Chapter 1- World History
• Objectives:
• 1. To familiarize students with the spread of
human societies in the Paleolithic Era
• 2. To explore the conditions of life in gathering
and hunting societies
• 3. To examine factors that led to change in the
gathering and hunting societies.
First Peoples
240,000 years ago -10,000B.C.E
• B.C.E.- Before Common Era rather than B.C
(before Christ)
• C.E. – Common Era rather than A.D. (Anno
Domini)
• Gathering hunting societies
– Way of life existed for 95 percent of species
existence
– First societies with worldview
• Paleolithic Age (2.5 million to 12,000 years ago) stone tools.
Erroneously (false) dismissed as unimportant.
• Why was the Paleolithic Age considered unimportant?
• Language was not written
• No monumental structures
• Mesolithic Age (12,000-10,000 years ago) transitional
• Why are tools significant?
• Defines people, survival, hunting, ceremony, food prep., shelter
construction, needles, hooks
• Australopithecines– Earliest humanlike creatures in Africa 3-4 million years
ago
– First hominids –walked upright, made simple tools.
– Lucy- bipedal, sizable brain, larnx
• “Multi regional” theory
– All primates developed independently
• “Out of Africa” theory
– Homo Sapiens- (wise ones) emerged in eastern and
southern Africa (Rift Valley) 250,000 years ago
• Stayed in Africa about 150,000 years
• Migrated north into Europe and Asia then Oceania
(Pacific Islands to Aus.)
• Africa - “human revolution” , culture shaped human
behavior
• Humans inhabited new environments
– Technological innovations:
• Stone tools, fire, clothing, fishing, hunting techniques
• Patterns of exchange develop about 100,00 years
ago and trade settlements develop
– Ornaments and burial relics indicated a growing sense
of culture and identity
– 200 mile trade networks
– What are the results of exchange between people?
• What may burial indicate?
• Burials indicate a world view such as after life belief
systems
• Neanderthals in Europe buried dead and made flutes
• Beringia-Peak of the Ice Age 20,000 years ago
created land bridges across the Bering Strait
allowing for transcontinental migrations
• Into Eurasia
– 45,000 years ago expansion from Africa to the
Middle East, Europe, then Asia
– Atlatl (spear thrower) and bows develop
• Rituals and sacred rites
– Totemic thinking (descended from animals) are
evidenced in cave paintings
– Animistic- all things possess a spirit
• Paleolithic Venus figurines date back 35,000
years ago
– Figurines found across Europe
– Indicates a diffusion (spread of a cultural practice)
• Shelters found, made of mammoth bones.
– Nomadic life style waned (diminished)
• Into Australia 60,000 years ago from Indonesia
– Use of boats and remained gatherer hunters
– Complex worldview Dreamtime
• Past experiences, oral tradition and songlines that
define migration routes
• Into the Americas
– Settled later 30,000-15,000 years ago and first
culture of the Americas
– Last area to be settled
• Crossed the Bering land bridge 15,000 years
ago
• Developed the Clovis point
• Pacific
– The last phase of human migration 3,500 years ago
– Water migration from the Bismarck and Solomon
Islands.
• Spoke Austronesian languages originated in southern China
• Austronesian language the most widespread
• Settled New Zealand ca. 900 C.E.
• Pacific settlers colonized (expanding political, social
and economic institutions to another land)
– Brought plants and women to colonize
– Established highly stratified societies or chiefdoms
• “Big Man” concept develops
– Collect and distribute
– Deforestation, extinction of animals led to famine and
conflict
• First Human Societies
– Paleolithic societies were small 25-30
– Kinship groups
– Very low population density
• Nomadic lifestyle and low gathering and hunting provided little
surplus of food
• Egalitarian (equal distribution of rights) develop
– No land means little wealth or power
– Free from tyranny and oppression
• Relationships between men and women were
more equal than later societies.
– Confirmed by Captain James Cook in 1770
– Roles of men and women were defined
• Gender division of labor
– Men hunted, women gathered and food was equally
distributed
• Economy and Environment
– Gatherer and Hunting societies not considered primitive
today
• Worked fewer hours than agricultural and industrial societiesmore leisure time.
• Life expectancy -35 years
• How did fire altered environment and lives?
• Encourage growth of plants.
• Travel north
• Cure wood tools such as a bow
• Expand their diet by cooking food.
• Large animals became extinct
• Scholars have noted that Paleolithic humans played a
role in shaping their environment in which of the
following ways?
• (A) They deliberately set fires to encourage the growth
of particular plants.
• (B) They regulated their hunting to avoid the
extinction of various large animals.
• (C) They drove wild animals into new regions to
increase their numbers.
• (D) They regulated the human population so as not to
overtax the environment.
• Answer A
• Realm of Spirit
– Why was it difficult to interpret spirit world?
– Lack of written sources
– Rich ceremonial life
• Determined by burial sites
• Venus figures -a Goddess culture /feminine
rejuvenation and life giving force
– Cyclical view of time based on the moon and cycles of
feminine fertility
• View of the cosmos was cyclic rather than the
Western linear line.
– Some cultures believing in monotheism (one god)
and others that believed in spirit realms.
• Shamans were often used as intermediaries
Choose best answer
• 1. The religious or spiritual dimension of Paleolithic
culture included
• (A) no ceremonial life.
