Chapter 4
Origins of Culture
The elements which constitute all cultures are the basis of understanding not
only cultural diversity but also cultural similarities. We begin with beliefs,
which dictate behaviors and are expressed in the development of languages.
The relationship between environment and culture including artifacts is
explored. Tracing world mythologies gives an understanding of the role of
myths in explaining the physical and spiritual worlds of ancient peoples.
Pages 50-52
Culture
Pages 52- 55
Myth, Religion and Government
Pages 56-62
Hunting and Gathering Cultures
Pages 63-69
Document Based Question
Page 70
Appendix 1 Economics
Page 71
Works Consulted
What is
culture?
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Systems of
Meaning
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Cultural anthropology is the study of beliefs, practices and values of human societies.
For cultural anthropologists, this can include studying the political organizations,
marriage patterns or religious beliefs of a particular society. What constitutes a
culture? Culture is the pattern of behavior and thinking that people living in social
groups learn, create, and share. Culture distinguishes one human group from others. It
also distinguishes humans from other animals. A people’s culture includes their
beliefs, rules of behavior, language, religion, rituals, art, political and economic
systems, technology, styles of dress, and ways of producing and cooking food. Or
simply stated, a culture consists of language, beliefs, behavior, and artifacts. People
have culture primarily because they can communicate with and understand symbols.
Symbols allow people to develop complex thoughts and to exchange those thoughts
with others. Several important principles follow from this definition of culture:




Culture is
Symbolic
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Culture is
learned
If the process of learning is an essential characteristic of culture, then
teaching also is a crucial characteristic.
The relationship between what is taught and what is learned is not absolute
(some of what is taught is lost, while new discoveries are constantly being
made), culture exists in a constant state of change.
Meaning systems consist of negotiated agreements To the extent that culture
consists of systems of meaning, it also consists of negotiated agreements and
processes of negotiation. Because meaning systems involve relationships
which are not essential and universal (looking someone in the eye while
talking with them), different human societies will inevitably agree upon
different relationships and meanings; this a relativistic way of describing
culture.
A system of meaning is a set of relationships between one group of variables
(like words, behaviors, physical symbols, etc.) and the meanings which are
attached to them.
Language and other forms of symbolic communication, such as art, enable people to
create, explain, and record new ideas and information.
People have the capacity at birth to construct, understand,
and
communicate through symbols, primarily by using
language. Research has shown, for example, that infants
have a basic structure of language—a sort of universal
grammar—built into their minds. Language provides a
means to store, process, and communicate amounts of
information organized into systems of meaning. Relationships in meaning systems
are arbitrary: there is no particular reason why the word "cat" should refer to a furry
four-legged animal.
Language is perhaps the most formal of human meaning systems, but human
behavior can be a part of a complex and established system of meaning. People are
not born with culture; they have to learn it. For instance, people must learn to abide
by the rules of a society. In all human societies, children learn culture from adults.
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Anthropologists call this process enculturation, or cultural transmission..
Cultural
Template
Cultural
Relativism
Elements of
ideology
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Beliefs
51
Culture, as a body of learned behaviors common to a
given human society, acts as a template (i.e. it has
predictable form and content), shaping behavior and
consciousness within a society from generation to
generation. A "cultural template” is in place prior to
the birth of an individual person. Each culture
possesses uniquely distinctive behaviors and
technologies and characteristic products which distinguish them from others.
This is known as cultural relativism. Cultural relativism sees each culture as
understandable only in its own terms to combat the effects of the application of
evolution to society or races. In cultural relativism, one cannot compare a
primal culture with a technologically advanced culture. Anthropology has used
the notion of cultural relativism - the idea that all cultures are equally worthy of
respect and that in studying another culture we need to suspend judgment,
empathize and try and understand the way that particular culture sees the world.
In every society, unique ways of thinking about the world unite people in their
behavior or the way a group acts, responds, or organizes itself. Anthropologists
often refer to the body of ideas that people share as ideology. Ideology can be
broken down into at least three specific categories: beliefs, values, and ideals.
Beliefs are anything the group considers true, right and important People’s
beliefs give them an understanding of how the world works and how they
should respond to the actions of others and their environments. Particular beliefs
often tie in closely with the daily concerns of domestic life, such as making a
living, health and sickness, happiness and sadness, interpersonal relationships,
and death. According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy,
Contemporary analytic philosophers of mind generally use the term
“belief” to refer to the attitude we have, roughly, whenever we take
something to be the case or regard it as true. To believe something, in
this sense, needn't involve actively reflecting on it: Of the vast number
of things ordinary adults believe, only a few can be at the fore of the
mind at any single time. Nor does the term “belief”, in standard
philosophical usage, imply any uncertainty or any extended reflection
about the matter in question (as it sometimes does in ordinary English
usage). Many of the things we believe, in the relevant sense, are quite
mundane: that we have heads, that it's the 21st century, that a coffee mug
is on the desk. Forming beliefs is thus one of the most basic and
important features of the mind, and the concept of belief plays a crucial
role in both philosophy of mind and epistemology. The “mind-body
problem”, for example, so central to philosophy of mind, is in part the
question of whether and how a purely physical organism can have
beliefs. Much of epistemology revolves around questions about when
and how our beliefs are justified or qualify as knowledge.
