The Beginnings of Civilization
3,700,000 to 587 B.C.
Exploration of Prehistory
Hominids
www.houseofcanes.com/ ordinfo.htm
Key characteristic
• Walk upright
Role of Artifacts
www.texasbeyondhistory.net/ rubin/images/artif...
• Let us know more
about ancient cultures
• Somewhat limited –
theories have formed
to attempt to explain
the past
Lucy
www.pbs.org/saf/ 1105/features/eureka3.htm
• Oldest human-like
skeletal remains ever
found
• 3-4 Million Years old
• Found in Africa
• Discovery has been
questioned lately over
the species of the find
First Humans
www.sonoma.edu/.../ anclub/neanderfacts.html
• Characteristics
•
•
•
•
Powerful jaw
Receding chins
Low foreheads
Heavy eyebrows
More First Humans
www.public.iastate.edu/ ~cfford/342ggsintro.htm
• Hunter/gatherers
• Nomadic
• Traveled in clans of
40-50
• Men hunted while
women gathered
nuts/berries/seeds
Homo Sapiens
www.fossils-as-art.com/ images/0200.jpg
• Appeared on the scene
between 100,000 and
400,000 years ago
Ice Ages
www.salzburg.com/ freizeit/185_3920.htm
• Several over 1.7
million years
• Warm era that we live
in today started about
10,000 years ago –
coincides with last ice
age
First Homo Sapiens
Neanderthals
• Appeared 35,000130,000 years ago
(Old Stone Age)
• Wore animal skins
• Used fire
• Buried their dead
Cro-Magnons
• Appeared about
35,000 years ago
• Better tools
• Cave Art
• Textbook
• History lessons
• Religious
Three Stone Ages
Old
Middle
New
Old Stone Age
www.chennaimuseum.org/.../ 02/05/prehist.htm
• Very crude tools
• Stones used to throw at
animals
Middle Stone Age
www.dungarvanmuseum.org/ index.cgi?art_id=5&pa...
Mesolithic Age
• 10,000 to 5,500 years
ago
• Not only use stones
but bones
• Bows and arrows
• Fish hooks
• Harpoons
New Stone Age
www.turizm.net/turkey/ history/neolithic.html
Neolithic Age
• Development of
Agriculture
• Domestication of
animals/plants for
food
Characteristics of the
Evolution of Civilization
Agriculture to Surplus
Production
• People began to grow
more food than they
would need – allowed
people to do things
other than farming
20
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Establishment of Towns/Cities
www.turizm.net/turkey/ history/neolithic.html
• With surplus
populations could
grow
• Families now could be
larger
Division of Labor
www.jupiter.fl.us/.../ BuildingSafety.htm
• In towns/cities people
could specialize in one
job or another
Evolution of Civilization
Lesser Characteristics
Calendar
www.hcc-nd.edu/images/ Calendars-Oct03.gif
• Needed to track
seasons for
planting/harvesting
and migrations (if
needed)
Form of Writing
mrspock.marion.ohio-state.edu/.../ cuneiform.htm
• Needed for
communication
• Early forms were
cumbersome with too
many symbols –
became better as time
past
Development of Metal Ages
Bronze Age
domino.kappa.ro/.../ ist_ilustrata/$file/4.jpg
• Developed as an alloy
of copper and tin
• Easily made into tools
• Weakness: not strong
enough
Iron Age
www.hants.gov.uk/museum/ ironagem/reception.html
• Iron was smelted
(melted) from iron ore
• Much stronger than
bronze
• Gave those who
possessed iron
weapons a huge
advantage over those
who did not
Early Civilizations
Egyptians
Egypt: Role of the Nile
• Civilization found
upon the Nile River
Valley
• Nile River is the
longest river flowing
north in the World
Nile River
• Flows northward –
divided into two parts:
• Upper Egypt (South)
• Lower Egypt (North)
• Originates at Lake
Victoria
• Cataracts
• Surrounded by two deserts
• Flows into delta – then
into the Mediterranean
Nile River: Lifeblood of Egypt
www.wwnorton.com/.../ nawol/maps/MAP3EGYP.JPG
• Nile River floods
yearly leaving silt in
valleys adjacent to
River – provide fertile
soil
• < Flooding – Bad crops
• > Flooding – Villages
swept away
Egypt moves toward
Civilization
astro.temple.edu/ ~rguay/rosetta%20stone.jpg
• 3000 B.C. –
Hieroglyphics
developed
• Language artists have
been able to translate
the Hieroglyphics with
use of the Rosetta
Stone
Egyptian Kingdoms
Menes
members.tripodnet.nl/ ancientegypt/history.html
• Unites Upper
(southern) and Lower
(northern) Egypt in
3200 B.C.
• Begins the first of 30
dynasties of Egypt
Old Kingdom
2680 B.C. to 2180 B. C.
Achievements in Arts and
Science
www.astro.utoronto.ca/ ~yao/egypt1999/sphinx.gif
• The Great Sphinx
The Old Kingdom
• Class society
• Lower: Peasants and Farmers
• Upper: Pharaoh, the Royal Family, Priests,
Scribes, and Government Officials
• At end of dynasty the pharaohs became
weaker and the nobles grew stronger
• Revolutions began probably because of
famine and lack of food
First Intermediate Period
• Lasted from 2180 B.C. to 2050 B.C.
