A History of Human Civilization

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A History of Human Civilization

• Jeff Feasel
• 17 Feb 2006

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What well learn

• Brief overview of human history.
• What does the archeological record show?
• Discuss which factors contributed to human
  civilization.

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When Did Human History Happen?

• See Timeline
• 200,000 BC Split from all other Homonid species
• 100,000 BC Anatomically Modern Humans
• as shown by fossil bones
• 50,000 BC Cro-Magnons (Mentally Modern)
• as shown by archaeology
• 8,000 BC First signs of settled life
• 4,000 BC Written record begins

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Ice Core Sample
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Early Migration of Humans
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Early Migration of Humans

• See Migration Map
• Long before the last Ice Age, people were already
  spread out through most of Eurasia, Africa, and
  Australia.
• Lived as hunter gatherers.
• No evidence of farming/herding before Holocene.

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Arriving in The New World

• Clovis people
• Broke from Mongoloid population living in
  Siberia.
• Already adapted to arctic conditions
• Entered North/South America via land-bridge on
  Bering Strait.
• Exact timing is known because of airlock
  effect.
• Tremendous boom! Spread from Alaska to Tierra
  del Fuego in less than 1000 years.
• Mass extinction of large land mammals

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The Pace of Civilization

• 10,000 BC End of last Ice Age
• Humans had reached every habitable area.
• Everyone has roughly the same lifestyle
  hunter-gatherer.
• 1400-1600 AD European Expansion
• Guns vs. Spears
• Why did civilization proceed so much faster in
  some parts of the world than in others?
• And what does this tell us about civilization?

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Who Had What, and Why?

• Mesopotamia
• Egypt
• Indus River
• China
• Mesoamerica
• Andes
• hunter-gatherers
• Southern Africa
• Australia / New Guinea
• Northern / Western Europe
• North Asia
• See tables Earliest Domestication of
  Animals/Plants

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Natural Resource Animals

• Table of Domesticated Animals
• Uses??
• food, clothing, hunting, transportation, traction
• Necessary for domestication
• Pack behavior dominance heirarchy
• Able to live in dense groups
• Willing to breed in captivity
• Usually herbivorous
• Usually relatively large (gt50 lbs) (often the
  same animals youd hunt)
• No new animals domesticated until after the
  Industrial Revolution.
• Compare New World to Old World.
• Why such an imbalance of useful domesticatable
  animals available?
• Luck-of-the-Draw or Mass Extinction
• Why werent Old World animals hunted to
  extinction?

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Earliest Domestication of Animals
Dog gt15,000 BC Near-East? China?
Sheep 8,000 BC Near-East
Goat 8,000 BC Near-East
Pig 8,000 BC China, Near-East
Silkworm 7,500 BC China
Cow 6,000 BC Near-East, India
Cat 6,000 BC Egypt
Horse 4,000 BC Ukraine
Donkey 4,000 BC Egypt
Water buffalo 4,000 BC China
Turkey 3,500 BC Mesoamerica
Llama/Alpaca 3,500 BC Andes
Guinea Pig 3,500 BC Andes
Camel 2,500 BC Central Asia, Arabia
Chicken 1,000 BC Pacific Asia
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Natural Resource Plants

• Table of Domesticated Plants
• Grains and legumes form most of the human diet.
• (70 of calories come from cereal)
• Necessary for domestication
• Fast-maturing
• Large-enough seeds or fruits
• Storable
• Not quite as imbalanced as animals, but still...
• Compare New World to Old World
• Why did some areas take to farming more than
  others?
• Climatic advantage.
• Incoming solar energy gradient.
• What are the sweet-spots?
• Band near, but not on, Equator.
• Which are suitable for GRASSES to grow?

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Earliest Domestication of Plants
Area Cereals/Grasses Legumes Tubers
Near-East Wheat, Barley Pea, Lentil, Chickpea
West Africa Sorghum, Millet, Rice Cowpea, Groundnut Yam
India Wheat, Barley, Rice, Sorghum, Millet Hyacinth bean, Black gram, Green gram
Ethiopia Teff, Millet, Wheat, Barley Pea, Lentil
China Millet, Rice Soybean, Adzuki bean, Mung bean
Mesoamerica Corn Common bean, Tepary bean, Scarlet runner bean Jicama
Andes Quinoa, Corn Common bean, Lima bean, Peanut Potato, Sweet Potato
Mississippi Valley Maygrass, Barley, Knotweed, Goosefoot Artichoke
Bracketed crops were borrowed from other
cultures
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The Effects of Geography

• Climate
• Migration of people.
• Diffusion (or stimulus diffusion) of domesticated
  plants/animals and technology.

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So, what happened to the Native Americans when
the Europeans came?

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Putting it all together

• What is Civilization?
• What factors allow it to happen?

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Factors

• Climate
• Geographical location
• Available domesticatable species
• Food production (animals, plants) ? Surplus
• Sedentary Lifestyle
• Specialization
• Increased Population Density
• Germs Immunity
• Infrastructure
• Exchange of ideas
• within culture
• across culture

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Recommended Reading

• Cook, Michael. (2005) A Brief History of the
  Human Race. W. W. Norton and Company, New York.
• Diamond, Jared. (1997) Guns, Germs, and Steel.
  W. W. Norton and Company, New York.
• Diamond, Jared. (1992) The Third Chimpanzee.
  HarperCollins Publishers, New York.