Values
and
Ideals
Mythology
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Why Myths?
First Purpose
People’s values tell them the differences between right and wrong or good and
bad. Values are the things that you believe are important in the way you live and
work. Ideals are principles that one actively pursues as a goal, usually in the
context of ethics. They serve as models for what people hope to achieve in life.
The clearest expression of beliefs, values and ideals is found in the mythology
of a culture. To the ancients, all thinking was mythological, and therefore a
myth was an expression of truth as much as a scientific fact. Ancient man
merely had a different image or model of the world. Moderns will ask “Why?
Ancient man would ask “Who?” The Nile River was worshipped in order to
make it flood each year. The Egyptians acted out the daily birth of the sun in
order to make it appear on the horizon.
Further advances in physical science may so alter the present image of the
world that today’s science may be tomorrow’s mythology! Just as scientific
knowledge is essential for modern man, the mythology of the ancients was
essential for them. Many myths may be based on what could be regarded as an
incorrect view of the facts, but they often contain great truths.
Myths serve many different purposes. The first purpose was to explain the
inexplicable. Since the beginning of humankind's existence, myths have
functioned as rationalizations for the fundamental mysteries of life, questions
such as: Who made the world? Where do we come from? What happens when
we die? Why does the sun travel across the sky each day? Why do we have
annual agricultural cycles and seasonal changes? Who controls our world, and
how can we influence those beings so our lives are easier?
In the absence of scientific
information of any kind, long ago
societies all over the world devised
creation myths, resurrection myths,
and
complex
systems
of
supernatural beings, each with
specific powers, and stories about
their actions. Since people were
often isolated from each other,
most
myths
evolved
independently, but the various
myths are surprisingly similar, in
particular creation myths.
Universal need
It should be noted, that to the people involved, these were not myths or
stories. They were real, not in a linear, literal, scientific sense, but nevertheless
part of the authentic plurality of humankind's truths. Thus, a more useful and
respectful way to describe these "myths" is to call them "sacred narratives." So
the need for myth is a universal need. Inevitably myths became part of systems
of religion and were integrated into rituals and ceremonies, which included
music, dancing and magic.
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Second Purpose
The second purpose of myth is to justify an existing social system and to account
for its rites and customs. One constant rule of mythology is whatever happens
among the gods reflects events on earth. In this way, events such as invasions and
radical social changes became incorporated into myths. Some myths serve to
illustrate moral principles, frequently through feats of heroism performed by
mortals. Mythology told ancient people who they were and the right way to live.
Myth was and still is the basis of morality, governments, and national identity.
Morality
“Morality” has also been taken to refer to any code of conduct that a person or
group takes as most important. According to Joseph Campbell, when their old
Morality and taboos are discredited, societies immediately go to pieces and
disintegrate. In modern societies with their old mythology unsettled by science,
the wholesale devaluation of life in our culture through violence, crime,
addictions, as well as the decline in public and private ethics, is an indication of
the weakening of our respect for myth. We have not developed new myths based
on our technology to replace the old agricultural myths. The establishment and
maintenance of a widely held moral code, which is imparted by myth, is the most
important function of myth.
Religion
As societies develop, they begin to
institutionalize their beliefs and morality into
systems called religion. Throughout history and
across the world there have been people who
believe that something exists beyond the
physical world that they experience through the
senses. In all eras of history, humans have
wondered about the origins of the universe, the
purpose of life, what it means to be human, and
what happens after death. Religions ask and try
to answer certain important questions: Why was
the world created? How should people live?
Why is there suffering?
Purpose of religion
Characteristics of
religion
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53
Any answers to big questions posed by religions cannot be tested by scientific
means and proved or disproved; the questioner has to have faith in the answers.
Another word for religion is faith. Faith begins where the senses end. Religions are
a way of making sense of the human experience. People who study how early
humans lived in social groups see religion as a force which held communities
together because it gave their members a shared code of behavior and a shared
way of understanding the world. Psychologists look at the way religion reduces
people’s fears by giving them something beyond themselves to rely on. Many
people today are most interested in the way religions use stories, symbols and art
to reach deeper meanings beneath surface events. By looking at various religions
one can see similarities as well as differences
Belief in a
supernatural
power
Belief in Supernatural Powers: Every religion believes in the existence of some
supernatural power or forces. Some consider this supernatural power as formless.
They believe that this unseen power influences every aspect of human life. Belief in
the supernatural powers varies from one religion to another. Groups who believe in
the existence of a number of gods and goddess are called polytheists. Those who
believe in only one god are called monotheists.
