Stone Age Societies and the Earliest Civilizations of the Near East . . .

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CHAPTER 1

• Stone Age Societies and the Earliest
  Civilizations of the Near East . . .

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Prehistory

• Most of human existence is prehistory.
• Little is known.

3
Emergence of Modern Humans

• Modern humans (Homo sapiens) emerged
• more than 70,000 years ago
• following perhaps 60 million years of primate
  evolution.

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Human Intelligence

• Humans possessed superior intelligence.
• They began to create and use tools in an effort
  to master their natural environment.
• They developed the capability to think and
  communicate symbolically.

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Nomadic Humans

• The earliest humans were nomadic.
• They relied on hunting and gathering as their
  means of sustenance.

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Sedentary Humans

• Over time, humans established more sedentary
  cultures.
• They relied on
• grain cultivation
• domestication of animals
• refined tool-making skills.

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Human Expansion

• The transition from food-gathering to
  food-producing cultures fostered
• expansion of human settlements
• elaboration of cultural activities and belief
  systems.

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Why?

• Why have Homo sapiens, alone among creatures, so
  radically altered the conditions of existence?
• The earliest period of history, which we are
  about to study, offers clues to the resolution of
  this question.

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Physical Advantages

• In contrast to other primates, humans
• have a well-developed thumb
• stand erect
• have the power of reflective thinking.

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Experience

• With reflective thought, people can profit from
  experience.
• This ability brought about the development of
  civilization.

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YOU SHOULD UNDERSTAND

• The evolutionary development of early humans.
• The stages of early human technological progress
  and cultural development.
• The significance of the transition from
  food-gathering to food-producing economies.

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What is Civilization?

• We take civilization to mean a society in which
• many people live in towns and cities
• they communicate by writing
• they build monumental structures.

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Hunting and Gathering People

• The earliest humans depended on hunting and
  gathering.
• Where climate and topography were favorable,
  people began to lead more settled lives in
  agriculture.

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Agricultural People

• In regions where agriculture produced a surplus,
  people gathered into villages.

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First Civilizations

• Civilization first appeared along great river
  systems in Egypt and Mesopotamia.
• Villages grew into cities and
• were favored by good means of communication
• developed industry and commerce to meet new
  needs.

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Further Developments

• The first civilizations developed more complex
• technological and economic advances
• political systems
• codes of justice
• religious beliefs
• forms of artistic expression.

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Surplus Economy

• The creation of a surplus economy also
• fostered the emergence of a more hierarchical
  social strata
• allowed for the further specialization of
  vocational trades.

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Lasting Impacts

• The vitality of the ancient Near East
  civilizations declined over time.
• But many of their achievements survived to have a
  lasting impact on later civilizations.

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YOU SHOULD UNDERSTAND

• Why and how civilization took root in
  Mesopotamia.
• Egypts culture along the Nile.
• The contributions of the Hittites, Phoenicians,
  Hebrews, Lydians, and Chaldeans.
• The empires carved out by the Assyrians and the
  Persians.