Prehistory, History, and the Advancement of Civilizations

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Prehistory, History, and the Advancement of
Civilizations

• Textbook Reference Chapter 1

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Prehistory vs. History

• What is the difference?
• Prehistory the period of time we study prior to
  the invention of WRITING
• History everything that we study since the
  invention of WRITING and dating to 10 years prior
  to the present

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Prehistory vs. History cont.

• Historian scholars who study and write about the
  historical past
• Artifacts Objects made by humans
• E.g. Clothing, coins, artwork, tombstones
• Written evidence
• Photos and films
• Purpose study the past to understand current
  circumstances and possible future events, NOT to
  PREDICT the FUTURE

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How do they fit into the social sciences?
Social Studies
History
Economics
Political Sciences
Sociology
Psychology
Anthropology
American
Linguistics
World
Archeology
Forensics
Intellectual
Social
Military
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Prehistory

• Anthropology study of the origins and
  development
• Culture the way of life of a society
• Beliefs, values, and practices
• Archeology the study of past people and cultures
  through their material remains

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Anthropological Findings

• East Africa
• Mary Leakey and Louis Leakey
• Found stone tools
• 1959 Mary found a skull embedded
• Concluded it to be Hominid
• Hominid Humans and past relatives that walk
  upright
• Olduvai Gorge deep canyon in Tanzania
• Technology skills and tools people use to meet
  their basic needs and wants

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Anthropological Findings cont.

• 1974 Donald Johanson
• Found enough pieces of a hominid to look at the
  full skeletal structure ? LUCY
• Approximately 4 tall
• Possibly 25 years old

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Anthropological Findings cont.

• Lucy compared to modern human
• Red bones are those actually found

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Hominid Groups

• Australopithecines
• Lucy
• Footprints at Laetoli

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Hominid Groups cont.

• Homo habilis handy man
• Had tools for cutting, sawing, and scraping

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Hominid Groups cont.

• Homo erectus
• Larger brains and bones, smaller teeth
• Thought to be the first to use FIRE
• Found in Africa, Asia, and Europe - ??

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Hominid Groups cont.

• Homo sapiens
• Neanderthals and Anatomically Modern Humans

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Neolithic Revolution

• Prehistory Old/New Stone Ages
• Old Stone Age ? Paleolithic Period (2million B.C.
  to 10,000 B.C.
• New Stone Age ? Neolithic Period (10,000 B.C to
  end of Prehistory

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Old Stone Age

• People are Nomads
• Nomads people who move from place to place to
  find food
• 20 30 people per group
• Hunters and gatherers
• Made tools and weapons out of stone, bone, or
  wood
• Chipping technique

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Old Stone Age cont.

• Had fire and used animal skin for clothing
• Developed spoken language for cooperation in
  hunting and planning for the future
• Learned to cross water
• People moved from Asia to Australia at least
  40,000 years ago

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Old Stone Age Religion

• 100,000 years ago bury dead with care ??
• Also buried with tools and weapons ??
• Animism belief that forces may reside in
  animals, objects, and dreams
• Found in many cave paintings and believed to be
  part of religious rituals

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New Stone Age

• FARMING
• Neolithic Revolution ? transition from nomadic
  life to farming villages
• First to domesticate plants and animals
• Probably dog is the first animal domesticated

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Earliest Villages

• Catalhuyuk in Turkey and Jericho controlled by
  Israel
• Two of the earliest Neolithic villages
• Both may have had several thousand people
• Men become the BOSS
• Elder councils, warfare, elite warriors
• Technology
• Plows, measurements, specialized tool makers,
  clay pots, weaved cloth

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Beginnings of a Civilization

• First civilizations are by RIVERS - ??
• Transportation, water supply, food, farming
• Surpluses more than what is necessary
• Grow large populations, food for the future
• Eventually forming cities
• Traditional economy relies on habit, custom, or
  ritual and tends not to change

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River Valley Civilizations

• Civilization a complex, highly organized social
  order
• Cities are the MAIN feature
• Sumer between the Tigris and Euphrates
• Egypt along the Nile River
• Indus along the Indus River
• Shang Huang River (Yellow River)

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Features of a Civilization

• Organized Governments
• Councils/Chiefs turn into central governments
• Rulers/royal officials
• Taxes, laws, defense
• Priests/Warrior kings on TOP
• Complex Religions
• Polytheistic
• Specially trained priests for ceremonies and
  rituals

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Features of a Civilization cont.

• Job Specialization
• Artisans skilled craftspeople
• Weapons are made of metals
• Copper then bronze
• Bricklayers, dancers, storytellers
• Social Classes
• Ranking of individuals within the society
• Priests and nobles were typically on top

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Features of a Civilization cont.

• Arts and Architecture
• Artwork and buildings that display the values,
  customs, and beliefs or the society
• Temples, palaces, statues, paintings
• Public Works
• Projects that are costly and benefit the city and
  people
• Irrigation systems, roads, dikes, bridges, walls

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Features of a Civilization cont.

• Writing
• System of communications originally used by
  governments and religious leaders
• Grain collection, rituals, prayers, seasonal
  information
• Pictographs picture writing
• Scribes people that specialize in reading and
  writing

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Change in Civilizations

• Loss of resources
• Environmental forces
• Cultural Diffusion the spread of ideas, customs,
  and technologies
• Warfare, migration, trade
• City-state a group of lands that includes a city
  and the surrounding people and villages that it
  controls
• Empire multiple cities and people