Transcript First Peoples Populating the Planet to 10000BCE

Chapter 1- World History
• Objectives:
• 1. To familiarize students with the spread of
human societies in the Paleolithic Era
• 2. To explore the conditions of life in gathering
and hunting societies
• 3. To examine factors that led to change in the
gathering and hunting societies.
First Peoples
Populating the Planet to 10,000B.C.E
• Dates B.C.E.- Before Common Era rather than B.C (before Christ)
and C.E. – Common Era rather than A.D. (Anno Domini)
• The Hazda of Tanzania- last gathering hunting societies on earth
– Their way of life (gathering and hunting) existed for 95 percent of
our species existence
– Archeologists reveal that they were the first societies and had
some sort of worldview
• Paleolithic Age (2.5 million to 12,000 years ago) stone tools.
Erroneously (false) dismissed as unimportant. Why?
– Language was not written
– No monumental structures
• Mesolithic Age (12,000-10,000 years ago) transitional
• Why are tools significant?
– Defines people, survival, hunting, ceremony, food prep., shelter
construction, needles, hooks
• Australopithecines– Earliest humanlike creatures in Africa 3-4 million years
ago
– First hominids –walked upright and made simple tools.
– Lucy- bipedal, sizable brain, larnx
• “Multi regional” theory
– All primates developed independently
• “Out of Africa” theory
– Homo Sapiens- (wise ones) emerged in eastern and
southern Africa (Rift Valley) 250,000 years ago
• Stayed in Africa about 150,000 years
• Migrated north into Europe and Asia then Oceania (Pacific Islands
to Aus.)
• Africa was home of the “human revolution” in which culture
shaped human behavior
• Humans inhabited new environments
– Technological innovations:
• Stone tools, fire, clothing, fishing, hunting techniques
• Patterns of exchange develop about 100,00
years ago and trade settlements develop
– Ornaments and burial relics indicated a growing
sense of culture and identity
– 200 mile trade networks
• Burials may indicate a growing sense of a
world view such as after life belief systems
• Neanderthals in Europe buried dead and made
flutes
• The peak of the Ice Age 20,000 years ago
created land bridges allowing for
transcontinental migrations
• Into Eurasia
– 45,000 years ago expansion from Africa to the
Middle East, Europe, then Asia
– Atlatl (spear thrower) and bows develop
• Rituals and sacred rites
– Totemic thinking (descended from animals) are
evidenced in cave paintings
– Animistic- all things possess a spirit
• Paleolithic Venus figurines date back 35,000
years ago
– Figurines found across Europe
– Indicates a diffusion (spread of a cultural practice)
• In the Ukraine permanent shelters found,
made of mammoth bones.
– Nomadic life style waned
• Into Australia 60,000 years ago from Indonesia
– Use of boats and remained gatherer hunters until
1788 when Europeans arrived
– Complex worldview Dreamtime
• Everything was a vibration or an echo from the past
which also includes migration routes
• Into the Americas
– Settled later 30,000-15,000 years ago and first culture of
the Americas
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Difficult to cross Siberia
Crossed the Bering land bridge 15,000 years ago
Developed the Clovis point, a type of projectile point
Flourished 12,000 years ago
Disappeared about 10,900 years ago
– Perhaps disappeared as large species animals became extinct
• Pacific
– The last phase of human migration 3,500 years ago
– Water migration from the Bismarck and Solomon
Islands.
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Spoke Austronesian languages originated in southern China
Settled every area in the Pacific basin within 2,500 years
Austronesian language the most widespread
Settled New Zealand ca. 900 C.E.
• Pacific settlers colonized (expanding political, social and
economic institutions to another land)
– Brought plants and women to colonize
– Established highly stratified societies or chiefdoms
• “Big Man” concept develops
– Collect and distribute, extravegant
– Deforestation, extinction of animals led to famine and
conflict
• First Human Societies
– Paleolithic societies were small 25-30
– Kinship groups
– Very low population density
• Nomadic lifestyle and low gathering and hunting provided little
surplus of food
• Egalitarian (equal distribution of rights) develop
– No land means little wealth or power
– Free from tyranny and oppression
• Relationships between men and women were
more equal than later societies.
– Confirmed by Captain James Cook in 1770
– Roles of men and women were defined
• Gender division of labor
– Men hunted, women gathered and food was equally
distributed
• Economy and Environment
– Gatherer and Hunting societies not considered
primitive today
• Worked fewer hours than agricultural and industrial
societies and had more leisure time.
• Life expectancy was 35 years
• Altered environment
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Fire to encourage growth of plants.
Travel north
Cure wood tools such as a bow
Expand their diet by cooking food.
• Large animals became extinct
• Realm of Spirit
– Difficult to interpret spirit world due to lack of
written sources
– Art is difficult to interpret
– Did have a rich ceremonial life
• Determined by burial sites
• Venus figures illustrate a Goddess culture in
feminine rejuvenation and life giving force
– Cyclical view of time based on the moon and cycles of
feminine fertility
• View of the cosmos was cyclic rather than the
Western linear line.