Rituals
System of Rituals: Rituals are the acting out of the myths of a religion. They are the
ceremonies performed by the ordained celebrant with reference to supernatural
power. They may include wearing of special types of clothing, reciting prayers,
hymns ,etc.
Texts
According to Word iq.com “Many religions and
spiritual movements hold certain written texts (or
series of spoken legends not traditionally written
down) to be sacred. Often believing that their sacred
texts (or scriptures) are wholly divine or partially
divinely inspired in origin. The faithful use titles
like Word of God to denote the holy writings. Even
non-believers often capitalize the names of sacred scriptures as a mark of respect or
of tradition”
Creed
Creed: According to the Britannica Encyclopedia “a creed, also called confession of
faith, an authoritative formulation of the beliefs of a religious community (or, by
transference, of individuals). The terms “creed” and “confession of faith” are
sometimes used interchangeably, but when distinguished
“creed” refers to a brief affirmation of faith employed in
public worship or initiation rites, while “confession of
faith” is generally used to refer to a longer, more detailed,
and systematic doctrinal declaration. The latter term is
usually
restricted
to
such
declarations
within
the Christian faith and is especially associated with churches
of the Protestant Reformation. Both creeds and confessions
of faith were historically called symbols, and the teachings
they contain are termed articles of faith or,
sometimes, dogmas”.
Ordained
Clergy
Ordained ministers are typically selected in their respective
faiths to perform a variety of tasks, including marriages,
baptisms and funerals. They are also spiritual guiders for
their congregation and the community in general. They
must be given power to perform ceremonies and duties by
the organization. They have the responsibility to represent
the creeds and beliefs of the group who ordained them. If
they do not, they are considered a heretic and expelled
from the organization
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Sacred vs.
Secular
In every religion there are certain things which are regarded as holy and sacred,
which constitute the heart of religion. The concept of holy and sacred is a mental
construct. It includes symbols that represent both the unseen and tangible things.
It is a belief based on faith rather than evidence. The purpose of the sacred is to
pitch you out of the ordinary into the extraordinary realm. The sacred is seen to
inform or give meaning to the secular, or things not specifically meant to be
used in church or in connection with God
Other forms of
Social Control
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Once people gather into groups, they must have some system of social control.
People in band societies tend to live as hunter-gatherers, collecting plants and
taking animals from their environment. Groups of people living in bands have no
formal leadership, and all people have input in making group decisions People
living in tribes or chiefdoms commonly practice horticulture (gardening) or
pastoralism (animal herding). Within most tribes, all groups commonly have
about equal status. Chiefdoms were the first societies to have positions of
defined, permanent leadership. Chiefdoms still exist in some places under
national governments.
Government
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The problems of complex societies are many and varied: Dramatic increases in
population make pressing demands on housing and food supply; disputes flare
up regularly due to the close proximity of families to each other; crime and
threats from both within and without, make strong leadership and organizational
skills absolutely necessary to the survival of a community. With permanent
dwellings, a new political class emerged, specializing in the skills of governance.
These people were in a position to enforce laws, punish law-breakers, rule over
internal disputes, fight wars, and commission public works. They raised finances
for their endeavors by demanding tribute, or taxes, from their subjects. Myths
were often invented to guarantee their exalted position over many generations.
The art of kingship was born.
Origins: Paleolithic Cultures
First Cultures:
Aurignacians
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Domestication of
the dog
Shamanism
Reasons
for
shamanism
Artifacts
Blade and
burins
society
Many scientists call the first modern humans to reach Europe from Africa the
Aurignacians. From this point on, H.sapiens titles given the various groups
refer to the region in which archaeologists found their remains. Using
archaeological clues such as bone tools and ivory ornaments, researchers have
traced the Aurignacians' advance through the Middle East and Europe.
Radiocarbon dating of these finds suggests the Aurignacians' advance took
place between 40,000 and 35,000 years ago. ‘One of their innovations may
have been a mutually advantageous partnership with the gray wolf. DNA
studies suggest that the domestic dog first separated from the wolf somewhere
in East Asia and although the calculated dates vary widely, a figure of 40,000
BP is considered quite plausible. The discovery of the footprints of what
appear to be a boy and his wolf-dog in a recently excavated French cave
suggests that dogs had arrived in Europe by 26,000 BP.
Another fruitful innovation may have been
shamanism. Early man believed in a complex
cosmos in which at least two worlds - or more coexist, be they side by side or one above the
other. Those worlds interacted. Someone in the
group needed the ability to have, at will, a direct
controlled relationship with the other-world.
This was done for very practical purposes: to cure the sick, to maintain a good
relationship with the powers in the other-world, to restore an upset harmony, to
reclaim a lost soul, to make good hunting possible, to forecast the future, to
cast spells, etc. Contact happened in two ways: spirit helpers, very often in
animal form (familiars), came to the shaman and inhabited him/her when
he/she called on them ; the shaman might also send his/her soul to the otherworld in order to meet the spirits there and obtain their help and protection.
