Period 1: Technological and Environmental Transformations, to 600 B.C.E.
Key Terms














Periodization
Chronology
Continuity
Prehistory
Paleolithic
Hunter-Gatherer
Forager
Pastoralism
Neolithic
Egalitarian
Domestication of Animals
River Valley Civilizations
Agrarian
Sedentary














Specialization of labor
Patriarchy
Matriarchy
Cultural diffusion
Metallurgy
Stratification
Hinduism
Judaism
Nile River Valley Civilization
Book of the Dead
Tigris and Euphrates Rivers
Mesopotamia
Assyrian Empire (Mesopotamia)
Babylonian Empire (Mesopotamia)












Hittites (Mesopotamia)
Code of Hammurabi
Epic of Gilgamesh
Hebrews
Phoenicians
Shang Dynasty
Zhou Dynasty
Oracle Bones
Warring States
Bantu Migrations
Indus River Valley Civilization
Vedas
Key People

Hammurabi
Key Events
8000 B.C.E.
3000 B.C.E. – 1000 C.E.
First agricultural villages
First cities
Beginning of the cultivation of maize of Mesoamerica
Beginning of Sumerian dominance of Mesopotamia
Beginning of agriculture in South America
Beginning of agriculture in New Guinea
Indo-European migrations
2600 – 2500 B.C.E.
2500 – 2000 B.C.E.
2350 B.C.E.
2200 B.C.E.
2000 B.C.E.
1500 B.C.E.
Pyramid construction in Egypt
Height of Harappan society in South Asia
Beginning of regional empires in Mesopotamia
Beginning of Chinese dynastic rule
Beginning of the Bantu migrations
Beginning of Aryan migrations to South Asia
1500 – 500 B.C.E.
1500 B.C.E. – 700 C.E.
1000 – 970 B.C.E.
900 B.C.E.
800 B.C.E.
722 B.C.E.
Vedic Age in South Asia
Austronesian migrations
Rule of Hebrew King David
Invention of iron-working in sub-Saharan Africa
Establishment of Greek poleis
Assyrian conquest of Israel
586 B.C.E.
New Babylonian (Chaldean) conquest of Judea
4000 B.C.E.
3200 B.C.E.
3000 B.C.E.
Key Concepts
1. Big Geography and the Peopling of the Earth
a. Humans lived in bands of hunter/gatherers
 30 – 50 in number
 Egalitarian
b. Humans gradually migrated from East Africa to Eurasia, Australia, and the Americas
c. Human adapted their technology and culture to new climate regions
 Fire
 Hunting and gathering aid
 Protect against predators
 Tools
 Adapted to different environments
 Economic structure centered on small kinship groups
 Limited exchange of people goods and ideas between groups
2. The Neolithic Revolution and Early Agricultural Societies
a. Development of agriculture and pastoralism
 Warming climate
 Spontaneous and independent development
 Agriculturalist
 Impacted the environment
o Cultivation of land
o Irrigation systems
o Domesticated animals
 Populations increased
o More stable food supply
o Families to villages to urban life
 Patriarchy and forced labor developed
o Elite men were given concentrated power
 Pastoralists
 Nomadic
o Domesticated herds and roamed grazing areas
 Socially stratified
o Did not accumulate many material possessions
 Important in the transfer of technological change
b. Neolithic Revolution led to more complex economic and social systems
 Agriculture originated in the Eastern Mediterranean but developed in other places
independently
 Mesopotamia
 Nile River Valley and sub-Saharan Africa
 Indus River Valley
 Yellow (Huang He) River Valley
 Papua New Guinea,
 Mesoamerica and the Andes
 Pastoralism developed in the grasslands of Afro-Eurasia
 Crops or animals varied based on location
 Agricultural communities had to work together
 Agricultural practices impacted the environment
c. Agriculture and pastoralism changed society’s structure
 Increased population
 Surplus of food led to specialization of labor
 Artisans
 Warriors
 Elites
 Technological innovation improved agriculture, trade and transportation
 Pottery
 Plows
 Woven textiles
 Metallurgy
 Wheels and wheeled vehicles
 Hierarchal social structures and patriarchal organization developed
3. The Development and Interactions of Early Agricultural, Pastoral and Urban Societies
a. Civilizations developed
 Agricultural surpluses – specialization of labor
 Cities with complex institutions
 Bureaucracies
 Armies
 Religious hierarchies
 Stratified social hierarchies
 Long-distance trade relations
 Developed competition for surpluses
 Greater stratification
 Increased trade
 More complex government and religion
 Environmental constraints
 Warfare between communities
o New technologies of war and defense
b. Early Civilization s
 Mesopotamia (Tigris and Euphrates River Valley)
 Egypt (Nile River Valley)
 Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa (Indus River Valley)
 The Shang (Yellow or Huang He River Valley)
 The Olmecs (Mesoamerica)
 Chavin (Andean South America)
c. Early states
 Ruler
 Mobilized labor and resources
 Source of power often thought to be divine
 Supported by the military
 Competition for land and resources
 Territorial expansion
 Technological advances allowed certain groups more resources

