Robert W. Strayer
Ways of the World: A Brief Global
History with Sources
Second Edition
Chapter 1
First Peoples, First Farmers: Most of History in a
Single Chapter, to 4000 B.C.E.
Copyright © 2013 by Bedford/St. Martin’s
Evaluate this Painting
What does it tell us?
Look at proportions,
figures, subjects, actions
Why was this painting
created?
I. Out of Africa to the Ends of the Earth:
First Migrations
A. Into Eurasia
1.
Migrations: 45,000–20,000 years ago:
•
Out of Africa and Middle East populating “Asia” and “Europe”
•
20,000 years ago- Ice Age- moved humans southward
2.
New hunting tools: Moving southwards
•
Spears, bows, arrows and stone tools
3. Cave paintings: Earliest existing records of representative human communication
4. Venus figurines
First Migrations - Australia
B. Into Australia
– 1. Migrations as early as 60,000 years ago: From Indonesia into Australia by
boats, a human first.
– 2. Dreamtime: Contemporary Australian Aboriginal concept expresses world
outlook placing human activity and knowledge in the continent’s natural
environment of rocks, rivers, and waterholes.
First Migrations - Americas
C. Into the Americas
1. Bering Strait migrations: 30,000–15,000 years ago: Humans used land
2. Clovis culture: Common type of projectile point called “Clovis point” found all over North
America.
3. Large animal extinctions: Unclear why extinctions happened (perhaps over hunting or
weather changes?) but suddenly Clovis culture disappeared.
4. Diversification of lifestyle: After the extinction of the mega-fauna, humans adapted
First Migrations - Pacific
D. Into the Pacific
1. Waterborne migrations 3,500–1,000 years ago:
– Solomon and Bismarck Islands near New Guinea and from the Philippines to all
corners of the Pacific
– showed exceptional seamanship and navigation skills.
2. Intentional colonization of new lands
– Done by agricultural people- intentional
3. Human environmental impacts
– Overused by settlers resulting in manmade extinctions
II. The Ways We Were
Take out your notes- do they have this information? If not- quickly add.
A. The First Human Societies
1. Small populations with low density
– 20-25 people organized by kinship
2. Egalitarian societies:
– Little stratification and relative equality among sexes
3. Widespread violence:
– Inter-personal violence occurred without formal state system
B. Economy and the Environment
1. The “original affluent society?”:
– Gathering and hunting required fewer work hours than agriculture, allowing
more leisure time. That said, these societies had limited needs to be met.
2. Altering the environment:
– Setting fires and hunting had clear impacts on the environment, showing
early human alteration of the landscape and species, including extinctions.
Paleolithic Religion &
Spirituality
C. The realm of the Spirit
1.
Ceremonial space:
•
2.
Difficult to research- caves give some information
Cyclical view of time:
•
Varieties of mono-polytheism
•
Strong feminine dimension
1. Describe this statue. What
features stand out, and
what features are missing?
2. Why do you think the artist
decided to shape the statue in
this way?
3. What might this statue tell
us about women and
Paleolithic communities?
II. The Ways We Were
D. Settling Down: The Great Transition
1. New tools and collecting wild grains:
• Micro-blades and better spear points, knives, scrappers and
arrowheads
2. Climate change and permanent communities:
• Warming trend
– Increase in animals and plants
– Humans settle and create permanent settlementsJapan/Labrador
3. Göbekli Tepe: “The First Temple”:
• Product of gathering and hunting
4. Settlements make greater demands on environment:
• Population growth
Gobekli Tepe
III. Breakthrough to Agriculture
A. Common Patterns
1. Separate, independent, and almost simultaneous:
• Fertile Crescent in SW Asia and expanded
2. Climate change:
• Warming up 16,000 years ago ending Ice Age
• Humans settled
3. Gender patterns:
• Women led the way for plant domestication
• Men led the way for animal domestication
4. A response to population growth:
• More abundant and stable food supply
III. Breakthrough to Agriculture
B. Variations
1.
2.
3.
4.
Local plants and animals determined path to agriculture
Fertile Crescent first with a quick, 500-year transition
Multiple sites in Africa
Potatoes and maize but few animals in the Americas
What does this
statue show
and what do
you know
about its
origins?
What is the
appearance of
the statue?
What other
information
could help you
know more
about this
statue?
What do you think
the Bantu’s
brought with them
in their migration?
IV. The Globalization of Agriculture
A. Triumph and Resistance
1.
Diffusion and migration:
•
2.
3.
Agriculture spreads with migration
–
China to SE Asia
–
Bantu
Resistance:
•
Resisted because land was not suited
•
Land was so abundant did not need farming
End of old ways of life:
•
Ended hunting and gathering for some societies
•
Exposed to new technology, diseases, inter-marriage with new societies
IV. The Globalization of Agriculture
TASK: using your books- create questions for each
section AND then answer with evidence
B. The Culture of Agriculture
1. Dramatic population increase:
2. Increased human impact on the environment:.
3. Negative health impacts: Agricultural life led to shorter life
expectancy;
4. Technological innovations:
5. Alcohol:
V. Social Variation in the Age of
Agriculture
TASK: using your books- create questions for each
section AND then answer with evidence
A. Pastoral Societies
1.
Environmental factors:
2.
Milk, meat, and blood:
3.
Mobility:
4.
Conflict with settled communities:
V. Social Variation in the Age of
Agriculture
TASK: using your books- create questions for each
section AND then answer with evidence
B. Agriculture Village Societies
Social equality:
Gender equity:
Kinship ties and role of elders:
V. Social Variation in the Age of
Agriculture
TASK: using your books- create questions for each
section AND then answer with evidence
C. Chiefdoms
1. Not force but gifts, rituals, and charisma:
2. Religious and secular authority:
3. Collection and redistribution of tribute:
Crash Course: Agricultural Revolution- Welcome John Greene to our
classroom
VI. Reflections
A. “Progress?”:
– Some might point to these various changes as a
sign of life getting better.
B. Paleolithic values:
– Other might find aspects of early human life as
a model or lesson for contemporary society.
C. Objectivity:
– Condemning or romanticizing a historical era
violates the historian’s need to be objective.