Chapter 1 Notes
 Focus on Themes
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Focus on urban-based socieites and their core characteristics
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cities and surrounding farmland
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complex institutions
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government bureacracies
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armies
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religious hierarchies
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multi-layered social structures
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record-keeping abilities
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technologies
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organized long-distance trading relationships
 Before History = before Written History
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Humans have existed for about 200,000 years; world already had flora and fauna before humans originate
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Farmers and Pastoralists
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Neolithic Revolution
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Advent of farming; domestication of plants and animals
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8,000 B.C.E
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Benefits
Surplus food that can be stored in a shed or house for later use
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Surplus food means healthier people and therefor larger populations
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Some people could leave farming and take up specialized tools or warriors and trade their services for food
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Creation of Social Classes due to perception of importance or more successful
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Unifying different peoples
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Laws, Languages, religion, myths, monumental art
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New religious beliefs appear
Interactions
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Peaceful- trade and travel
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Aggressive -military contacts and conquests
By 600 BCE, all the core and foundational civilizations (river valley civilizations) have ended. Their patterns continue.
 The evolution of Homo Sapiens
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Genetic makeup and body chemistry have created different levels of intelligence and control over the natural world
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Humans have a high order of intelligence
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Hominids- Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania) & Hadar (Ethiopia); humans and human-like species
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Australopithecus
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Walked upright
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Opposable thumbs
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Ability to communicate
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Could plan and traveled distances to complete their plan as evidenced by the stone used in their tools
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Tools (choppers, scrapers)
Homo Erectus
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Upright-walking human
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Larger brains
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Better tools (cleavers, axes)
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Fire- how to starta nd tend fires = cooking food; defense tool; source of heat
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Better at expressing & coordinating
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Increased control over the natural environment; evidence of congregations
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Migrated into new regions (N. Afr and Eurasia)
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Throughout E. Hemisphere 200k yrs ago; temperate zones
Homo Sapiens
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Consciously thinking humans
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200k yrs ago
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Brains large esp in frontal reions
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Physiological tratis unique among animal species
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Developed vocal chords and mouth cavity w.tongue 100-50k yrs ago
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Moved beyone the temperate zones progressively colder regions and then to Oceania and the islands
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Every habitable region 15k yrs ago
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More complex tools- knives, spears, bow and arrow
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Used to kill off several large animal species
Effective and efficient competitors in the natural world; became a threat to other species
 Paleolithic Society
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Old Stone Age
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Humans foraged for their food
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Scavenged meat killed by predators or hunted or gathered plants
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Evolution from the first hominids until 12K yrs ago
Economy and Society of Hunter-Gatherers
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Archaeologists and anthropologists responsible for discoveries
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Relative Social equality
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No gathering of private property
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No social distinctions of wealth
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Mobile; had to follow animals
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Egalitarian existence
Relative gender equality = all members contribute
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Men hunted
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Women/children gathered
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Equal between two
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Lived in small bands
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Interdependence of two sexes= lack of gender divisions
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Lived in small bands- 20-50 ppl
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Little contact w/outside groups
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Exploit environment by following migrations
Big Game Hunting
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Required special tools and tactics that they fashioned and devised
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Demonstrated their capacity to coordinate
Paleolithic Settlements
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Natufian (Med) 13.5k yrs ago
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Jomon (Japan) 10k-300 BCE
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Chinook (Pacific NW) 3k-19th century CE
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Permanent dwellings
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Several hundred ppl in settlements
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Specialization
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Organized omplex societies w/ specialized rulers and craftsmen if abundant food supplies
Paleolithic Culture
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Neanderthals- graves (Shanidar) show significance of life and death, some sort of emotion
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Creativity of homo sapiens
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Could construct languages to communicate complex ideas
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Could build knowledge over time
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Allowed them to create more effective ways of satisfying human needs and desires
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200k yrs ago, created cutting edges on stone blades
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140k, started eating shellfish (supplements diet); created trade networks for obsidian
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110k, catching fish from deep waters
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100k, create sharp tools out of animal boon (needles, harpoons)
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50-40k, ornamental beads, necklaces, bracelets
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Later, spear throwers
Shortly after, paintings images of humans and animals
10k, invention of bow and arrow
Venus Figurines
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Small sculptures of women with exaggerated sexual features
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Shows deep interest in fertility
Cave Paintings
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34k-12k yrs ago
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Altamira and Lascaux (SP and FR)
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Mostly animals (large game) with some humans
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Represents conscious and purposeful activity of a high order
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Compounded pigments and created tools
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Made paints
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Sympathetic magic?? page 15
 The Neolithic Era and the Transition to Agriculture
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When humans started cultivation and domestication
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Altered the natural world and human societies
Origins of Agriculture
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Neolithic Era
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“New stone age”
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Refinement of tool-making techniques (polished stone over chipped)
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Occurred in areas where people relied on cultivation
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Now referred to as the early stages of agricultural society (12-6k yrs ago)
Global Climate Change
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Ag impossible until about 15k yrs ago due to ice age
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Growth of edible plants and domesticating previously wild animals
Gender Relations and Agriculture
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Women most likely began agriculture; systematic care of plants
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Neolithic men began to capture and domesticate animals; supervised breeding
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Over centuries, led to formation of agricultural economies
Independent inventions of agriculture
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Year
3000 bce
2000 bce
1000 bce
Ag emerged independently in several different parts of the world
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9000 BCE Southwest Asia; wheat, barley, sheep, goats, pigs, cattle
