Enriched Honors World History (Mr. Palmieri)
Semester One, Unit One: Prehistory and Early Civilizations
In this unit we will study the foundations of human history. We will investigate ideas of how humans lived
before moving to settled towns and cities. We will explore the transition from hunter-gatherer societies to
societies based on agriculture. We will investigate the first civilizations that included complex political,
economic, and religious systems. We will visit early civilizations such as Egypt, Mesopotamia, China and India.
All questions in italics should be completed (written out) when you come to class on the day with which they are
listed. Assignments in CAPS are due on the day they are listed.
Wednesday, August 12: Welcome and Introduction
Mystery Artifacts Investigation, Assign World Geography for quiz
Thursday, August 13: Introduction to World History
Review Course Overview, Images from World History
Friday, August 14: The Mystery of Easter Island
WORLD GEOGRAPHY QUIZ
Introduce Easter Island and Moai Assignment
Monday, August 17: The Mystery of Easter Island:
EASTER ISLAND DRAWINGS DUE
Review Unit One Guide
Digging for the Truth – Easter Island
Tuesday, August 18: Easter Island – Historians and their Theories
“If They Could Only Talk” National Geographic article. Read and take a 1/2 page to a full page of notes on
theories researchers have proposed about the Easter Island Moai.
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2012/07/easter-island/bloch-text
Wednesday, August 19: Prehistory, p. 4-13
1. What sets hominids apart from other animals? Think of the characteristics of Australopithecus, Homo
habilis, and Homo erectus.
2. What are the earliest signs of human technology?
3. How did temporary settlements differ from permanent settlements? What advantages did each have?
4. Write an additional question you are curious about after doing the reading.
Thursday, August 20: Agriculture, p. 14-17
5. What important changes were part of the Neolithic (Agricultural) Revolution? What effects were there?
6. Explain where, with precise geographic terms, the earliest development of agriculture occurred.
7. Write an additional question you are curious about after doing the reading.
Friday, August 21: Agriculture
http://people.wku.edu/darlene.applegate/oldworld/webnotes/1introduction/foodprod_concepts.html
8. Which DISADVANTAGE OF FOOD PRODUCTION COMPARED TO FOOD COLLECTION do you think
is most detrimental (harmful) and why?
9. Which ADVANTAGE OF FOOD PRODUCTION OVER FOOD COLLECTION is most important and why?
10. Which CONSEQUENCE OF FOOD PRODUCTION is most important, positive or negative, and why?
Monday, August 24: Characteristics of Civilization, p. 18-19
Watch the discussion of cultural diffusion at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrixSTWc7Ag
11. What is cultural diffusion and how is it promoted by long-distance trade? What would be an example of
cultural diffusion from the ancient world?
12. What are ways societies settled in permanent villages became more complex than earlier nomadic societies?
13. Write an additional question you are curious about after doing the textbook reading.
Tuesday, August 25: Mesopotamia, p. 26-33
14. What is a city-state? How do city states differ from an empire?
15. In what ways was writing important to Mesopotamian civilization?
16. Who was Hammurabi, why do we remember him, and what can we learn from him?
17. Write an additional question you are curious about after doing the reading.
Wednesday, August 26: Egypt, p. 34-45
18. What are four ways in which the Nile River was important to Egypt?
19. What is a theocracy (p. 29)? What role did the pyramids have in Egypt’s theocracy?
20. What are three ways in which women had power in ancient Egypt?
21. Write an additional question you are curious about after doing the reading.
Thursday, August 27 Ancient Indus Valley, p. 66-69 (stop at “Migration and Interaction”)
22. What are monsoons and how do you think they affect life in India and South Asia?
23. Discuss the unique and sophisticated urban planning (city technologies) of the principal Indus Valley cities
of Mohenjo Daro and Harappa.
24. Write an additional question you are curious about after doing the reading.
Friday, August 28: Ancient China, p. 84-90 (stop at “Zhou Dynasty”)
25. How did religion and politics mix in Shang China?
26. What was the Mandate of Heaven and why was it important to the Zhou Dynasty? What dangers did this
concept present for the Zhou Dynasty?
27. Write an additional question you are curious about after doing the reading.
Monday, August 31: Ancient Phoenicia and Ancient Israel, p 46-53
28. What unique aspects to Phoenician civilization were there?
29. What importance does the ancient Israelites’ monotheism have to history and to the world today?
30. Write an additional question you are curious about after doing the reading.
Tuesday, September 1: Unit One Review
Wednesday, September 2: UNIT ONE TEST
In addition to your daily questions, questions A-F will help you review unit one and prepare for the unit one test.
A.
B.
C.
D.
What questions are historians concerned with? How do they go about finding answers to these questions?
What differences exist between hunter-gatherer and agricultural lifestyles?
What important characteristics do civilizations have?
What political, economic and cultural similarities exist between early civilizations in Egypt, Mesopotamia,
India and China?
E. What are unique aspects of the civilizations of Israel, Phoenicia, the Minoans, and the Mycenaens?