1. River Valley Civilizations

2. Most of History on a Single Slide
Paleolithic era (250,000 to 12,000 years ago)
The big idea: initial settlement of the earth
Small, close-knit societies of hunter-gatherers
Hit a population limit
Small does not mean bad
Neolithic revolution (12,000 to 4,000 years ago)
Change from food gathering to food producing
Pastoralism, then agriculture
Big changes to human lifestyles
Surplus  divisions of labor, population growth
Need to organize  governments
Cultural changes: inequalities, religion
New knowledge of metals = Bronze Age
Paleolithic era really starts around k years ago, with homo sapiens traveling out of eastern and southern Africa – earliest archaeology sees signs of human behavior there first – stone blades, bone tools, grindstones, hunting and fishing – and from there, people spread out, (first from Africa to Eurasia, then to Australia, then to North and South America
Societies were small in Paleolithic – people, intensely personal and based on kinship – nomads, moved around to follow patterns of wild plants and animals – transportation limited population growth, can’t really accumulate goods BUT it does mean society is very egalitarian – (equal) – most people had the same skills, men and women were usually more equal than in later societies -- To a certain extent, limited by nature (following plants, animal migrations, etc – not a style of living that lends itself to large population growth - “the most affluent society” (3-5 hours a day, versus common idea as violent/uncertain
NEOLITHIC (new stone age)
Agriculture – tending crops and livestock to produce food, horticulture – just hand-tools to cultivate crops, doesn’t use animals – pastoralists domesticate animals
Pastoralists developed in areas like sub-Saharan and eastern Africa, tundras, grasslands --- what do these have in common? Can’t farm there – it’s harder – traveled around to follow crops
When you settle down and start growing your own crops, a bunch of stuff happens:
You stay in one spot, which means you can have stuff – private property
If you grow enough crops, not everyone has to farm  you can do what you’re best at – tool-makers make tools, etc. – everything is more efficient, you can start supporting higher population
More regular food supplies mean people eat more, population grows higher
As society gets bigger and more complicated, you need someone to run it – so we start creating governments
Social and gender inequalities – private property means some people can have more than others, specialization = some professions are more respected; also, women get sidelined to domestic chores, less linked to survival
Polytheism – sun gods, rain gods, harvest – different aspects of farming life
Bronze is made by smelting copper and tin – helps create tools and weapons

3. Jericho & Catal Huyuk
4000 bce – villages had grown into towns – these aren’t quite cities, but they are foreshadowing what’s to come
Jericho on Jordan river – mud/brick houses surrounded by a big wall
Catal Huyuk, in Turkey – joined houses together so that people couldn’t invade them
Organized – start trading from other towns, as far as Sinai for Turquoise (Jericho)

4. What makes it a civilization? (and not just a bunch of people)
Surplus of food
Specialization
Social classes
Cities
Governments
Long-distance trade (between civs)
Organized writing systems
Exception: the Inca
Look at the social, the political, the economic
“Civilized” versus “uncivilized”
Inca date into post-classical era without a writing system – but they’re the exception that proves the rule
Early urban dwellers thought of nomads poorly – you see Ammianus Marcellus talking about the Huns as “abnormally savage – they utter war cries, none of them even use a plow handle”

6. The Emergence of Civilizations
First civilizations develop in river valleys
Rivers help civilization grow: nutrients, animal & plant life, transportation
Cultural hearths
Four river valley civilizations between bce
Mesopotamia
Egypt
India
China

8. TIGRIS-EUPHRATES Mesopotamia (land between rivers) People in area must
Harsh heat, drought; unpredictable floods
Few natural resources; no wood
No natural defensive areas such as hills
Area open to invasion by nomads
People in area must
Provide permanent food supply
Regulate, provide permanent water supply
Provide defense against invaders
Acquire materials such as timber, minerals
Modern-day Tigris-Euphrates runs through Turkey, Syria, Iraq – empties into the Persian gulf

9. TIGRIS-EUPHRATES “Necessity is the mother of invention”
Sumer in S. Iraq: first civilization (5000 bce)
Create cuneiform, the first writing
City-states ruled by priests and kings
Wars over irrigated farmland
Land-owning aristocracy dominate; most of the population were farmers or slaves
Polytheistic religion tied to nature
Cuneiform = wedges in clay tablets; helps laws, treaties, religious customs
Mathematics – twelve-month calendar
Religion – gods for certain city-states (plus a bunch that everyone shared)

10. LATER MESOPOTAMIANS Epic of Gilgamesh Cycle of Civilization
Nomads come in and conquer sedentary people
Conquerors assimilate local sedentary culture
New civilization blends cultures, thrives for a while
“New” civilization grows old, invaded by nomads
Akkadian “First”
First Empire
Sargon conquered all of Sumer
Babylonian “First”
City at junction of Tigris-Euphrates
Hammurabi’s Law Code
Epic of Gilgamesh
Sargon of Akkad founds the Akkadian empire in 2300bce --- helps spread Sumerian ways throughout the area
Then the Babylonians come in – King Hammurabbi develops Code of Hammu – very egalitarian
(then the Hittites, and the Persians….they each kinda form empires here)
Gilgamesh is basically a bromance between him and Enkidu – goes searching for eternal life and doesn’t find it