– African linguistic evidence points to some cultures
believing in monotheism (one god) and others that
believed in spirit realms.
• Shamans were often used as intermediaries
• “The Great Transition”
– Gradual change 25,000 years ago when tools were
miniaturized called micro blades.
– People began to interact more
– Collection of wild grains started in Africa 16,000
years ago
– Ice Age ends 16,000 years ago which generates a
global warming.
• Richer environments develop that are more
compatible for humans
– People begin to settle and larger, more complex
societies develop
• Households are capable of storing more goods
– Egalitarianism diminishes
• Hierarchies of power burgeon (grow) and material possessions
increase.
• People settle 12,000-4,000 years ago
– Jomon settle in Japan near the sea and expanded their
food sources and created earliest pottery
– Scandinavia settles the same time
– Bow and arrows develop separately in Africa, Europe,
and the Middle East then spread to the Americas
– Dogs were domesticated as evidenced by cemeteries
• Comparing Paleolithic Societies of the San of
southern Africa and the Chumash of southern
California
• Both survived into the modern era as
gathering and hunting societies
• The San live in the Kalahari Desert in Southern
Africa (present day Angola, Namibia and
Botswana. Also called the Ju/ ‘hoansi)
– Occupied for 5,000 years and are part of the Khoisan
linguistic family
– Gatherers and hunters
– Oldest rock art
• Most Khoisan speakers were absorbed by the
Bantu and settled into agriculture with
domesticated animals.
– The geography of the San made it difficult for them to
be assimilated (brought into another culture)
• There was diffusion from the Bantu, iron arrowheads and
drums
• San society characterized by mobility
– Harsh and very unpredictable resources
contributed to their mobility
– Bands of 10-30 people
• No formal hierarchy of leadership (no priests, chiefs)
– Only 28 tools, even distribution of labor between
men and women
– Short work week
• Egalitarian society
– Negative comments about the size of a kill was
referred to as “insulting the meat”
• This combats boastful pride
• The owner of the arrow, not the hunter could decide
on how to distribute the meat.
– Arrows were widely shared and sometimes owned by
women.
• Trading of gifts did not have to be of equal value.
– Connection between two people who were in debt
• Divorce was permitted
– Polygamy (more than one wife) was permitted but
most women resisted sharing a husband
• Resources were challenging so too many people would
upset the balance of the band
• Disputes were handled through discourse (talk)
• Belief system
– Creator god is Goa Na, gave rise to humans, plants,
animals and watering holes. Like the Greek gods he was
capricious (at a whim) and used humans to his delight.
– Gauwa was destructive, spreading disease.
• Most destructive were ghosts of ancestors called, gauwasi. They
were exercised in a ritual called n/um which were all night
dances. Curing dances established community.
• Please do now: List political, social, economic
and religious developments of Paleolithic
people and analyze how these did or did not
develop.
• The Chumash of Southern California
– Chumash are representative of later post-Ice Age
Paleolithic Era (settled, some agriculture, trade, division
of labor, hierarchies, complex economy)
– Settled in permanent villages, more complex societies.
• Lived near sea
– Drew from more resources and densely populated. Nearly 20,000 and
discovered by the Spanish in the. 16th Century
• Created a new society in 1150 C.E.
– Major contribution to change was the tomol, an
ocean canoe capable of carrying two tons
– Building or owning a tomol contributed to social
inequality
• Contributed to island trade and possession of trade
items.
• Deep sea catches were also highly prized.
• Market economy
– Extensive resources and trade established a market
economy (supply/demand) among gatherer and hunting
society.
– Money was beads
– Bearskins were worn only by tomol owners indicating an
economic hierarchy contrary
– Specialized labor (certain skills for specific jobs) existed
• Burials also included parts of the canoe for a
special group of people called the Brotherhood
of the Tomol.
– Chiefdom was hereditary (sometimes women)
• Big Man concept
– They led war, trade, tomol ownership, religious rituals, and taxed
the rich to redistribute to the poor.
• Reflections:
– Feminists, environmentalists and those critical of
modern market collapses reflect on the Paleolithic
Era as a “golden age.”
– What have we lost in our quest for modernity?
• Big Picture Questions:
• 1. What is the significance of the Paleolithic
era in world history?
• 2. In what ways did various Paleolithic
societies differ from one another and how did
they change over time?
Doing World History
Big Picture- a time line of the most important events of those
under study, accompanied by an explanation of their ultimate
significance.
Diffusion- the spread of natural elements, people, artifacts,
ideas or other cultural creations from one civilization to
another.
Syncretism – mixing of elements from two or more cultures
that result in something new.
Comparison- the pointing out of similarities and differences
between two civilizations in terms of their histories,
institutions, cultural accomplishments and economies.
Common Phenomena- natural or historical events and
developments that two or more societies share. Examples
could be climate, disease, natural disasters, shared
technologies or other human developments. Basically, “What is
share.”
• Do now please: Create a Venn diagram of the
San and Chumash people in regards to their
political, social and economic traits.
• Compare and contrast the San and Chumash
people as defined by their geography.