Transcript The March to Civilization

The March to Civilization
History 10
Mme Waite
Time Line











4 million years ago- first upright hominid
1.7 million years ago - Homo erectus appears
400 000 years ago - Homo sapiens him
100 000 years ago - Neanderthals appear in Europe
50 000 years ago - Modern-looking humans move out of Africa, into
Europe, replacing Neanderthals
35 000 years ago - Great leap forward - innovations in art and
technology
20 000 years ago - Bow and arrow developed by Paleolithic hunters
9000 BCE - Neolithic rev’n - towns develop/Animals & plants
domesticated
4500 BCE - Earliest civilizations emerge in Mesopotamia, Egypt,
India and Asia
3500 BCE - Cuneiform (earliest known form of writing) is developed
in Mesopotamia
2900 BCE - Sumerian civilization dominates Mesopotamia
Human settlement
100
000 years ago, you would have found
three distinct populations in Europe, the
Near East, Africa and Asia.
Homo sapiens sapiens, our direct ancestors
eventually inhabited all these regions,
although at different times:
Australia - 40 000 years ago
The Americas - 12 000 years ago
The Arctic - 10 000 years ago
The Neanderthals
-lived between 100 000 and 40 000
years ago
-named after the Neander Valley in
Germany where the first skeleton was
found in 1857.
-were powerfully built but only about
5’3”
Neanderthal Society
Males
worked together to hunt game
Not clear if there was any formal
social relationship; I.e., males
probably lived separately from
females and children
There was no formal leadership or
social interaction
Living conditions
Neanderthal
remains reveal a
difficult life - high infant mortality
Adults died before age 40
Homes were simple
Food was never guaranteed
Danger and death a constant threat
Characteristics of a
Civillization
It has a centralized government
It has a system of agriculture
People have specialized employment
Taxes are paid to the government
There is a class structgure
There is trade
Writing is developed
There is some type of state religion
Great Leap forward
Neanderthals
disappear with the arrival of
the invading, anatomically modern human
from Africa. Homo Sapiens sapiens had
Better intelligence and therefore
Better tools and weapons
Around 35 000 years ago, the “Great leap
forward” began - humans evolved
anatomically and showed signs of
innovation.
Great Leap Forward (cont’d)
Remember
that for millions of years,
hominids evolved very slowly; but now
changes would occur that separated
humankind from all other animals.
*
“..the achievements of humanity in the past
35 000 years are astounding, especially when we
consider that in the previous 60 000 years,
Neanderthal culture remained virtually
unchanged!” p. 31.
Homo Sapiens sapiens:
Showed curiosity, ingenuity and creativity
Built tools from metal, like spears
Tools had a purpose - awls for sewing, axes
for cutting, mortar and pestle for
preparing food
Developed weapons, from bows and arrows,
to darts and barbed harpoons
Built watercraft to navigate rivers and
oceans
Developed interest in trade and aesthetic
expression
Developed an interest in jewellery;
sculpture, painting became important
The Neolithic Revolution
Means “New Stone Age”
Refers to the period AFTER
9000 BCE,
when polished stone tools were used
Animals were domesticated; crops were
planted
There was a shift from hunting &
gathering to agriculture
This development of a society led to the
establishment of civilizations.
begin?
Some historians say human history
began with the arrival of the first
fully human beings about 50, 000
years ago. From this point onward,
humans societies evolved and
developed rapidly.
Between 50,000 - 10, 000 BCE
virtually every corner of the earth
was populated.
The earliest civilizations
include:
Mesopotamia, Egypt, India and China
Common characteristic: they developed
along river valleys Mesopotamia - the Tigris and Euphrates
rivers
Egypt - The Nile
India - The Indus river valley
China - The Yellow river
These rivers allowed for
-steady source of water
-fertile soil
Mesopotamia - the cradle of
civilization
Means “land between the rivers”
Nomadic life was abandoned for the
land
between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers
What important inventions were
developed?
Codified laws, the concept of Kingship,
writing, and the wheel were all invented by
Mesopotamians!
The south was called “Sumer” and the
north was called “Akkad” but they unified
under the name “Babylonia.”
An inhospitable land
Despite
the arid soil, baked by the sun,
natural levees, embankments built up by
sediment over thousands of years of
flooding, could be drained, planted,
irrigated and cultivated. Swamps also
provided food for livestock, and were an
important building material.
However, the area was susceptible to
flooding and river-side communities were
often at risk. See page 40.
Who were “Mesopotamians”?
3000
BCE Sumerians arrive from central
Asia
2600-2200 BCE - the Akkadians and
Amorites arrive
2000 BCE The Indo-Europeans - Luvians
and Hittites
1800 BCE The Hurrians from the Caucasus
in Asia
What were the contributions of
these groups?
Sumerians
had an elaborate class
structure - the king & nobility at the
top, “free clients” who worked for
the nobility; commoners who owned
their own land and produced and
traded goods, and lastly slaves
Akkadians & Babylonians
A
Semitic chieftain called Sargon conquered
the Sumerians in 2331 BCE at Akkad, where
the name Akkadians comes from.
Sargon unified Mesopotamia and spread its
culture throughout the area.
Another Semitic people, the Babylonians,
dominated trade and eventually took control
of Mesopotamia, under the leadership of
King Hammurabi in 1750 BCE.
 His claim to fame is his law code, inscribed
on a stone pillar for all to see. Punishment
fit the crime and introduced the concept of
Ziggurats
Were
temples to the Gods, built by
Mesopotamians.
were made of mud brick and built on
platforms in case of flooding.
One of the most famous is the “Tower of
Babel”, restored by Nebuchadnezzar* who
hoped to raise the tower up to heaven. The
completed tower was considered one of the
great wonders of the ancient world. The
base was 91 m on each side!
Nebuchadnezzar*
King
of Neo-Babylonian Empire from
605-562 BCE.
According to the Bible he conquered
Judah and Jerusalem and sent the
Jews into exile
He is credited with the construction
of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon,
built for his homesick wife, Amytis,
to remind her of her home in Persia.
THE END