o Hittites – access to iron
 Expansion seen in Mesopotamia, Babylon and the Nile River Valley
 Pastoralist
o Developed and spread
 Weapons
 Compound bow
 Iron weapons
 Modes of transportation
 Chariots
 Horseback riding
Unified Cultures developed
 Monumental architecture and urban planning
o Ziggurats – Mesopotamia
o Pyramids – Nile River Valley
o Temples
o Defensive walls
o Streets roads, sewage and water systems
 Arts and artisanship
o Sculpture
o Painting
o Wall decoration
o Elaborate weaving
o Literature
 Epic of Gilgamesh
 System of recordkeeping
o Cuneiform – Mesopotamia
o Hieroglyphics – Nile River Valley
o Pictographs – Yellow or Huang He River Valley
o Alphabets – Phoenicians
o Quipu – Andean Civilization
 Legal codes
o Reflected existing hierarchies and supported the government
o Code of Hammurabi
 Religious beliefs
o Vedic religion
o Hebrew monotheism
o Zoroastrianism
 Trade
o Spread goods, ideas, and technology
o Expanded from regional to Transregional
 Egypt and Nubia
 Mesopotamia and Indus valley

Social and gender hierarchies expanded
Region
Political
Economic
Social
Changes
Continuities
Dynastic rule
Era of the Warring
States
Mandate of Heaven
Rice, millet
Bronze crafts
Ironworking
Patriarchal societies
Oracle bones
Stratified society
Urbanization
Irrigation
Agriculture
Bronze metallurgy
Agriculture
Regional kingdoms
and empires
Root crops
Fruit
Trade with South
Asia
Villages
Agriculture
Agriculture
Regional kingdoms
Foraging
Austronesian
migrations
Foraging
Tribal governments
Nomadism
Trade facilitators
Trade with settled
societies
Pastoral nomadism
South Asia
Community
planning
Aryan invasion
Grains
Sewer systems
Trade with Sumer
Decline of Harappan
civilization
Regional empires
Aryan society
Agriculture
Interest in
technological
advancement
Active trade
Southwest
Asia
Mesopotamian citystates
Code of Hammurabi
Kingdom of Israel
Persian Empire
Grains
Wheel
Cuneiform
Trade with Indus
Valley and Egypt
Ironworking in
Anatolia
City-states to
empires
Conquests of Israel
and Judah
Agriculture
Irrigation
Trade
Pharaohs
Kingdoms of Egypt
and Kush
Barley
Trade with Sumer
and Persia
Ironworking
Long-distance trade
Regional kingdoms
Tribal government
Regional kingdoms
Root crops
Trans-Saharan trade
Sub-Saharan trade
Bantu migrations
Regional kingdoms
Polytheism
Villages
governments
Greek city-states
Cereal agriculture
Ironworking
Agricultural villages
Olympic Games
Indo-European
migrations
Foraging Agriculture
Village governments
Greek colonization
Cereal agriculture
Ironworking
Agricultural villages
Indo-European
migrations
Foraging
Agriculture
North
America
Tribal government
Foraging
Nomadism
Cultivation of maize
Village organization
Polytheism
Shamanism
Migration from Asia
Agriculture
Village life
Nomadism
Polytheism
Shamanism
Latin
America
City-states
Regional kingdoms
Andean kingdoms
Limited trade
Foraging
Cultivation of maize
Stratified society
Slavery
Agriculture
Olmec civilization
Chavin culture
Mesoamerican
traditions
East Asia
Southeast
Asia
Oceania
Central Asia
North
Africa
SubSaharan
Africa
Western
Europe
Eastern
Europe
Polytheism
Animism
Tribal organization
Indo-European
migrations
Urbanization
Patriarchal societies
Vedas
Sanskrit
Urbanization
Polytheism
Stratified society
Slavery
Judaism
Epic of Gilgamesh
Phoenician alphabet
Urbanization
Village life along the
Nile
Pyramids
Hieroglyphics
Polytheism
Stratified society
Polytheism
Animism
Ancestor veneration
Slavery