1. Before History
Chapter 1

2. Homo Sapiens c. 200,000 years ago
Intelligence => migrated and adapted to various environments
Success resulted in animal extinctions?

3. Paleolithic Society Up to c. 12,000 y.a.
Small groups of egalitarian nomadic hunter/gatherers
Late Paleolithic – some permanent settlements (sedentary) with some specialization

4. Paleolithic Culture Neandertal: emotions, caring
Cro-Magnon: fully modern, art/fashion
Venus figurines and cave art
purpose: aesthetic? Sympathetic magic?
-> high order conscious and purposeful activity

5. The Neolithic Era and the Transition to Agriculture
Big changes: domestication of plants and animals, cities, specialization, better technology
Why? Foraging is risky? Bigger yields?
Agricultural Revolution(s) (but not really)
Happened independently in several areas

7. Spread of Agriculture Due to: Technique (slash and burn)
Movement of people, ideas, and food stuffs

8. Early Agricultural Societies
Caused lots of social and cultural changes
Population growth
Sedentarism (Jericho, Catal Huyuk)
Specialization (due to surplus) – craft industries (pottery, metallurgy, and textiles)
Wealth accumulation and private ownership => power => generational power => social classes

10. Neolithic Culture In tune with nature -> early science
Interest in fertility and the “circle of life” => gods

11. The Origins of Urbanism
Dense population + specialized labor + complex social relations = cities
Different from villages: larger and more complex socially and have influence over entire regions (economic, political)
Tigris and Euphrates Valley
(c BCE)