Crash Course in World History
Part 1: Prehistory & the Ancient
Near East
Calendars & Dating
• BC/AD – Before Christ/Anno Domini
– Based on incarnation of JC
– No year 0
• BCE/CE – Before Common Era/Common Era
• Gregorian Calendar
–
–
–
–
Western/Christian
Reflects solar patterns
Reformed Julian calendar – accurate equinox
International civil calendar
Paleolithic Era – The Caveman
Cometh
• ca. 400,000 B.C.E. –
7000 B.C.E.
• Nomadic
hunters/gatherers
• Primitive stone tools
• Caves/temp shelters
• East African origin?
– Migration/adaptation
• Homo Sapiens vs.
Neanderthals
• 40,000 B.C.E. – Homo
sapiens arrive in
Europe
• Neanderthals in
Europe 200,000 B.C.E.
• Neanderthals extinct
around 40,000 B.C.E.
• Sculpture and Cave Paintings – ca. 35,000 –
8000 B.C.E.
– Not discovered until 20thC in parts of Spain
and France
– Selective depiction of the animal world
Neolithic Era – The Agricultural
Revolution
• ca. 7000 – 3000 B.C.E. –
domestication of wild
grains and animals
• Agriculture, permanent
settlements
• The Fertile Crescent –
earliest farming sites
– Rainfall, availability of
wild grains, sheep, and
goats
• Neolithic settlements in
Europe, China, Indus
Valley, Peru
• Consequences of
agriculture:
– Larger, healthier
populations
– Beginning of large scale
trade
– Division of labor –
development of skilled
artisans and merchants
• Consequences of permanent settlements
– Development gov’t, laws, leaders
• Large scale irrigation required organization and
leadership
– People lived in houses – more independence
– Development of community – public buildings
and religious monuments
– Competition and warfare/military and defense
systems
– Intellectual world -- astronomy, the
environment, and religion – ex: Stonehenge
Mesopotamia – History Begins at
Sumer
• 3200 – 1000 B.C.E.
• Tigris and Euphrates rivers – modern Iraq
• Development of city-states – Uruk, Ur,
Babylon, Akkad
• Cuneiform – first recorded writing system
– First used to keep track of economic activity
– Later literature about religion and myths –
Gilgamesh
• 3200 B.C.E. – Invention of the wheel
Egypt – The Gift of the Nile
• ca. 3100 – 1200 B.C.E.
• Hieroglyphics
• Land of pharaohs – kingship VERY
important
• Complicated polytheistic religion & animal
worship
• Pyramids, tombs, monuments
• Egyptian traditions survived until 400 C.E.
Other Near Eastern Civilizations
• The Hittites: ca. 1640 – 1100 B.C.E.
– Anatolia, Warfare, kings
• The Phoenicians: ca. 1200 – 800 B.C.E.
– Levant, shipbuilding, trade
• The Hebrews: ca. 1500 – 725 B.C.E.
– Israel, monotheism
• The Assyrians: ca. 800 – 600 B.C.E.
– Mesopotamia, militaristic, new technology