Shamans did do so through trance. A shaman thus had a most important role as
a mediator between the real world and the world of the spirits, as well as a
social role. Shamans still exist in some cultures.
Technology was the first revolution. Aurignacians refined blade making with
astonishing results. They were the first to make tools in order to make a
tool! By interposing a soft chisel point of bone or antler instead of merely
hammering the flint, they could coax off a large number blades with razorsharp edges. This process produced sturdy, elongated
blades, but workers could also manufacture blades as small
as three quarters of an inch, micro-flints, for doing precision
work. In addition, they made a variety of tools for special
uses, scrapers for cleaning hides and burnishers for
smoothing the hides down and rubbing in colorings. These
artisans also made saw blades and awls, punches and borers,
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and they made flint burins, which were tiny points that were used for
engraving antler and bones. Their society was known as blade and
burin society.
Further
developments
Composite
tools and
new
materials
These tools now became commonplace as artisans devised the technique of
annealing, which involved making flint more
workable by heating it up, perhaps in warm sand.
This process dried out the water within the flint,
making it more brittle. Annealing would have
been useful in the manufacture of the new, more
deadly flaked-flint spearheads.
Another innovation was the joining of two
different materials to produce composite tools, such as stone blades fixed to
wooden handles by means of glue made from tree-bark resin. The addition
of wooden handles, known as hafting, gave the user a firmer grip and much
greater leverage than previously possible with a naked blade.
Another technological leap was taken when they
began using animal by-products in the form of
bone and ivory as the raw materials for tools and
weapons. Less brittle than bone, both of these
materials could be formed into delicate, finely
shaped points. Bone proved to be ideal for
making barbed harpoons, which were used to
spear large fish and water mammals, fishhooks, and fish gorges which were
straight lengths of bone-splinter sharpened at each end to catch in the throats
of biting fish (see picture above).
Hunting
Strategies
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Hunting also took a stride forward, as woodworkers’ devised new weapons
that allowed them to fight and kill from a distance. They also devised new
strategies, which made it possible for them to kill animals in far greater
numbers than could have been achieved by individual, direct combat. Groups
of hunters now began to organize their way of life more systematically
around the migrational patterns of mammals; the
seasonal availability of fish or shellfish in the
ocean or rivers; the ripening of particular fruits,
vegetables or nuts at different times and in
different places. Annual timetables evolved to
accommodate these key events, and the hunter
gatherers traveled around a fixed circuit of
different campsites throughout the year. These
groups were still nomadic, but there was nothing haphazard in their
movements. Indeed, this ability to recognize and to take advantage of
seasonal migrations provided them a constant food supply and may have
been one of the major differences between H. sapiens and H.
Neanderthalensis who seemed to not have the ability to plan ahead. This
may have been the reason for Neanderthals’’ demise.
Gravettians
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After 30,000 BP, the climate began falling back into extreme Ice Age
conditions which the Aurignacians were not prepared to withstand. The last
of the Neanderthals died off at this time, and it has recently been suggested
that the Aurignacians would have perished as well if the Gravettians, who
made further advances in specialized hunting gear and in the arts, had not
come to their rescue. Around 33,000 BP, the big game hunters of the Don
River area developed what is known as the Gravettian culture, characterized
by a host of brilliant new devices for survival in the chilly north.
Lifestyle
Technology
advances
Effects
Social
Organization
Highly sophisticated stone working techniques and the use of atlatl spear
throwers for improved distance and accuracy were among their advances.
However, their greatest achievement was in their use of more humble
materials. They had invented animal traps and
fish traps, which were the source of a large part
of their diet, and may also have used darts to kill
birds and small mammals. They were trapping
hares and foxes for their skins, which they
sewed into warm clothing by means of ivory
needles with precisely drilled eyes (see picture
left). By 27,000 BP, or perhaps earlier, they
were making nets and baskets and even weaving
cloth on some form of loom.
This more intensive use of resources led to a rapid increase in the average
lifespan and a dramatic growth in population. It also created the potential for
larger numbers of people to live together on an extended basis, and by shortly
after 30,000 BP, some of the Gravettians were dwelling in semi-permanent
villages. As human societies grow in size, they invariably develop new forms
of organization to enable greater numbers of people to live together peacefully
and arrange their affairs in an orderly manner.
Characteristically, the members of a hunter-gatherer band would lay claim to a
large area of land, different zones of which they would visit in turn. These
hunters probably divided their labor with some going off on hunting
expeditions that could last for days while others
of the group were scouring the area close to the
campsite for nuts and vegetables. Constant
scattering of the group made it essential that all
of its members have a base to return to, and this
need for a secure focal point gave the camps of
H. sapiens a feeling of semi-permanence that
was lacking in their predecessors. Excavations
of bases have produced evidence of far greater
attention to home activity and comfort. They
constructed huts out of stone, wood and the bones and hides of animals.
