1. A History of Human Civilization
Jeff Feasel
17 Feb 2006

2. What we’ll learn Brief overview of human history.
What does the archeological record show?
Discuss which factors contributed to human civilization.

3. When Did Human History Happen?
[See Timeline]
200,000 BC: Split from all other Homonid species
100,000 BC: Anatomically Modern Humans
as shown by fossil bones
50,000 BC: Cro-Magnons (“Mentally Modern”)
as shown by archaeology
8,000 BC: First signs of settled life
4,000 BC: Written record begins
We know this from archaeology, genetic dating, written records.
Early man tree diagram?

4. Ice Core Sample

5. Early Migration of Humans

6. Early Migration of Humans
[See Migration Map]
Long before the last Ice Age, people were already spread out through most of Eurasia, Africa, and Australia.
Lived as hunter gatherers.
No evidence of farming/herding before Holocene.

7. Arriving in The New World
“Clovis” people
Broke from Mongoloid population living in Siberia.
Already adapted to arctic conditions
Entered North/South America via land-bridge on Bering Strait.
Exact timing is known because of “airlock” effect.
Tremendous boom! Spread from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego in less than 1000 years.
Mass extinction of large land mammals
Get the exact dates for the “airlock” effect of passage through alaska.

9. The Pace of Civilization
10,000 BC: End of last Ice Age
Humans had reached every habitable area.
Everyone has roughly the same lifestyle: hunter-gatherer.
AD: European Expansion
Guns vs. Spears
Why did civilization proceed so much faster in some parts of the world than in others?
And what does this tell us about civilization?

11. Who Had What, and Why? Mesopotamia Egypt Indus River China Mesoamerica
Andes
hunter-gatherers:
Southern Africa
Australia / New Guinea
Northern / Western Europe
North Asia
[See tables: Earliest Domestication of Animals/Plants]

12. Natural Resource: Animals
[Table of Domesticated Animals]
Uses??
food, clothing, hunting, transportation, traction
[Necessary for domestication:]
Pack behavior – dominance heirarchy
Able to live in dense groups
Willing to breed in captivity
Usually herbivorous
Usually relatively large (>50 lbs) (often the same animals you’d hunt)
[No new animals domesticated until after the Industrial Revolution.]
Compare New World to Old World.
Why such an imbalance of useful domesticatable animals available?
Luck-of-the-Draw or Mass Extinction
Why weren’t Old World animals hunted to extinction?

13. Earliest Domestication of Animals
Dog
>15,000 BC
Near-East? China?
Sheep
8,000 BC
Near-East
Goat
Pig
China, Near-East
Silkworm
7,500 BC
China
Cow
6,000 BC
Near-East, India
Cat
Egypt
Horse
4,000 BC
Ukraine
Donkey
Water buffalo
Turkey
3,500 BC
Mesoamerica
Llama/Alpaca
Andes
Guinea Pig
Camel
2,500 BC
Central Asia, Arabia
Chicken
1,000 BC
Pacific Asia

14. Natural Resource: Plants
[Table of Domesticated Plants]
Grains and legumes form most of the human diet.
(70% of calories come from cereal)
[Necessary for domestication:]
Fast-maturing
Large-enough seeds or fruits
Storable
Not quite as imbalanced as animals, but still...
Compare New World to Old World
Why did some areas take to farming more than others?
Climatic advantage.
Incoming solar energy gradient.
What are the “sweet-spots”?
Band near, but not on, Equator.
Which are suitable for GRASSES to grow?

15. Earliest Domestication of Plants
Area
Cereals/Grasses
Legumes
Tubers
Near-East
Wheat, Barley
Pea, Lentil, Chickpea —
West Africa
Sorghum, Millet, Rice
Cowpea, Groundnut
Yam
India
[Wheat, Barley, Rice, Sorghum, Millet]
Hyacinth bean, Black gram, Green gram
Ethiopia
Teff, Millet, [Wheat, Barley]
[Pea, Lentil]
China
Millet, Rice
Soybean, Adzuki bean, Mung bean
Mesoamerica
Corn
Common bean, Tepary bean, Scarlet runner bean
Jicama
Andes
Quinoa, [Corn]
Common bean, Lima bean, Peanut
Potato, Sweet Potato
Mississippi Valley
Maygrass, Barley, Knotweed, Goosefoot
Artichoke
Deleted:
New Guinea Sugar cane — Yam, Taro
[Bracketed crops were borrowed from other cultures]

16. The Effects of Geography
Climate
Migration of people.
Diffusion (or stimulus diffusion) of domesticated plants/animals and technology.

18. So, what happened to the Native Americans when the Europeans came?

20. Putting it all together
What is Civilization?
What factors allow it to happen?

21. Factors Climate Geographical location Available domesticatable species
Food production (animals, plants)  Surplus
Sedentary Lifestyle
Specialization
Increased Population Density
Germs & Immunity
Infrastructure
Exchange of ideas
within culture
across culture

23. Recommended Reading
Cook, Michael. (2005) A Brief History of the Human Race. W. W. Norton and Company, New York.
Diamond, Jared. (1997) Guns, Germs, and Steel. W. W. Norton and Company, New York.
Diamond, Jared. (1992) The Third Chimpanzee. HarperCollins Publishers, New York.