THE NEOLITHIC AGE

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THE NEOLITHIC AGE
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The Neolithic Revolution-Brief Review

• 1) Hunting and Gathering
• - Human origins to Paleolithic (Old Stone
  Age)
• 2) Use of Wild Grains
• - Transition to agriculture 11,000-8500 BCE
• - Long period, complex transition
• - Role of climate change end of Ice Age,
  dryer climate
• 3) Neolithic (Agricultural) Revolution
• - New Stone Age
• - Farming as main food source 8500 BCE (Near
  East)
• - First domestic animals dog, sheep, goat
• - Wide-ranging social, cultural consequences

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The Neolithic Revolution

• 1) Food Raising
• - Agriculture, domestic animals
• 2) Settled Life
• - Villages? towns? first cities
• 3) New Technologies
• - Pottery, textiles, baskets
• 4) Social Organization
• - Hierarchy, warfare, state formation

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The Neolithic Worldwide

• Fertile Crescent (Mesopotamia)
• - 8500 BCE wheat, millet, spelt dog,
  sheep, goat
• South Asia (Indus River valley)
• - 7000 BCE wheat, millet, spelt dog,
  sheep, cattle
• East Asia (China Yellow and Yangtze rivers)
• - 6000 BCE millet (Yellow), rice (Yangtze)
  dog, pig, sheep, cattle
• Central America (Valley of Mexico)
• - 6000 BCE Corn, squash, beans dog, but no
  other animals
• Many other regions had independent Neolithics
• - Egypt, Ethiopia, Vietnam, Peru, South
  American rainforests
• - Many diverse first domesticates (esp.
  plants)
• - Some unique domestic animals llama, zebu

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The First Settlements (Villages)

• Rise of settled villages parallels origin of
  agriculture
• Some places get both, some get one or the other
• Settlement allows new survival strategies food
  storage, having more babies (dont need to carry
  them)
• Settlement also brings problems, esp. disease
  (smallpox, measles, malaria, tuberculosis,
  influenza)

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Çatal Hüyük

• prominent village located in Turkey,
  occupied 7250-5400 BCE
• 32 Acres enclosed by city walls. Estimated
  population of 6,000 people.
• - What do you notice about the lay out of
  the village?

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CHANGES IN TECHNOLOGY
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Improvements in agriculture, trade, and
transportation

• Pottery
• Why is this important?

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Improvements in agriculture, trade, and
transportation

• Plows

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Improvements in agriculture, trade, and
transportation

• Woven textiles
• This loom is similar to ones used in Egypt c.
  4400 B.C.E.

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Improvements in agriculture, trade, and
transportation

• Metallurgy
• The Bronze Age doesnt come about until later,
  but there is evidence that people were
  experimenting with early metals at Catal Huyuk.

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Improvements in agriculture, trade, and
transportation

• Wheels and wheeled vehicles
• The wheel comes about later in this time period.
• How would it change life?

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Excavations at Catal Huyuk
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The Walls of Jericho
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Excavations at Jericho
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Statue of Goddess
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The Great Ziggurat of Ur
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Demographic Changes

• Food production supports higher populations
• - Families can produce surplus
• - Sedentary lifestyle allows more children
• However, sedentary life increases disease
• - Diseases contracted from animals
• - More people in one spot ? infection
• - Staying in the same place is dirty
• Population growth prevents return to gathering

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Social Transformation

• Increasing Organization
• - Families
• - Big mansocieties
• - Chiefdoms
• - States
• Social Stratification/Hierarchy
• - Food producers support non-productiveelit
  es
• - Craft specialization
• - Religious elites (priesthoods)
• - Hereditary rulers (kings)
• - Slavery
• - Gender discrimination
• Warfare Between Large Groups Begins

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The First States

• From Chiefdom to State
• - Chiefdom ranked society
• - State class society
• - Competition among chiefdoms drives state
  formation
• - Warfare and trade as basic to emergence of
  state
• Functions of the State
• - Law suppress internal disorder
• - Defense against external threats
• - Redistribute resources from producers to
  consumers (elites)
• - Appease the gods to maintain harvests

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Basic Elements of Civilization

• Political (territory-based) institutions
• Organized religion
• Urban/administrative centers
• Hierarchical system of classes
• Taxation (far from universal)
• Division, specialization of labor
• Further technological development
• Trade (but note Paleolithic luxury trade)
• Writing (a late step!)