p1 Excavation of Warka showing the ruins of Uruk

 Hominids  Australopithecines (3-4 million years ago; simple stone tools; limited to Africa)  Homo Erectus (1.5 million years ago; larger, more varied tools; moves into Europe and Asia)  The Emergence of Homo Sapiens (“wise human being”)  Neanderthals, (c. 100,000 – 30,000 years ago)  Neander Valley, Germany; other parts of Europe, Middle East  More advanced stone tools; burial of the dead  Homo sapiens sapiens, (c. 200,000 B.C.E. – Present)  “ Wise, wise human being”  Replaced Neanderthals  Spread throughout the world  The spread of humans: out of Africa or multiregional?

p3 CHRONOLOGY The First Humans

Map 1.1 p2 MAP 1.1 The Spread of Homo sapiens sapiens

 Paleolithic Age, (c. 2.5 million years ago – 10,000 years ago)  Hunting and Gathering  Nomadic Bands (20 – 30 people)  Division of Labor between Men and Women  Discovery of Fire (c. 500,000 B.C.E.)  Source of light and heat; cooking of food  Cultural Activities  Cave paintings: Chauvet in France

 Paleoanthropologists divide human history into two phases:  Paleolithic/Neolithic  Paleolithic (Old Stone Age) = c. 2,500,000 B.C.- 10,000 B.C.  Hunt, fish, gather—nomadic--but not food producers  Long chronological era  C. c. 200,000 B.C.E appearance of homo sapiens sapiens

30,000 B.C. evidence that man did more than hunt for food  Art forms: beads, jewelry (animal teeth), shells, ivory, bone flutes  Music = dance, song  Tatooing  Bone, ivory carvings  Fertility statuettes—fertility goddess/fertility principle  More advanced tools—fishhooks, harpoons, bows, arrows, needles for sewing animal skins  Burial ceremonies = belief in an afterlife

 Lascaux in France; Altamira in Spain; several sites in n. Africa.  Depictions of large game animals in various modes of activity  Common worship? (usually painted in difficult-to- reach areas of cave)  Sympathetic magic—imitating a desired result will bring about that same result.  Arrow in flank on wall = arrow in flank in reality

 Only 10% of cave murals show killing scenes  All however do picture game  Common desire that game be plentiful lest the tribe have to move  Specialized in different colors—tones—feathers as brushes  Few contain depictions of owls—and other animals which one usually does not eat esp. Chauvet.  Symbolism: bison = female; horse = male

p4 Paleolithic Cave Painting: The Chauvet Cave

 C. 12,000 B.C. end of Last Ice Age  Glaciers retreated northwards—large game species shifted with them. Central, southern Europe thawed, north Africa and Arabian peninsula dried out.  As Europe became warmer, fauna moved north  Heavy rains shifted north—most of Europe becomes temperate habitable.

 People become attached to coastal areas  No longer as nomadic—lush river valleys have an abundance of fowl and fish.  Nomadic peoples have low birthrates  Breast-feeding as birth control, nomadic children breast-feed longer; constant movement induces miscarriage, a woman can usually only carry one child.  But once population fixed—birth rates increase

 Puts pressure on local supplies—led to early overpopulation.  Once resources depleted people forced to migrate again; return to areas where resources are less plentiful.  Result? Man begins to adapt to a changing environment and switches from a food gathering to a food producing society.

 New Stone Age  C. 12,000 B.C. represents mans control over nature  Sedentary agriculture replaces gathering  Domestication of animals replaces hunting.  By 9,000 B.C evidence from Iran—sheep, goats domesticated “Insurance policy?”  By 7,000 B.C. pigs, goats domesticated—steady supply of meat—usually domesticate first animals you eat.

 Between 9,000-8,000 B.C. agriculture develops independently in different areas  Near East—wheat, barley  S. Asia—rice  W. Africa—yams  S. America—corn, potatoes, beans, squash  At first people farmed in a slash and burn manner. But after 9,000 people began to cultivate crops.

 Do not know how began—imagine that stored excess grain sprouted.  Further insurance policy, people began to plant excess grain and harness environment  --insured a steady supply of agricultural produce.  Much trial and error—remove excess weeds, plowing, fertilizer, crop rotation  Harvesting—knife, scythe, or sickle  Grinding grain—mortar and pestle

 With agriculture, man becomes sedentary—no longer nomadic.  7,500-7,000 B.C. evidence for agriculture in Turkey, Iraq, Iran.  By 6,000 B.C. these areas primarily agricultural.  By 4,000-3,500 B.C. evidence from s. Europe  But agriculture is labor intensive—stimulates communal living. Progression from nomadic society to one of villages reflects a change from gathering food to growing it.

 Agriculture leads to the Age of the Village.  A village = a settlement in which the majority of inhabitants are engaged in sedentary agriculture.  Age of the Village 6,500-3,500 B.C.