1. Chapter 1 The Beginnings of Human Society
Mrs. Jacobs
6th Grade History

2. Section 1-Geography and History Objectives
Learn what tools are used to understand history.
Find out about the connections between geography and history.

3. Section 1 Vocabulary
History -written and other recoded events of people
Prehistory -time before writing was invented
Archaeologist -a scientist who examines objects to learn about the human past
Oral traditions -stories passed down by word of mouth
Geography -the study of earth’s surface and the shape of it

4. Otzi the Iceman Found by two hikers in the 1991
Found on the Italian-Austrian border
of the Alps (Europe)
Clothing, tools, and body were
well preserved
Scientists determined he lived
about 5,000 years ago, in about 3000 B.C.
3000 B.C

5. Otzi the Iceman cont.
Iceman’s finely stitched animal skins means that he came from a community whose people were skilled in sewing.
The most important clue was his copper ax.
Copper was the first metal used by Europeans beginning about 4000 B.C.
This helps us learn that the Iceman lived after people had learned to use copper.

6. Understanding History
3. About 5,000 years ago, people in Africa and Southwest Asia developed systems of writing.
They begin to keep written records of their experiences.
1. These developments marked the beginning of history, the written and other recorded events of people.
2. By adding the prefix pre, which means before, you form the word prehistory, which means the time before history, before writing was invented.
Archaeologists, scientists who examine objects to learn about the past people and culture.
4. Archaeologists sift through dirt of prehistoric camps to find bones, tools, and other objects that tell them something about the people who lived there.

7. Understanding History cont.
5. Objects like the size of a stone spear point shows what kind of game the people hunted.
To kill big game, such as bears, hunters had to use large, heavy spear points, but they wouldn’t work well with small animals like birds and squirrels.
8. Historians don’t rely only on objects discovered, they also rely on written records and their accomplishments, like war, religion, and its rulers.
6. Written records studied by historians often began as oral traditions, stories passed down by word of mouth.
7. Like myths and legends, oral traditions often contain facts mixed with a little fiction, exaggerations.

8. Linking Geography and History
Geography, the study of the Earth’s surface and the processes that shape it, also referring to the features of a place, its climate, landscape, and location.
Connections between geography and history is often the key to understanding why events happened, like weather patterns, water supply, and landscape affect the lives of the people who live there.

9. Linking Geography and History cont.
The Egyptians had a very successful civilization because it was built on the banks of the Nile River in Africa.
9. Each year the Nile River flooded depositing rich soil on its banks, allowing the Egyptian farmers to grow enough crops to feed large numbers of people.
That meant that not all people had to farm, allowing them to do other jobs that helped grow the civilization.

10. Closure
In your notebook, write the question and your answer choice on the Exit Slip Page.
1. Analyze the clothes you wore to school today. What do they say about your life?

11. Section 2 Prehistory Objectives
Discover how hunter-gatherers lived during the Stone Age.
Learn about the beginning of farming.

12. Section 2 Vocabulary
Stone Age –a period of time during which early humans made lasting tools and weapons mainly from stone; the earliest period of human culture
Nomad –a person who has not settled home
Fertile –rich in the substances plants need to grow well; describes soil and land
Domesticate –to adapt wild plants for human use; tame wild animals and breed them for human use

13. Stone Age Hunting and Gathering
10. The first use of stone to create tools began the earliest known period of human culture; the Stone Age.
11. Stone Age was a period of time during which early humans made lasting tools and weapons mainly from stone, but also included wood and animal bones.

14. Stone Age Hunting and Gathering cont.
Archaeologists divide the Stone Age into 3 period:
1) 12. Old Stone Age-humans did not know how to farm, the people were hunters and gatherers.
Almost all of human prehistory took place during this period.
2) Middle Stone Age
3) New Stone Age

15. Stone Age Hunting and Gathering cont.
Between 1,400,000 and 500,000 years ago, our ancestors learned how to use fire. No one knows for sure how, but maybe it was lightning that struck a grassy plain.
Early humans finally discovered
how to create fire, probably by
rubbing sticks together or striking
stones together producing a spark.
13. This helped them learn how to
ward off dangerous animals and
be able to move to colder climates.

16. Stone Age Hunting and Gathering cont.
14. Many of our Old Stone Age ancestors
were nomads, people who have no settled home.
The moved around place to place
where they would find food until all
the food was depleted, then they’d
moved to another place in search
of food.

17. Stone Age Hunting and Gathering cont.
There is evidence that humans lived in Asia and Europe 500,000 years ago.
15. Many scientists believed that modern humans originated (began) more than 100,000 years ago in Africa.
Perhaps 30,000 years ago humans crossed from Asia into North America.
By 10,000 B.C., humans reached Peru in South America.
They lived in the steamy rainforests of Asia, cold lands near the Arctic Circle, and high altitudes in the Andes Mountains of South America.

18. The Beginning of Farming
Middle Stone Age, the use of refined or advanced tools.
16. New Stone Age, when humans began to farm,
17. This meant that people didn’t have to move around.
About 11,000 years ago, people in Southwest Asia made an amazing discovery.
They learned what would happen if they planted seeds of wild grasses, that wild grasses would grow.
Although the New Stone Age meant that people didn’t have to be nomads any longer, in many other parts of the world the Old Stone Age and the Middle Stone Age continued for many thousands of years.
Old Stone Age societies even existed in the 1900s.

19. The Beginning of Farming cont.
Although people began to grow their own food, some people became pastoral nomads, people who raised livestock and traveled from place to place in search of grazing areas for their animals.
Some people in present-day Iraq, Syria, and other areas are still pastoral nomads.
In most societies, women were responsible for gathering plants and seeds, probably the first to plant seeds and begin farming.
Men were usually the hunters.