• Time period marked by many civil wars
• Period ends as new line of pharaoh comes
to power
The Middle Kingdom
2050 B.C. to 1650 B.C.
Middle Kingdom
• Considered the “golden age” of Egypt
• Noble and Priests begin to challenge the
power of the Pharaoh – led to instability
• Period also marked by invasions of Hyksos
• Disputes arise over how devastating the
Hyksos invasion was on the Egyptians
• Hyksos did bring in new tools of warfare:
the chariot and compound bow
Second Intermediate Period
• Begins as Hyksos gain control of all of
Egypt – probably because of the weakness
of Egypt
• Period ends as new line of rulers come to
power
The New Kingdom
1570 B.C. to 1080 B.C.
New Kingdom
• Kingdom centered around their capital,
Thebes
• Drove the Hyksos out of Egypt with use of
a strong army
• Begin to build an empire
• The strongest of the rulers were….
Hatshepsut
www.antropos.galeon.com/ html/FARAON.htm
• First female to ever
hold the title of
Pharoah
• Technically co-ruler –
with her son
• Kept empire’s
boundaries secure and
built trade
Thutmose III
www.fruitofthenile.com/ tuthiii.htm
• Stepson of Hatshepsut
• Continued trend of
mother
• Expanded Egypt’s
territory to its largest
extent until his death
in 1450 B.C.
Amenhotep IV
nefertiti.iwebland.com/ portraiture/18d/amenho...
• First monotheistical
leader of Eygpt
• Believed in the sun
god, Aton
• Changed name to
Akhenaton
• After his death, Egypt
returns to polytheism
Ramses II (the Great)
forums.tactical-ops.de/ showthread.php?t=59060
• Ruled from 1279 B.C.
to 1215 B.C.
• Great Builder
• Considered to be the
pharoah at the time of
the Exodus
• Later pharoahs were
weak
Egyptian Achievements
Arts and Architecture
forum.paradoxplaza.com/ forum/showthread.php?g...
• Pyramids – close to
perfect symmetry
• Used as tombs for the
pharoahs
Science, Math, and Medicine
•
•
•
•
Devised a 365 day calendar
Used numbering system based on 10
Used herbs for medicinal purpose
Mummification – preservation of dead
Peoples of the Fertile
Crescent
Fertile Crescent
xenohistorian.faithweb.com/ worldhis/Hist02.html
• Situated along the
Tigris-Euphrates River
valleys
• Much like Egypt in
that it needed rivers to
flood for irrigation
• Rivers begin in
mountains of Turkey
and flow into the
Persian Gulf
Sumerians
• Located in Sumer
• Cuneiform
• Architecture
• Arch
• Class system
• Gods were forces of
nature and heavenly
bodies
Akkadians
www.utexas.edu/courses/ clubmed/sargon.jpg
• Major leader was
Sargon
• 2334 B.C. to 2279 B.C
• Akkadian empire
lasted 150 years
Babylonians
www.globalsecurity.org/.../ images/hammurabi.jpg
• Greatest Leader –
Hammurabi
• Code of Hammurabi
• Rule from 1792 B.C.to
• Much like the
Sumerians in many
ways
thales.cica.es/.../ HisArtLit/01/hammurabi.jpg
Hittites
nefertiti.iwebland.com/ hittites.jpg
• Warlike
• Among first peoples to
smelt iron
• Were from Asia Minor
• Invaded Babylonian
area around 1600 B.C.
www.sarissa.org/ images/hittites_reg.jpg
Assyrians
members.shaw.ca/ scud/assyrians.jpg
• Warrior like
• First people to use
chariots and cavalry in
battle
• First to effectively rule
a large empire
• Capital was Nineveh
www.bible-history.com/ people/assyrians/map_as...
Chaldeans
www.cts.edu/.../Images/ oldtest/TissNebu.jpg
• Greatest leader was
Nebuchadnezzar
• Hanging Gardens of
Babylon
• Biblical story
• Skilled astrologers
• Calculated the length of a
year
• Defeated by the Persians
www.faculty.fairfield.edu/ jmac/rs/7hanging.gif
Persians
• Greatest leaders
•
•
•
•
Medes
Cyrus***
Darius
Xerxes
• Kept large empire
• Built extensive road
system
• Religious beliefs
• Persian army defeated by
Alexander the Great
(Macedonian)