11. MESOPOTAMIA AS A CHART

12. HUANG-HE (YELLOW) RIVER
Developed in isolation
Along lower Yellow River
Rich loess soil
Constantly flooding
First Dynasties
Control of flooding critical
Xia Dynasty (Mythical?)
God-like kings
Taught irrigation, silkmaking
Shang Dynasty
Warlike kings, landed aristocracy; few priests
Most people worked land as peasants
Elaborate bronze workings; naturalistic art

13. CHINESE WRITING Originated during Shang Ideographic
Writing denotes ideas
First used on Oracle Bones
Priests asked gods questions
Wrote questions on bones
Tossed into fire
Cracks read by priests (divination)
Elitist technique = scholar-bureaucrats
Extremely difficult to read
Required well-educated class to use
Only elite had time to learn
Cuneiform, hieroglyphs had similar effects

14. MANDATE OF HEAVEN Chinese political idea Indicators of a Lost Mandate
Rulers exercise power given by heaven
Rulers continue to rule if heaven pleased
Heaven will take back mandate to rule
Heaven will replace ruling dynasty
Indicators of a Lost Mandate
Wars, invasions, military disasters
Over-taxation, disgruntled peasants
Social, moral decline of elite classes
Increased crime, banditry

15. DYNASTIC CYCLE One ruling family replaces another Stages in Cycle
The Dynasty Changes
Due to the loss of the Mandate of Heaven
Stages in Cycle
New dynasty arises, takes control of China
Strengthens rule, reestablishes prosperity, peace
Weakens, becomes lazy, problems arise
Invasions, revolts toss out reigning dynasty
Shang replaces Xia, Zhou replaces Shang

16. HOW THE CYCLE AND MANDATE WORK TOGETHER

17. THE NILE RIVER Society very different from Sumer Achievements
Nile flooded regularly, predictably
Provided rich soil, Easy soil to farm
Civilization regulated flooding, surveying
Location isolated
Pharaoh was considered god-king
Theocracy, almost absolute
Built pyramid tombs for dead
Egypt unified for most of history
Queen Hatsheput
Achievements
Mathematics especially geometry; architecture
Astronomy and medicine
Hieroglyphics
The Nile is isolated – so you don’t have nomads showing up at your door every five minutes being like “hey we rule here now”
Predictability of Nile = bigger surpluses
Order of social structure: pharaoh, priests, nobles, peasants, slaves
First pharaoh is supposedly Menes in 3100bce – but we’re not even sure if he’s real
Religion very focused around the afterlife – you can take things with you
Queen Hatsheput – 22 years rule during the New Kingdom, expanded trade greatly, generally Egyptian women had more rights/individuality than Mesopotamia (New Kingdom, could buy, sell, inherit property, dissolve marriages --- BUT still a patriarchy)

18. INDUS VALLEY Arose around 2,500 BCE Collapse Main Cities
Mohenjo Daro
Harappa
Hundreds of other settlements
Independent city-states, strong government
Extremely well-planned, coordinated cities
Elaborate writing system (undeciphered)
Religion
Worshipped mother goddess
Evidence of priestly class and temples
Collapse
Little evidence of warfare until end
Devastated by environmental upheavals
Destroyed by Indo-European (Aryan) nomads
Cities abandoned

19. MEANWHILE, IN AMERICAS Olmec around Gulf of Mexico, 1200bce
Used rainfall for agriculture
Cities are centers of trade, religion
Priests and ruling class over others
Giant stone heads (as tall as 2 Mr. Storcks!)
Chavin off coast of Peru, 900bce
Two major regions: mountains and coast
Trade routes running through mountains
CONTRAST: Neither are river valleys
The Olmec traded things like salt, cacao, clay, and limestone – jade especially important

20. HERITAGES First heritages
Passed thru children
Writing systems inherited
Intellectual systems, art copied
Religious, philosophical systems copied
Useful inventions rarely forgotten, easily spread
River valley civilizations decline by 1000BCE
All subject to nomadic invasions
Indo-Europeans and Semites were strongest
Geographical centers shifted (all except China)
Political Structures often not continued

21. CIVILIZATION SPREADS Phoenician Sailors in Lebanon Asia Minor
City-states traded across Mediterranean
Invented 22-letter alphabet
Asia Minor
Hittites introduced Iron
Lydians introduced coinage to area
Hebrews in Palestine
Large Semitic migration in area
There is only one God speaking through prophets, priests
God made a covenant with the Jews, his Chosen people
Ethical monotheism
Conduct determines salvation
Man is not eternally damned if he follows God’s rules, repents

22. NOMADS: BARBARIANS? Pastoralism Seen as savages
Domestication of animals
Way of life based on herding
Often on fringes
Bordered settled areas
Seen as savages
Interaction vs. conflict
Nomads traded, coexisted with settled areas
Nomads warred on, conquered settled areas
Often protected merchants, allowed trade
Prior to 1500 BCE little major threat
Chariot Peoples (Central Asian Indo-Europeans)
Domesticated horse, invented chariot, iron weapons
Pushed into SW Asia, S. Asia, E. Asia, Europe
Responsible for spread of ideas, trade