PRE-HISTORY

1
PRE-HISTORY

• PALEOLITHIC AND NEOLITHIC SOCIETIES TO THE RISE
  OF CITIES

2
EVOLUTION OF HUMAN SOCIETY

• The Hominids
• Australopithecus
• Appeared in east Africa about 4 million to 1
  million years ago
• The term means "the southern ape" but it belongs
  to hominids
• Walked upright on two legs, well-developed hands
• Fashioned stone tools, probably knew how to use
  fire later
• Homo erectus
• Flourished 1.5 million to 200,000 years ago, east
  Africa
• The term means "upright walking human"
• Large brain, sophisticated tools, definitely knew
  how to control fire
• Developed language skills in well-coordinated
  hunts of large animals
• Migrations of Homo erectus
• First migrated to north Africa
• Between 500,000 and 200,000 years ago migrated to
  Asia and Europe

3
HOMO SAPIENS

• Homo sapiens
• The term means "consciously thinking human"
• Evolved as early as 250,000 years ago
• Brain with large frontal regions for conscious
  and reflective thought
• The advantages of intelligence over other species
  
• Migrations of Homo sapiens
• Beginning more than 100,000 years ago, spread
  throughout Eurasia
• Several ice ages between 120 and 25 thousand
  years ago
• Land bridges enabled them to populate islands of
  Indonesia and New Guinea
• Arrived in Australia at least 60,000 or perhaps
  as long as 120,000 years ago
• Between 40,000 and 25,000 years ago, migrated to
  North America
• The natural environment
• Homo sapiens used knives, spears, bows, and
  arrows
• Brought tremendous pressure on other species

4
PALEOLITHIC AGE

• Homo sapiens
• The term means "consciously thinking human"
• Evolved as early as 250,000 years ago
• Brain with large frontal regions for conscious
  and reflective thought
• The advantages of intelligence over other species
  
• Migrations of Homo sapiens
• Beginning more than 100,000 years ago, spread
  throughout Eurasia
• Several ice ages between 120 and 25 thousand
  years ago
• Land bridges enabled them to populate Indonesia
  and New Guinea
• Arrived in Australia between 60,000 and 120,000
  years ago
• Between 40,000 and 25,000 years ago, migrated to
  North America
• The natural environment
• Homo sapiens used knives, spears, bows, and
  arrows
• Brought tremendous pressure on other species

5
PALEOLITHIC CULTURE

• Neandertal peoples
• Named after the site of the Neander valley in
  S.W. Germany
• Flourished in Europe and S.W. Asia between 100
  and 35 thousand years ago
• Careful, deliberate burials-evidence of a
  capacity for emotion and feelings
• Cro-Magnon peoples
• The first human beings of fully modern type,
  appeared 40,000 years ago
• Classified as Homo sapiens sapiens
• A noticeable interest in fashion and artistic
  production
• Social Organization
• Small family units, clans of generally no more
  than 15-20 people
• Organized hunting bands, led by elders with
  greatest knowledge of hunting, gathering
• Women could be leaders
• Venus figurines
• Besides jewelry and furniture, there were also
  Venus figurines and paintings
• The figurines reflect a deep interest in
  fertility
• Cave paintings
• Best known are Lascaux in France and Altamira in
  Spain
• Subjects mostly animals Purposes aesthetic,
  "sympathetic magic

6
ORIGINS OF AGRICULTURE

• Neolithic era
• "New stone age" - refined tools and agriculture
• Time period from about 12,000 to 6,000 years ago
  
• Most likely, Paleolithic women began systematic
  cultivation of plants
• Paleolithic men began to domesticate animals
• "Agricultural transition" is better than
  "agricultural revolution"
• Early agriculture
• The earliest evidence found between 10,000 to
  8000 B.C.E.
• Slash-and-burn cultivation involved frequent
  movement of farmers
• About 5000 B.C.E., agriculture well-established
  in Asia and Americas
• The spread of agriculture
• Advantages of cultivation over hunting and
  gathering
• Developed indigenously in several different
  cultural hearths
• Agriculture provided a surplus

7
EARLY AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY

• Population explosion caused by surplus
• Emergence of villages and towns
• Jericho, earliest known Neolithic village (north
  of the Dead Sea)
• Agricultural society, supplemented by hunting and
  limited trade
• Mud huts and defensive walls
• Specialization of labor
• Neolithic site of Çatal Hüyük (south-central
  Anatolia)
• Developed into a bustling town with more than
  8,000 inhabitants
• Craft industries - pottery, metallurgy, and
  textile production
• Ruling class, priestly, craftsmen, and merchants
  were common
• Social distinctions
• Agriculture brought about private land ownership
• Social classes emerged, as seen in Çatal Hüyük
  site
• Beliefs
• Neolithic peoples celebrated deities associated
  with life cycle
• Increasing deification, anthropomorphism of
  nature, seasons
• Increasing masculinization of deities

8
ORIGINS OF URBAN LIFE

• Emergence of cities
• Tended to emerge in hostile environments
• Harsh environments required stronger organization
• Cities were larger and more complex
• Cities influenced life of large regions
• Earliest cities in Southern Mesopotamia
• Other hearths of urban civilization
• Indus River Valley
• Nile River Valley
• River Valley of the Huang He
• Coastal Jungles of Mexico