Transcript Unit 1 Early Civilizations PPT 2011

Welcoming Activity:
Does the Clan from the Clan of
the Cave Bear have culture?
Support your answer by referring
to the cultural universals.
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World Cultures I
Merion Mercy Academy
Mr. Clementi
Unit I:
From Pre-History to
Early Civilizations
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Unit I:
From Pre-History to
Early Civilizations
Main Idea:
Through hundreds of thousands of
years, scientists and historians believe
human kind evolved and adapted
technologies which enabled the first
complex civilizations to develop.
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Human Origins in Africa
Scientists Search for Human Origins
Defining Prehistory
• Time before the invention of writing, about 5,000
years ago
• Without writing, historians need “CSI” type scientists understand
what live was like during this period.
Scientific Clues
• Archaeologists study bones and artifacts—humanmade objects
• Anthropologists study culture—a group’s way of life
• Paleontologists study fossils—plant or animal
remains preserved in rock
Continued . . .
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Human Origins in Africa
The Stone Age
What is the Stone Age?
•When hominids began to use of stone tools and fire
• Also developed language and art
Two Phases of the Stone Age
• Paleolithic Age (Old Stone Age)
 lasted from about 2.5 million to 8000 B.C.
also called the Ice Age due to cold temperatures
and glaciers
Paleolithic (Old Stone Age) humans were
nomads—moved in search of food
Hunted animals, collected plant foods—were
hunter-gatherers
• Neolithic Age (New Stone Age)
 lasted from about 8000 to 3000 B.C.
 key development: farming
Continued . . .
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Humans Try to Control Nature
The Beginnings of Agriculture
The Neolithic Revolution
• Neolithic Revolution—agricultural revolution,
began about 10,000 years ago
• Nomadic women scattered seeds, then
discovered crops growing
• Shift from food-gathering to food-production great
breakthrough
Causes of the Agricultural Revolution
• Rising temperatures probably a key reason
• Longer growing season, drier land for wild
grasses
• Constant supply of food led to population growth
Continued . . .
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Humans Try to Control Nature
continued
The Beginnings of Agriculture
Early Farming Methods
• Slash-and-burn farming—clear land by cutting
and burning trees
• Farmers moved to new area after year or two
Domestication of Animals
• Domestication—taming wild animals to ensure a
constant source of food
• Hunters and farmers tamed horses, dogs, goats,
and pigs
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Three Theories on
the Origins of Humankind
Creationism
The bible should be interpreted literally
 Evolution
Humankind developed as a survival of the species
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What does the Church Say about
Evolution v. Creationism?
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Civilization
Villages Grow into Cities
Agriculture Causes Change
• Farming success leads to larger communities
Economic Changes
• Ancient people build irrigation systems to
increase food production
• Food surpluses free some people to develop
new skills
• Craftspeople make cloth, objects; traders profit
from exchange of goods
• Invention of wheel and sail enable traders to
travel longer distances
Social Changes
• Social classes develop; religion becomes more
organized
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How Civilization Develops
Sumer
• Located in Mesopotamia, now part of modern Iraq
• One of the first civilizations—a complex culture:
- advanced cities
- specialized workers
- complex institutions
- record keeping
- advanced technology
Continued . . .
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continued How
Civilization Develops
Advanced Cities
• Cities with larger populations arise, become
centers of trade
Specialized Workers
• Labor becomes specialized—specific skills of
workers developed
• Artisans make goods that show skill and artistic
ability
Complex Institutions
• Institutions—(governments, religion, the economy)
are established
• Governments establish laws, maintain order
• Temples are centers for religion, government,
and trade
Continued . . .
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continued How
Civilization Develops
Record Keeping
• Professional record keepers, scribes, record
taxes and laws
• Scribes invent cuneiform, a system of writing
about 3000 B.C.
• People begin to write about city events
Improved Technology
• New tools and techniques make work easier
• The Bronze Age starts in Sumer around 3000 B.C.
• People replace copper and stone with bronze to
make tools, weapons
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Chapter 2, Section 1
City-States in
Mesopotamia
The earliest civilization in Asia rises in Mesopotamia
and organizes into city-states.
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City-States in Mesopotamia
Geography of the Fertile Crescent
The Fertile Crescent
• Fertile Crescent—arc of land between Persian
Gulf and Mediterranean
• Includes Mesopotamia—“land between the rivers”
—a fertile plain
• Tigris and Euphrates rivers flood once a year,
leaving rich soil.
Continued . . .
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continued Geography
of the Fertile Crescent
Environmental Challenges
• Around 3300 B.C. Sumerians begin farming
southern Mesopotamia
• Environment poses three disadvantages:
- floods are unpredictable; sometimes no rain
- land offers no barriers to invasion
- land has few natural resources; building
materials scarce
Continued . . .
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continued Geography
of the Fertile Crescent
Solving Problems Through
Organization
• Sumerians worked together; find solutions to
environmental challenges:
- build irrigation ditches to control water,
produce crops
- build walled cities for defense
- trade grain, cloth, and tools for raw
materials—stone, wood metal
• Organization, leadership, and laws are
beginning of civilization
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Sumerian Culture
A Religion of Many Gods
• Sumerians believe in many different gods (polytheism)
• Gods are thought to control forces of nature
• Gods behave as humans do, but people are
gods’ servants
• Ziggurat, a temple, is tallest, most important
building
• Priests carry out religious rituals there
Life in Sumerian Society
• Sumerians have social classes—kings,
landholders, priests at top
• Wealthy merchants next; at lowest levels are
slaves
• Women have many rights; become priests,
merchants, artisans
Continued . . .
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continued Sumerian
Culture
Sumerian Science and Technology
• Sumerians invent wheel, sail, and plow; first to
use bronze
• Make advances in arithmetic and geometry
• Develop arches, columns, ramps and pyramids
for building
• Have complex system of writing—cuneiform
• Study astronomy, chemistry, medicine
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