Inside hearths were placed over small trenches that led out into the open; this
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ensured a constant supply of air to the flames, the draft acting like a bellows to
keep the fire going. The search for warmth, in fact, preoccupied them for
much of the time in northern latitudes. It was only in a few places such as
Southwestern France that they found ready-made homes in the form of natural
caves.
Cultural Life
Leadership
Art and
beliefs
Magadalenians
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Culture
59
Living in such small groups, so vulnerable to famine or to attack from
predators, so dependent upon one another’s labor, hunter-gatherer societies
would have tended to be highly egalitarian. Such bands had no leaders or
chiefs; they employed a system of dispersed leadership, which recognized the
particular talents and experience of each participating individual. Decisions
were made collectively, without formality. There was no strong sense of
privacy, so grievances were made public and settled without being allowed to
fester. The notion of private property was alien to the hunter-gatherer. Their
cultural traditions were eventually centered in central and eastern Europe,
particularly in the loess lands of the Moravian region and southern Russia,
where they became great mammoth hunters.
With the Gravettians, accomplishments particularly in
sculpture became much greater. They made some
delightful animal figures in realistic style, but their
most characteristic products were female figurines in
bone, ivory, stone. Essentially, they seemed to have
come from an inner vision of fertility and motherhood.
In this sense they can be said to be the first evolved
religious symbols. The continuity of meaning and
emotion between these works and the “Mother
Goddess” figures of the New Stone Age (Neolithic) and even historic times
can hardly be denied.
It seems to have been the Gravettians who gave rise to the most brilliant
and successful of all Advanced Hunting cultures, the Magdalenians. This
was a west European group chiefly at home in the territories between the
Alps and the Cantabrian mountains of Spain, where the finest art of the
period is found. The Magdalenians reached Valencia Spain and Britain
and went as far eastward as Moravia. As tool
makers they were highly inventive, but above
all, they developed their art to an extraordinary
height of feeling and execution. They were
equally masters whether working on large scale
or small, on engravings, reliefs, or in the round.
Some of their most exquisite carving was on
their implements, where it must have been done for aesthetic pleasure.
There is no question that it was the Magdalenians who painted the great
masterpieces of cave art. The sudden emergence of full human creativity
among the Advanced Hunters of this period at the end of the Old Stone
Age (Paleolithic) is astonishing.
Why?
There may be two explanations, one material and one mental. The material
one is simple, the open steppe and tundra of glacial time supported great herds
of game- bison, reindeer, horse and mammoth- that could be killed by trapping
as well as by pursuit, thus offering an easy supply of meat and with it
abundant leisure. In southwestern Europe where the climate was rather less
harsh, conditions were ideal for the hunter-gatherer artists. As for the mental,
it is evident that after hundreds of thousands of years during which people of
each generation normally did exactly what their parents had done, humans
began to think in terms of solving problems.
Diffusionism
With this new sense of challenge, they invented within a relatively short span
the bow and arrow, composite hafting of flint, a variety of barbed spears and
harpoons, a fat burning lamp. The stone tool makers known as knappers
contrived to make the most of their flints. Why they changed to the use of
microliths at approximately the same time over many regions of Eurasia and
Africa is a puzzling question. Some prefer a diffusionist explanation, while
others find the answer in the belief that similar responses are independently
produced by similar needs.
Microliths
Creative Commons Image.
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Dwellings
For their dwellings, the hunters favored a seasonal use of caves, living at the mouth and
on terraces outside. There fires were maintained and further protection was probably
secured by rough walls and skin hangings. One can but assume that each cave housed a
family group, and in ravines where there are several within sight of one another, there
must have been a sense of tribal community. In the lighted circle, the humans talked, ate,
mended their gear, and told stories. In the absence of caves, the hunters were capable of
building snug huts. Examples of these were found in Moravia and Russia. They were
roundish or oval, with hearths on sunken floors. Sometimes they had low walls built of
stones or mammoth bones, along with tented roofs of skins. Encampments might consist
of a half dozen of these huts.
They dressed well too. In addition to the evidence of neatly
fur clad figure from Siberia, a painting in France shows a
man wearing a high fur collar with a red garment below.
Their bone needles also suggest that the hunters’ clothes
were cut and stitched. Men even more than women loved
to adorn themselves with necklaces and bracelets of shells,
teeth, beads of ivory, mother of pearl and stone. We have
found much of this personal finery in graves.
The care for the dead was intensified among the Advanced Hunters. There was no wish
to separate the dead from the living for most of the graves were dug in the cave or hut
floors. The bodies dressed and ornamented were most commonly placed in a crouched
position and often covered with red ochre as a symbol of life giving blood or color.
The last two thousand years of the Ice Age were the end of one epoch and the beginning
of another. Over much of Europe the melting of the ice and the invasion of open pasture
by forest and by water were to force big changes upon the descendants of the Advanced
Hunters. These climatic changes also enabled some to move northward with the reindeer
and occupy new hunting grounds in Denmark and Northern Germany.
