Transcript Neolithic Revolution - Townsend Harris High

The Neolithic Revolution
• Aim: Why was the Neolithic Revolution a
major turning point in world history?
• Vocabulary: agriculture, hunter-gatherer
domesticated animals, slash and burn,
obsidian, metallurgy
In the very beginning…
• Anthropologists believe that Homo sapiens appeared
around 100,000-250,000 years ago in Africa (“Out of
Africa” thesis).
• Stone Age- 2.5 million years ago (ancestors to Homo
Sapiens) to 5,000-6000 years ago. Subdivided into the
Paleolithic (“Old Stone Age”) which ended about 12,000
years ago, the Mesolithic (“Middle Stone Age”) which
ended about 12,000 to 10,000 years ago and the
Neolithic (“New Stone Age”) which began about 8000
BCE.
• Stone age people sustained themselves by hunting and
gathering (foraging) and were nomadic. They had tribes
and clans. Stone Age humans practiced a variety of
religious rituals. There was a gender division of labor
and men did the heavy labor (i.e. hunting) while women
did work such as maintaining the home.
THE NEOLITHIC REVOLUTION
BEGINS!
• Agriculture began after 9000 B.C.E.
• Grains such a wheat and barley were
cultivated in Southwest Asia
• Animals such as pigs, cattle, sheep, and
goats were domesticated
Google images
Grain.org
The Spread of Agriculture
• Slash and Burn Cultivation involved
slashing the bark on trees and later
burning the dead ones.
• The soil was enriched for a few years but
eventually lost its fertility. No writing
existed to learn about long term negative
effects – leads to Middle East becoming
desert
• Farmers were forced to move on to new
territory.
• By 7000 B.C.E. Sudanese Africa and West
Africa cultivated root crops such as sorghum and
yams
• In China people of the Yangtze River valley
cultivated rice about 6500 B.C.E. and wheat in
the northern Yellow River valley
• By 6000 B.C.E. agriculture had spread to the
eastern Mediterranean basin and the Balkans
• By 4000 B.C.E. agriculture had reached
Northern Europe
Images-wikipedia
• Agriculture involved more work than foraging but
it produced a constant food supply.
• This resulted in population growth.
• People settled into villages, but as agriculture
resulted in an abundance of food, not all
villagers needed to farm.
• Specialists - This resulted in the development
of other occupations such as manufacture of
pottery, metal tools, textiles, wood products, and
jewelry.
Pottery
Neolithic Pottery The earliest pottery found
on the Korean peninsula dates from the
beginning of the Neolithic Age, about 7000
BC. Vessels were hand built from coils of
clay and fired in open or semi-open kilns at
low temperatures of about 700° C. These
unglazed, porous wares are found
throughout Korea in large quantities and in a
variety of shapes and decorative styles,
reflecting the diversity of material culture of
the Neolithic period and the contacts
between populations living in different parts
of the peninsula. Comb-patterned wares are
the most representative type of ceramics
from Korea's prehistoric period. This
exceptionally large jar, which may have
been used for storage of grains, has a
typically pointed base and displays striking
patterns of diagonal lines that were incised
into the damp clay, perhaps with a comblike
implement, before firing. Excavated at
Amsa-dong, near the Han River in modernday Seoul, it attests to the long history of
human habitation at the site.
Metmuseum.org
Early Settlements
• Jericho was
established around
8000 B.C.E. in
present day Israel (on
the west bank of the
Jordan River).
• This tower likely
served as a defensive
fortification
Bibleplaces.com
• Catal Huyuk was
established around
7000 B.C.E. in present
day Anatolia, Turkey.
• Artifacts left there
indicate an extensive
specialization of labor.
• The people there
traded obsidian (black
volcanic glass) with
neighboring peoples.
Excavation at Catal Huyuk
Obsidian
Smm.org
SKARA BRAE (3200-2200 BCE)
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Today Skerrabra - or Skara Brae (in
Scotland) as it has become known - is
made up of eight dwellings, linked
together by a series of low alleyways.
Because of the protection offered by
the sand that covered the settlement
for 4,000 years, the buildings and their
contents are incredibly well-preserved.
Not only are the walls of the structure
still standing and alleyways roofed with
their original stone slabs, but the
interior fittings of each dwelling give an
unparalleled glimpse of life as it was in
Neolithic Orkney.
Each house shares the same basic
design - a large square room with a
central fireplace, a bed on either side
and a shelved dresser on the wall
opposite the doorway.
http://www.orkneyjar.com/history/skarabrae/
Early Metallurgy
• Metallurgy- the science of extracting and
refining metal from raw ore
• Metalworking- the craft of shaping refined
metal into tools (stronger than stone tools).
• Early examples such as jewelry (made of
gold, silver, lead, copper) date back to as
early as 6400 B.C.E.
Large-scale Metallurgy
• Began in the Middle East and China
between 4000 BCE-3000 BCE.
• The Bronze Age began around 3500-1200
BCE when people mixed copper and tin to
create bronze. Bronze eventually replaced
stone ones. This ended the Stone Age.
• Around 1200 BCE iron was developed and
it was very strong and useful, ending the
Bronze Age.
Why was the Neolithic Revolution a
major turning point in world history?
(8000 BCE – 3000 BCE)