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9000 to 7000 BCE Afirca (present-day Sudan); cattle, sheep, goats, sorghum
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8000 to 6000 BCE Africa (present day Nigeria); yams, okra, black-eyed peas
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East Asia
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6500 BCE Yangzi River; rice
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after 5000 BCE Yellow River; millet nd soybeans
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6000 BCE; pigs, chickens and then water buffaloes
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3000 BCE Southeast Asia; taro, yams, coconut, breadfruit, banans, citrus fruits-oranges, lemons, limes, tangerines,
grapefruits
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4000 BCE Mesoamerica (central Mexico); maize and then added peppers, beans, squashes, and tomatoes
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3000 BCE Andean South America (modern Peru); potatoes, maize and beans
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Domesticated animals not really found in Americas except for llamas, alpacas, guinea pigs; did add manioc, sweet
potatoes, and peanuts
The Early Spread of Agriculture
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Ag spread rapidly due to the methods
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Slash and burn cultivation involved frequent movement
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Would burn down trees, creating a fertile soil for farming
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The field would lose its fertility after a few years, would have to move on
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By 6000 bce, had moved from SW Asia into Mediterranean Europe
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By 4000 bce, spread to western Europe
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Goods originally cultivated were moved from their origin due to trade
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Farming involved long periods of physical labor
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Required more work than foraging
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Over time, farming helped create abundant food supplies
Early Agricultural Society
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From agriculture came a series of social and cultural changes that transformed human history
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Population explosion most important
Pop
14 million
27 million
50 million
500 bce
100 million
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Emergence of Villages and Towns
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Growing pop and ag economy encouraged new forms of social organization
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Settled in permanent villages
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Ex: Jericho (Israel) in 8000 bce, 2k ppl, farmed wheat and barley, no domestication, traded for salt and obsidian, created
a wall and moat
Specialization of Labor
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Large # of ppl-> not everyone had to farm
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Led to specialization of labor
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Catal Huyuk (Turkey) 7250-4500 bce, 5k ppl, evidence of specialization, prominent due to obsidian nearby, could trade
with others
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Three early craft industries: pottery, metallurgy, textiles showed off specialization
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Craft industries either provided tools for farmers/herders, or made use of their products in new ways = coordination
Pottery
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Earliest of craft industries
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Hunt-Gather had no use for pots- couldn’t store anything, pots are heavy
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By 7000 bce, many had discovered how to formed clay into pottery
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Could also etch designs and create glazes, becoming an artistic medium as well
Metalworking
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Earliest metal that humans systematically created was copper
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Could pound the cold metal and form it into jewelry and tools
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By 6000 bce, figured out they could heat it to extract copper and became easier to mold
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By 5000 bce, had raised the temp high enough to melt copper and pour it into molds
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Could also make weapons and farming tools
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Was the foundation that led to the working of gold, bronze, and iron
Textiles
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Dating of textiles is not certain (decay), but survive from as early as 6000 bce
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Used selective breeding to create better fibers for weaving
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Probably the work of women who would weave while nursing
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Quickly became a huge enterprise
Social Distinctions and Social Inequality
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Settling down and specialization led to the ability to accumulate wealth
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Could trade surplus food or goods they produced for gems, jewelry, etc
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Institutionalization of private property enhanced the significance of accumulated wealth
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When families kept their wealth for several generations, created defined social classes
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****Land was the ultimate source of wealth in any agricultural society, remains that way today
Neolithic Culture
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Farmers closely observed the natural world around them, noting the conditions for successful harvests
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Built up generations of learned knowledge
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Learned to associated the seasons with the position of celestial bodies, creating a relationship between those on earth
and heavenly bodies
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Created the first steps to a calendar
Religious Values
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Neolithic religion had the same interest in fertility as earlier (remember Venus Figurines)
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Celebrated the rhythms that governed farming- birth, growth, death, new life
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Thousands of representations of gods and goddesses- clay figurines, pots and vases, ritual objects
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Also had deities associated with the cycle of life, death, and regeneration (infant dieties)
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Neolithic religious thought reflected the natural world of early ag society
The Origins of Urban Life
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Within 4k years, ag had transformed the earth
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Human pop rapidly grew, congregated in dense areas, cultivated surrounding lands, and domesticated several species
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Ag transformed the lives of humans- as they moved to living in settled communities of hundreds or thousands, social
relationships became more complex
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Gradually, dense populations, specialized labor, and complex social hierarchies gave way to a new form of social org- the
city
Emergence of Cities
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A gradual transition
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What distinguished cities from Neolithic towns and villages?
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Two main ways- cities were larger and more complex; cities influenced the political, cultural, and economic life of large
regions
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Cities fostered more intense specialization- creation of professional classes
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Professionals refined existing tech, invented new ones, raised levels of quality and production
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Professional managers appeared- governors, administrators, military leaders, tax collectors; helped the survival of the
community
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Professional cultural specialists like priests who maintained cultural values, transmitted these values, organized public
rituals
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Cities established marketplaces that attracted distant merchants
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Trade over increasingly longer distances promoted economic integration
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Cities, guaranteeing their food supplies, took over larger areas of farming land
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The building of schools and temples in neighboring regions extended their cultural traditions and values
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The earliest cities grew out of villages in the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers
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These communities became “urban” around 4000-3500 bce
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Cities became the focal point of public affairs- where leaders guided human fortunes, supervised neighbors, and
organized the world’s earliest complex societies
 The Role of Urbanization in the Creation of Patriarchy
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Early urbanization:
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the establishment of states that localized power in the hand of a small group of people
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organized military protection
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made laws to control large populations
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oversaw the development of large-scale infrastruture such as irrigaion
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exerted conrol over the surrounding countryside
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Decline in women's status over time
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Rise in patriarchy = institutional domination of men over women
Why?
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Women's role became the producers of children
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Militarization of socieites declined women's status; it is possible if the city was protected or safe women had a better status
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Keep power and wealth within certain families -within the lineage
 By 1000 BCE is an accepted practice and custom across the known world