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The Natufians
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Horticulture
Settlements
Artifacts
The Mesolithic or Late Hunting cultures began early in the Near East, including the western
slopes of the Zagros Mountains. Here microliths and grinders for wild cereals were in use by
about 13,000 BC. It was in the Levant that the beginnings such as these led to a full Late
Hunting culture, the Natufians. Artifacts found at Natufian sites include grinding stones,
used to process seeds, dried meats and fish for planned meals, and ochre for likely ritual
practices. Flint and bone tools, and dentalium shell ornaments are also part of the Natufian
assemblage. Specific tools created for harvesting various crops are a hallmark of Natufian
assemblages, such as stone sickles. Large middens are known at Natufian sites, located
where they were created (rather than secondary refuse pits). Dealing with refuse is one
defining characteristics of the descendants of the Natufians, the Pre-Pottery Neolithic.
Some scarce evidence indicates that the Natufian people may have cultivated barley and
wheat. The line between horticulture (tending wild stands of crops) and agriculture (planting
specific stands) is a fuzzy one. Most scholars believe that it was not a one-time decision, but
rather a series of experiments that may well have taken place during the Natufian or other
hunter-gatherer subsistence regimes. The Natufians provide us with a perfect example of the
way of life intermediate between that of the hunters and the farmer. It almost exactly
coincides with the two millennia that ended the Ice Age, 10,000 to 8,000 BCE, which
marked the decline of the Magdalenian in the west.
The Natufian culture is the name given
to the sedentary hunter-gatherers living
in the Levant region of the near east
between about 12,500 and 10,200 years
ago. (See map left) They were huntergatherers, foraging for food such as
emmer wheat, barley and almonds, and
hunting gazelle, deer, cattle, horse, and
wild boar. For at least part of the year,
Natufian people lived in communities,
some quite large, of semi-subterranean
houses. These semi-circular one room structures were excavated partly into the soil
and built of stone, wood and perhaps brush roofs. The largest Natufian communities
(called 'base camps') found to date include Jericho, Ain Mallaha, and Wadi
Hammeh. Smaller, short-range dry season foraging camps may have been part of the
settlement pattern, although evidence for them is scarce.
Artifacts found at Natufian sites include grinding stones or querns (see picture
below), used to process seeds, dried meats and fish
for planned meals, and ochre for likely ritual
practices. Flint and bone tools, and dentalium shell
ornaments are also part of the Natufian
assemblage. Specific tools created for harvesting
various crops are a hallmark of Natufian
assemblages, such as stone sickles. Large middens
are known at Natufian sites, located where they
were created (rather than secondary refuse pits). Dealing with refuse is one defining
characteristics of the descendants of the Natufians, the Pre-Pottery Neolithic
.
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Culture
The evidence we have from housing layout, burial
sites, jewelry, and other materials indicates that,
like the mammoth-bone dwellers of central
Russia, Natufian society was stratified. Clothing
appears to have been used to distinguish a person's
rank, and grand burial ceremonies marked the
passing of community chieftains. There is also
evidence that Natufian society was
matrilocal - young men went to live with their
wives' families – and matrilineal - family descent
and inheritance were traced through the female
line. The fact that women gathered food crops in
the wild may explain the importance of women
and the power and influence that they enjoyed in Natufian settlements.
Crisis in
Natufian
history
The Natufian strategy for survival did not
involve the development of new
tools or techniques for production. It rested
primarily on the intensification
of gathering wild grains and the
improvement of storage techniques. The
Natufians' concentration on a couple of
grain staples, gazelle meat, and nuts
rendered the culture vulnerable through
overspecialization.
Natufian reaping knife
After 9000 B.C. the climate of the region where the Natufian settlements were
located grew more and more arid. The grains and game on which they had grown
dependent were reduced or vanished from many locations. One thousand years
later, all the Natufian sites had been abandoned. Some villagers reverted to
migratory hunting and gathering in an effort to broaden the range of animals they
could hunt and the foods they could harvest from the wild. Other villagers –
usually those located near large and reliable sources of water - domesticated the
grains they had once gathered in the woodlands.
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DOCUMENT-BASED QUESTION (DBQ) Part A - Short-Answer Questions
Directions: Analyze the documents and answer the short-answer questions that follow each document in the space
provided.
Document 1
1. Based on this time line, identify two ways that people’s lives changed during the Neolithic Revolution.
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1.____________________________________________________________________________________________________
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2.___________________________________________________________________________
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Document 2
Neolithic Revolution
Created by Jeffery Watkins
Copyright © 1999-2003 Oswego City School District Regents Exam Prep Center
Background
During the Paleolithic Period, which lasts from the beginnings of human life until about 10,000 BCE,
people were nomads. They lived in groups of 20 -30, and spent most of their time hunting and
gathering. In these groups, work was divided between men and women, with the men hunting game
animals, and women gathering fruits, berries, and other edibles. These early peoples developed simple
tools such as, spears and axes made from bone, wood, and stone. Human beings lived in this manner
from earliest times until about 10,000 BCE, when they started to cultivate crops and domesticate
animals. This is known as the Neolithic Revolution.