20. The Beginning of Farming cont.
18. Some places were better for farming than others, fertile soil, or rich in the substances that plants need to grow, was very important.
Places that had long springs and hot summers were good places to farm because plants need light and warmth.
Gentle rains are also important sources for plant’s water.
About 9,000 years ago, Chinese farmers began planting rice and other crops.
A little later in Central America, people began to grow corn, beans, and squash.

21. The Beginning of Farming cont.

22. The Beginning of Farming cont.
When people first began to plant crops, they carefully chose seeds from the biggest and best-tasting plants.
19. Doing this, they began to
domesticate plants, or adapt
wild plants for human use.
Very gradually, this careful
selection of seeds and roots
from each crop led to the kids
of food that we eat today.

23. The Beginning of Farming cont.
20. During the Stone Age, humans also learned to domesticate wild animals and breed them for human use.
The first domesticated animals may have been dogs, because they were valuable in hunting.
By taming larger animals like sheep, goats, and pigs, people developed a ready source of meat, milk, wool, and skins
By 2500 B.C , cattle, camels, horses, and donkeys were trained to carry heavy loads.

24. The Beginning of Farming cont.
People of ancient India trained wild elephants for use in battle.
Ancient Assyrians and Egyptians trained wild cheetahs for hunting.

25. Closure
In your notebook, write the question and your answer choice on the Exit Slip Page.
2. What marked the beginning of the New Stone Age?

26. Section 3 The Beginnings of Civilization Objectives
Find out about the advantages people gained from settling down in one place.
Learn about the growth of early cities.
Understand how the first civilizations formed and spread.

27. Section 3 Vocabulary
Irrigation –supplying land with water through a network of canals
Surplus –more than is needed
Artisan –a worker who is especially skilled at crafting items by hand
Civilization –a society with cities, a central government, job specialization, and social classes
Social class –a group of people with similar backgrounds, incomes, and ways of living

28. Advantages of a Settled Life
Building a system of irrigation, supplying land with water from another place using a network of canals, takes teamwork.
Farming was much harder work than hunting and gathering, but it had greater rewards.
People who grew their own food had a steady supply of food year round, meaning they didn’t have to move around from place to place.
21. It even meant they had a surplus, more than what is needed, and could be stored for use at another time.

29. Advantages of a Settled Life cont.
Having a surplus of food also affected the size of families.
Hunters and gatherers didn’t have many children because they couldn’t feed all of them.
22. A food surplus meant that the food would feed more people so the population increased.
About 10,000 years ago, the population was about 5 million people.
But 7,000 years ago, the population was about 20 million people.

30. Advantages of a Settled Life cont.
23. With farming and food surpluses, people didn’t have to farm all day every day; some people were able to do other kinds of work, like become an artisan.
Artisan is a worker who is especially skilled in crafting items with their hands, such as baskets, leather goods, tools, pottery, and cloth.

31. Growth of Cities
Cities were more likely to develop in areas where rich soil created large surpluses of food.
24. People needed 3 things to survive/develop a society:
1) fertile soil for food surplus
2) dependable water source
3) materials to build shelters
Some of the earliest cities grew up along large rivers such as the Nile River in Egypt, the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in Iraq, the Huang River in China, and the Indus River in Pakistan.

32. Growth of Cities cont.

33. Growth of Cities cont.
25. In farming villages, most people were farmers, but in cities, most people did other jobs.
Larger cities also had buildings such as:
Buildings to store surplus grain
Buildings for worship of gods
Buildings where people could buy and sell goods
As populations grew, governments formed.
26. Governments kept order in societies and provided services.
They also settled disputes and managed public building and irrigation projects.

34. The First Civilizations
27. New Stone Age grew into civilizations, a society that has cities, a central government run by official leaders and workers who specialize in various jobs.
By 6600 B.C., artisans in Europe and Asia learned an important skill, that melting rock at high temperatures would separate the metal copper from the rock.
28., 30. By 3000 B.C., artisans had learned to mix copper with another metal, tin, to make a mixture called bronze.
29. This discovery marked the beginning of the Bronze Age.
It is also harder than copper and was used to make weapons, tools, helmets, and shields.

35. The First Civilizations cont.

36. The First Civilizations cont.
Traders took valuable items like pottery, tools and weapons, baskets, cloth, and spices to faraway cities to for food and goods they didn’t have and needed/wanted.
31. By around 3500 B.C., some
civilizations had developed a
simple but amazing invention:
the wheel and axle.
This allowed trade goods to be
loaded onto carts and pushed
through the city to market.

37. The First Civilizations cont.
Trade over water also developed.
Merchant ships carried goods across seas and rivers.
32. With all this travel, people of different cultures became in contact with each other, helping spread the ideas from one society to another, trading information as well as goods.

38. The First Civilizations cont.
33. Social class is a group of people having similar backgrounds, incomes, and ways of living.
34. The king was the most powerful person.
35. The next two classes were the next most important:
1) priests of the city’s religion
2) nobles: government officials and military officers
36. Below them were the artisans, small traders, and merchants.
37. Common workers and farmers were the lowest ranked free members of society.
38. Slaves, human beings owned as property by other people, formed a separate social class, lower than the free people.
Most slaves worked in cities as household servants and laborers.

39. The First Civilizations cont.
Egyptian Social Pyramid

40. Closure
In your notebook, write the question and your answer choice on the Exit Slip Page.
3. What effects did food surpluses have on people and populations?