this paragraph?
What’s a barbarian?
A lot of these ingredients existed by 5,000BC, but 3,500 B.C. is when most people agree
these ingredients came together and civilization began.
The first civilizations are called “River Valley Civilizations” or “RVC’s”
Surprisingly they were all located next to rivers.
The RVC timeframe starts about 3500BC and runs to about 1000BC when the classical
civilizations begin.
There is debate as to which RVC came first, my money is on the Tigris Euphrates
civilization in Mesopotamia. Mesopotamia means between two rivers.
The most influential of the 4 RVC’s was the Tigris-Euprates civilization. The civilization
progressed because of the Sumerians whose city was Sumer.
Q. What were some of their accomplishments?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
First human writing called cuneiform-wedge shaped writing on clay tablets,
Ziggurat
Wheel & Axle,
Astronomy
religion (Polytheism)
organized city-states
silver economy
fertilizer
metalworking.
The Sumerian alphabet started using pictographs or pictures that represented words.
Next, they began to use symbols that represented sounds (we call these symbols letters).
They started with thousands of letters, but finally revised them to a couple hundred.
Q. What do you think the Sumerian writing system was most commonly used for?
A. Maps, laws, architecture, and trade regulation.
B. Literacy = power. Did everyone get a chance to use writing?
Let’s look at religion. Q. Why was polytheism the way to go during early agrarian
culture?
A. Weather gods, crop gods, weather gods, illness gods. Mother moon and Corn king.
The city-states in Mesopotamia were highly organized by a king that claimed divine
authority from the Ziggurat. Divine authority is the way to go when trying to get people
to follow you.
The king’s main duties were to regulate religion, administer justice, control the economy,
and war. Let’s look at the result of war in the “fertile crescent”.
After the Sumerians the Akkadians took over and built upon Sumer culture. Then the
Babylonians took over the Akkadians. The Assyrians took over the Babylonians and
finally the Persians took over the Assyrians. Why has it proven so difficult for
civilization to hold onto this area of land?
(Crossroads of the world).
Q. What is the most famous law code?
A. Hammurabi, King of Babylon. It appears on the Stele of naum-sin.
Read Hammurabi’s code. The code dealt with extreme cases that set precedence for
property rights, duties of families and social behavior. What is the best law and the
worst law?
Now onto Egypt’s RVC, Nile River Valley. This civilization began about 3,000 BC.
It benefited from trade and influences from the T-E.
It was known for the highly centralized government (pharaoh) as opposed to city states.
Everyone is familiar with the pyramids. You have to understand that these huge building
accomplishments are only completed by extensive slave labor.
Up and down society because of occasional invasions by surrounding peoples.
Q. Egyptian writing style=Hieroglyphics. Pictures representing words. Science was not
as advanced although anatomy was point of interest. Art was very colorful and cheerful
focusing on happy afterlife. Mathematics very advanced=24 hour day.
T-E vs. Nile
Political structure? Openness to invasion? Govermental control? Writing? Lively Art?
Engineering?
Indus river valley will go fast. Starts 2500BC.
Several major cities that were pre-planned (i.e. Harrappa and Mohenjo Daro even had
running water!)
Alphabet we know nothing about.
Highly artistic.
The reason why we don’t know anything about this RVC was that it was completely
destroyed by Indo-European invaders called Aryans-we will get to them more later in
chapter 3.
Chinese RVC= Huang He (Yellow River) 2000BC.
Most isolated very ethnocentric.
Major governmental emphasis on flood control, (A good thing and bad) education, horse
riding.
Where India was the least continuous civilization from its RVC, China is the most
contiuous. The Shang Dynasty was in place by 1500. The first of 3000years of ruling
families. More next chapter. These rulers were noted for impressive tombs and palace,
but disregard for public housing.
The last thing we need to talk about are two smaller groups that are of note:
1) The Jews- Very well-known and influential group. Q. What are they most known for?
A. Monotheism. Their religion was their way of life, not just rituals. Settled in M-E by
1200BC, but until recently (1948) were never able to form a strong government or
military tradition. What am I talking about? Egypt. What two great religions were offshoots of Judaism? Christianity and Islam.
2) The other group was the Phonecians. They were great sailors and traders. That is why
they were influential – they moved around. Most important contribution was their 22
letter alphabet. This was the basis of the Greek and Roman alphabets. S