The Neolithic Revolution was a fundamental change in the way people lived. The shift from hunting
& gathering to agriculture led to permanent settlements, and the establishment of a traditional
economy. A traditional economy is generally based on agriculture, with others in society working in
simple crafts, such as the manufacturing of cloth or pottery.
Great Discoveries
About 10,000 BCE, humans began to cultivate crops and domesticate certain animals. This was a
change from the system of hunting and gathering that had sustained humans from earliest times. As a
result, permanent settlements were established. Neolithic villages continued to divide work between
men and women. However, women's status declined as men took the lead in in most areas of these
early societies.
The economic factor of scarcity influenced early village life in the areas of government and social
classes structure. Wars caused by scarcity were frequent. During these wars, some men gained stature
as great warriors. This usually transferred over to village life with these warriors becoming the leaders
in society. Early social class divisions developed as a result. A person's social class was usually
determined by the work they did, such as farmer, craftsman, priest, and warrior. Depending on the
society, priests and warriors were usually at the top, with farmers and craftsman at the bottom.
New technologies developed in response to the need for better tools and weapons to go along with the
new way of living. Neolithic farmers created a simple calendar to keep track of planting and
harvesting. They also developed simple metal tools such as plows, to help with their work. Some
groups even may have used animals to pull these plows, again making work easier. Metal weapons
were developed as villages needed to protect their valuable resources.
Name three changes that occurred because of the Neolithic Revolution.
1.___________________________________________________________________________________
2.___________________________________________________________________________________
3.___________________________________________________________________________________
Add any additional information you think is helpful
______________________________________________________________________________________
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Document 3
Economic Systems
Created by Jeffery Watkins
Copyright © 1999-2003 Oswego City School District Regents Exam Prep Center
The study of economic systems includes traditional, market, command, and mixed economies. All of
these systems attempt to answer the same questions. What should be produced? How much? How
should goods be produced? And, for whom? Tradition economies rely on farming and very simple
barter trading. Examples include Neolithic farming villages and the first river civilizations. A market
economy is controlled by the forces of supply and demand. Market economies, such as those run by
the Western European democracies have allowed these countries to grow large and strong. A
command economy is run by a strong centralized government and tends to focus on industrial
goods. While short term gains did occur, the majority of people suffer under system that pays little
attention to food production or consumer goods. A mixed economy is a combination of market and
command. The United States and many nations in the European Union operated under this system
today.
Economic Systems
Traditional
Based on agriculture
Limited barter trade
Neolithic Civilizations
Early River Valley Civilizations
Market
Based upon Supply and Demand
Usually focus on consumer goods
Little government control
Command
Controlled by strong, centralized
government
Usually focuses on industrial goods
Little attention paid to agriculture and
consumer goods
Mixed
Combination of Market and Command
economic systems
Market forces control most consumer
goods
Government directs industry in need
areas.
Included in this theme are factors of production, which are the resources necessary to produce goods
and services. These factors include human resources, natural resources, and capital or money
resources. Human needs and wants also must be balanced within an economic system. Attention must
be paid to the resources humans need to survive, and to those goods and services that serve to enhance
living.
Finally, the concept of scarcity must be explored and balanced. Scarcity is the conflict between
limited resources and unlimited need. When scarcity
of any resource occurs, new factors of production must be explored for humans to continue to survive.
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Based on this document, identify one important result of the Neolithic Revolution.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
Add additional information which you think is important
____________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________
Essential Questions Answer these questions using information from manual, notes, etc.

What defines a turning point?
______________________________________________________________________________________
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
To what extent is life a constant struggle between continuity and change?
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3. How does technological change affect people, places, and regions?
______________________________________________________________________________________
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Focus Questions for thinking about your essay

Why is the Neolithic Revolution considered a turning point in human history?

What was the relationship between the Neolithic Revolution and the development of early
civilizations?
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
What led to the rise of cities?

What political systems developed in early civilizations?

What is a traditional economy?
Part B – Open response
This question is based on the accompanying documents (1–3). The question is designed to test your
ability to work with historical documents. As you analyze the documents, take into account the
source of each document and any point of view that may be presented in the document.
Historical Context: A “turning point” is defined as a period in history when a significant change
occurs.
Task: Using information from the documents and your knowledge of history, answer the following
question in one well-written paragraph.
“Explain why the Neolithic Revolution is considered a turning point in human history.”
Guidelines:
In your paragraph, be sure to:
• Have a thesis statement that includes the restated question and three main points you will use to
support your thesis.
• Use information from all the documents in the body of the essay (USE DIRECT QUOTES—IN
QUOTATION MARKS and reference the document by number and name)
• Use relevant outside information
• Prove your thesis with relevant facts, examples, and details
• Have a logical and clear plan of organization
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Grading Criteria Sheet
Excellent Essay 90’s
• Offers a clear answer or thesis explicitly addressing all aspects of the essay question.
