PREHISTORIC HUMANS & THE RISE OF CIVILIZATION

HUMAN EVOLUTION EVOLUTION: species change into new species through adaption, natural selection, and competition over time. Australopithecus Homo habillis Homo erectus Homo sapiens

OUT OF AFRICA

STONE AGE VOCABULARY Hunting and Gathering: surviving by foraging for food and resources from nature and hunting animals for meat, hides, and bones Nomads: people that move from place to place in search of food/resources; no permanent settlements

STONE AGE VOCABULARY Domestication: to train or adapt a plant or animal to be useful to humans Surplus: extra food/resources that can be saved for later use which allows people to do jobs other than produce food Job Specialization: due to a food surplus some people have enough time to become experts in certain jobs; leads to professionals, new technology, and rise of civilization

STONE AGE VOCABULARY Metallurgy: techniques of changing, molding and shaping metals into tools or weapons.

PALEOLITHIC AGE ECONOMY Hunting and gathering for food and resources No major animal or plant domestication Hard to store food for later use

PALEOLITHIC AGE TECHNOLOGY Simple stone tools Fire CULTURE Cave paintings, carvings, figurines NO writing systems

PALEOLITHIC AGE SOCIETY Nomadic lifestyle NO permanent settlements NO division of labor NO gender roles: men and women worked together performing similar tasks Small clans (extended family groups)

NEOLITHIC AGE

ECONOMY Domestication of animals and plants Farming & herding replaces foraging Pastoral economy – some Neolithic peoples mainly herded animals & did not farm Pottery was used to store food The dog was the first domesticated animal

NEOLITHIC AGE TECHNOLOGY Complex stone tools Invention of metallurgy Metal tools and weapons used CULTURE Jewelry Sculptures Decorative pots Stone monuments

NEOLITHIC AGE SOCIETY Permanent villages with informal leadership (chiefs or elders) to supervise farming, judge disputes and defense Job specialization Male dominance (patriarchal) – different jobs for each sex Better food production – population growth – larger and more complex settlements

The Road to Civilization How did civilizations develop? PALEOLITHIC SOCIETIES Civilization Agriculture development Villages develop in river valleys Successful villages grew into cities with a government to organize agriculture & other communal activities Surpluses lead to population growth, job specialization, trade, and city-states

What is a Civilization? Comes from the Latin word, civitas, meaning city A complex society with enough economic surplus to form divisions of labor and a social hierarchy; a society sharing a set of cultural traits First developed in river valleys

Characteristics of a CIVILIZATION

Where did Early Civilizations Develop? River Valleys Lands around a river Rivers provide water and periodically flood depositing silt which re-fertilizes the land Best for agriculture