Before 8,000 BCE to 600 BCE
Nomads, Agricultural Revolutions, & Early Complex,
Urban Cultures
Technological and Environmental Transformations to 600 BCE
!Snapshot
most people nomadic hunters and gatherers
fire used for hunting, foraging, protection from predators and cold environments
wide range of human tools developed, adapted for different environments - tropics to tundra
small kinship nomadic hunting-foraging bands relatively egalitarian
animism
Events and Patterns
nomadic pastoralists developed and disseminated new weapons and types of transportation that
transformed warfare
migrations of Bantus, Aryans, Austronesians
first (Neolithic) Agricultural Revolutions (evolutions) some cultures in different regions learn seed
cultivation (irrigation key technology) and animal husbandry
some early agriculture based communities develop into more complex/advanced urban cultures
increased population in complex, urban cultures
state expansion and empire building
decline in status of women, increased patriarchy in agricultural and urban cultures
trade expanded from local to regional to transregional
!Key Concepts
Hunting-foraging/gathering bands of human nomads gradually migrate from East African origins to
Eurasia, Australia, and the Americas, adapting their technology and cultures to new climate regions.
Neolithic/Agricultural Revolutions - Some early agriculture based communities develop into more
complex/advanced urban culture.
Development and interactions of early agricultural, pastoral and urban societies
!Continuities
early core, foundational civilizations (cultural hearths) ie. northern China and Olmecs
diffusion/movement of material and non material culture to neighboring ethnic groups
irrigation based advanced, settled, urban cultures
both trade and conflict between settled and nomadic cultures
new religious beliefs continued to have strong influences in later periods: Vedic religion (later Hinduism),
Hebrew monotheism, and Zoroastrianism
Chinese Taosim
slavery generally consequence of conquest, debts, or poverty (selling children into slavery)
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