• Does a careful job of interpreting many or most of the documents and relating them
clearly to the thesis and the DBQ. Deals with conflicting documents effectively.
• Uses details and examples effectively to support the thesis and other main ideas.
Explains the significance of those details and examples well.
• Uses background knowledge and the documents in a balanced way.
• Is well written; clear transitions make the essay easy to follow from point to point.
Good Essay 80’s
• Offers a reasonable thesis addressing the essential points of the essay question.
• Adequately interprets at least some of the documents and relates them to the thesis and
the DBQ.
• Usually relates details and examples meaningfully to the thesis or other main ideas.
• Includes some relevant background knowledge.
• May have some writing errors or errors of fact, as long as these do not invalidate the
essay’s overall argument or point of view.
Fair Essay 70’s
• Offers at least a partly developed thesis addressing the essay question.
• Adequately interprets at least a few of the documents.
• Relates only a few of the details and examples to the thesis or other main ideas.
• Includes some background knowledge.
• Has several writing errors or errors of fact that make it harder to understand the essay’s
overall argument or point of view.
Poor Essay 60’s
• Offers no clear thesis or answer addressing the DBQ.
• Uses few documents effectively other than referring to them in “laundry list” style, with no
meaningful relationship to a thesis or any main point.
• Uses details and examples unrelated to the thesis or other main ideas. Does not explain
the significance of these details and examples.
• Is not clearly written, with some major writing errors or errors of fact.
Failure to meet the most of the criteria above will result in a 55.
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.Appendix 1 Economics
Key Terms and Concepts
According to Merriam-Webster, economics is a social science concerned chiefly with description and analysis of
the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. In short, economics includes the study of
labor, land, and investments, of money, income, and production, and of taxes and government expenditures.
Economists seek to measure well-being, to learn how well-being may increase overtime, and to evaluate the wellbeing of the rich and the poor. The most famous book in economics is the Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of
The Wealth of Nations written by Adam Smith, and published in 1776 in Scotland.
Every economy, in order to produce and consume, needs to address basic issues such as the following: what goods
and services should be produced and in what quantities; how scarce resources such as labor and capital should
be allocated to produce goods and services; how the available supplies of goods and services should be distributed
across the population; and what price should be charged for a good or service. Individuals, the state or both can
make and implement decisions on these issues.
Key Terms:
traditional An underdeveloped economy in which communities use primitive tools and methods to harvest and
hunt for food, often resulting in little economic growth. Traditional economies are often found in rural
regions with high levels of subsistence farming.
Market
A system of allocating resources based only on the interaction of market forces, such as supply and
demand. A true market economy is free of governmental influence, collusion and other external
interference.
Command
An economy where supply and price are regulated by the government rather than market forces.
Government planners decide which goods and services are produced and how they are distributed.
China is an example of a command economy; it is also called a centrally planned economy.
Capitalist
most decisions are made by the citizens acting individually. In capitalism, individuals are driven by
self-interest, and market forces direct and co-ordinate the decisions they make. As a result, a capitalist
economy is often referred to as a ‘market’ economy.
‘mixed’
both market and state play a substantial role in them. The U.S. economic system is based more on
capitalism, whereas the Chinese system is based more on socialism. Most other countries, including
Canada, rely on both market and state and so are considered to have mixed economies. Within the
mixed economies, the role of state in the former socialist economies is still significantly higher than
in the other economies.
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Works Consulted
Hooker, Richard. "A Baseline Definition of Culture." What Is Culture? Richard
Hooker, 1 Nov. 1997. Web. 19 May 2015. <http://richard-hooker.com/sites/
worldcultures/CULTURE/CULTDEF.HTM>.
Hunter, Erica. First Civilizations. New York: Facts on File, 1994.
“market economy” InvestorWords.com. Web Finance, Inc. 15June 2008
http://www.investorwords.com/951/command_ec
Mazour, Anatole G. and John M. Peoples. World History: Peoples and Nations. United States:
Harcourt Brace Javanovich, 1993
Scullin, Michael. "What Is Horticulture." Archaeology. About.com, 2014. Web. 28
Mar. 2014. <http://archaeology.about.com/od/hterms/g/
horticulture.htm>.
Schwitzgebel, Eric, "Belief", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2015 Edition),
Edward N. Zalta (ed.), forthcoming URL =
<http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2015/entries/belief/>.
Stearns,, Peter N., Michael Adas, and , Stuart . B Schwartz. "The Agrarian Revolution And The
Birth Of Civilization." World History Center. World History International, Jan. 2007.
Web. 19 May 2015. <http://history-world.org/>.
“traditional economy” InvestorWords.com. Web Finance, Inc. June 15, 2008
<http://www.investorwords.com/6709/traditional_economy.html>.
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