Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display. Before History 1

Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.  Compare and contrast the hominids Australopithecus andHomo erectus.  Explain the development and migration of Homo sapiens.  Identify economic and social features of human societies during the paleolithic era. 2

Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.  Understand the key elements of Paleolithic culture.  Explain the reasons behind the transition to agriculture during the Neolithic era.  Discuss the impact that the development of agriculture had upon human society.  Understand the key elements of Neolithic culture and the emergence of urban life. 3

Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.  Basic development:  Hunting and foraging  Agriculture  Complex society  Key issue: surplus capital  Major development of first complex societies from 3500 BCE – 500 BCE 4

Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.  PREHISTORY: Considered to be the period before the inventing of writing systems  What is “history”?  Necessary for historical record: DOCUMENTATION  Written records  Archaeological discovery  Requisite human presence (or “natural” history) 5

Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.  Animals adapted themselves to environment  Hominids adapted environment to themselves  Use of tools  Language  Complex cooperative social structures 6

Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.  Discovery of skeleton AL-288-1, north of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia  Nicknamed “Lucy”  Lucy’s stats  3’5”, 55lb.  Bipedal  Brain size of 500 cc (modern human: 1400 cc)  Limited speech but opposable digit  Estimated date of death: 3.5 million years ago 7

Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.  HOMO ERECTUS: “upright man”  Larger brain capacity (1000 cc), improved tool use, control of fire 8

Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.  HOMO SAPIENS: “wise man”  HOMO SAPIENS SAPIENS: “very wise man” (most of us)  Largest brain, especially frontal regions  conscious, reflective thought processes 9

Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.  Most sophisticated tools and social organization  Populated other continents through use of land bridges  Migrations of Homo Erectus and Homo Sapiens 10

Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display. 11

Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.  By 13,000 BCE Homo sapiens in every inhabitable part of the world  Archaeological finds  Sophisticated tools ▪ Choppers, scrapers, axes, knives, bows, arrows ▪ Cave and hutlike dwellings ▪ Use of fire, animal skins  Hunted several mammal species to extinction  climatic change may have accelerated process 12

Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.  Evidence  Archaeological finds  Extrapolation from modern hunter-gatherer societies  Nomadic existence precludes advanced civilization  Groups of  Division of labor along gender lines 13

Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.  Nomadic culture precludes accumulation of land-based wealth  More likely determinants of status: age, hunting skill, fertility, charisma  Possible gender equality related to food production  Men: protein from hunting  Women: plant gathering 14

Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.  Evidence of intelligent coordination of hunting expeditions  Development of weaponry  Animal-skin disguises  Stampeding tactics ▪ Lighting of fires, etc. to drive game into kill zones  Required planning, communication 15

Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.  Natufian society  Modern Israel and Jordan  Wild wheat, herding  Jomon society  Japan  Wild buckwheat, fishing  Chinook society  Pacific Northwest  Berries, acorns, salmon runs  Groups of 1000 or more 16

Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.  NEANDERTHALS (Neandertals)  Neander valley, western Germany  Also found in Africa, east Asia  Evidence of spirituality: ritual burial 17

Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.  CRO-MAGNON MAN  Physically similar to modern humans  Greater capacity for speech?  Homo sapiens sapiens  Increased variety of tools  Adornments, decorative furniture, cave paintings  “Venus” figurines  Cave paintings 18

Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.  Distinction in tool production  Chipped vs. polished stone tools  Men: herding animals rather than hunting  Women: nurtured vegetation rather than foraging  Spread of agriculture  Slash-and-burn techniques  Exhaustion of soil promotes migration  Transport of crops from one region to another 19

Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display. 20

Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display. 21

Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.  Emergence of villages and towns  Discoveries at Çatal Hüyük, Turkey  occupied from BCE 22

Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.  Tremendous range of manufactured products  Pottery, jewelry, textiles, copper tools  Development of crafts 23

Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.  Accumulation of landed wealth initiates development of social classes  Archaeological evidence in variety of household decorations, goods buried with deceased members of society at Çatal Hüyük 24

Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.  Elements of natural environment essential for functioning  Archaeological evidence of religious worship: thousands of clay figurines, drawings on pots, tool decorations, other ritual objects  Fertility: Venus figurines 25

Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display.  JERICHO: Concentration of wealth, building a wall  Craft specialization  Social stratification  Governance  Cultural workers 26