• (B) full-time religious specialists with over-riding
power
• (C) a belief amongst some in a cyclical view of time
which emphasized endlessly repeated patterns of
regeneration and disintegration.
• (D) a complete lack of a feminine dimension to religion
as reflected in universally male images and statues.
• Answer C
• “The Great Transition”
– Gradual change 25,000 years ago when tools
were miniaturized called micro blades.
– People began to interact more
– Collection of wild grains
– Ice Age ends 16,000 years ago which generates a
global warming.
• Richer environments develop that are more
compatible for humans
– People begin to settle and larger, more complex
societies develop
• Households are capable of storing more goods
– Egalitarianism diminishes / competition arises
• Hierarchies of power burgeon (grow) and material possessions
increase.
• People settle 12,000-4,000 years ago
– Jamon people (Japan) settle near the sea, expanded
food sources and created earliest pot (innovation)
– Bow and arrows develop separately in Africa, Europe,
and the Middle East then spread to the Americas
– Dogs were domesticated as evidenced by cemeteries
• Comparing Paleolithic Societies of the San of
southern Africa and the Chumash of southern
California
• Both survived into the modern era as
gathering and hunting societies
• The San live in the Kalahari Desert in Southern
Africa
– Occupied for 5,000 years and are part of the Khoisan
linguistic family
– Gatherers and hunters
– Oldest rock art
• Most Khoisan speakers absorbed by the Bantu
• Settled into agriculture with domesticated
animals.
• Geography of the San made it difficult for them to
be assimilated (brought into another culture)
• There was diffusion from the Bantu, iron arrowheads and
drums
• San society characterized by mobility
• Why mobile?
– Harsh, unpredictable resources
– Bands of 10-30 people
• No formal hierarchy of leadership (no priests, chiefs)
– Only 28 tools, even distribution of labor between
men and women
– Free time
• Egalitarian society
– Negative comments about the size of a kill was
referred to as “insulting the meat”
• This combats boastful pride
• The owner of the arrow, not the hunter could decide
on how to distribute the meat.
– Arrows were widely shared and sometimes owned by
women.
• Trading of gifts did not have to be of equal value.
– Connection between two people who were in debt
• Divorce was permitted
– Polygamy (more than one wife) was permitted
• Resources were challenging -too many people upset
balance of the band
• Disputes were handled through discourse (talk)
• Belief system
– Creator god is Goa Na, gave rise to humans, plants,
animals
– Capricious (at a whim) and used humans to his delight.
– Gauwa was destructive, spreading disease.
– Ancestor worship/ fear exercised in a ritual all night
dances.
– Curing dances established community.
• Please do now: List political, social, economic
and religious developments of Paleolithic
people and analyze how these did or did not
develop.
• The Chumash of Southern California
– Chumash are representative of later post-Ice Age
Paleolithic Era (settled, some agriculture, trade, division
of labor, hierarchies, complex economy)
– Permanent villages, more complex societies.
• Lived near sea
– Drew from more resources and densely populated.
– Nearly 20,000 and discovered by the Spanish in the. 16th Century
• Created a new society in 1150 C.E.
– Major contribution to change the tomol, an ocean
canoe-carried two tons
– Building or owning a tomol contributed to social
inequality Why?
• Contributed to island trade and possession of trade items.
• Deep sea catches were also highly prized.
• Created those who had/ had not
• Market economy
– Extensive resources and trade established a market
economy (supply/demand) among gatherer and
hunting society.
– Money was beads
– Bearskins were worn only by tomol owners
– Attire indicating economic hierarchy
– Specialized labor (certain skills for specific jobs)
• Burials included parts of the canoe for a special
group of people called the Brotherhood of the
Tomol.
– Chiefdom was hereditary (sometimes women)
• Big Man concept
– They led war, trade, tomol ownership, religious rituals, and taxed
the rich to redistribute to the poor.
• Reflections:
– What have we lost in our quest for modernity?
Doing World History
Big Picture- a time line of the most important events of those
under study, accompanied by an explanation of their ultimate
significance.
Diffusion- the spread of natural elements, people, artifacts,
ideas or other cultural creations from one civilization to
another.
Syncretism – mixing of elements from two or more cultures
that result in something new.
Comparison- the pointing out of similarities and differences
between two civilizations in terms of their histories,
institutions, cultural accomplishments and economies.
Common Phenomena- natural or historical events and
developments that two or more societies share. Examples
could be climate, disease, natural disasters, shared
technologies or other human developments. Basically, “What is
shared.”
• Do now please: Create diagram of the San and
Chumash people and list their political, social
and economic traits for each.
• Now create a 2 to 1 ratio of groups. Two
similar groups and one difference or vice
versa.
Compare/ Contrast Essay
• Compare and contrast the San and Chumash people as
defined by their geography.
• Must Have:
• Thesis statement- must had three qualified groups. Type of
political structure (egalitarian or chiefdom), social structure
(kinship groups or defined hierarchy) or economic (gather/
hunt or market).
• 2 to 1 group ratio. Two similarities, one difference or two
differences and one similarity
• Each of the three groups should have a minimum of three
pieces of evidence that support the thesis and provides
analysis or WHY something developed as it did.
• Give time period