Chapter 1FOUNDATIONS OF A CIVILIZATION

PREHISTORY – 300 B.C.

Section 1: Understanding Our Past

Prior to any writing methods, humans and their ancestors lived on Earth for thousands of years. This time period is known as prehistory.

The people who study and write about the historical past are known as historians. They use artifacts to learn about the past.

Artifacts are, but not limited to, clothing, coins, artwork, tombstones, and written evidence like letters or tax records.

Investigating Prehistory

Anthropology Is the study of origins and development

of people and their societies. Some focus their study on how our physical traits have changed over time. While others focus their study on the characteristics of human cultures from both the past and present. Culture includes beliefs, values, and practices of a people and is handed down from one generation to the next.

Archaeology Within the field of anthropology, a

specialized study known as archaeology exists. This is the study of past people and cultures through their material remains; such as, tools, weapons, pottery, clothing, and jewelry.

Mary and Louis LeakeyAnthropologists that discovered ancient tools in Tanzania. These tools were simple with jagged edges and rough surfaces. However, they showed that whoever had made them had learned to develop technologies to help them survive.

• Technology refers to the skills and tools people use to meet their basic needs and wants.

Section 2: Turning Point: The Neolithic Revolution

Anthropologists have divided prehistory into different eras.

Old Stone Age or Paleolithic Period refers to at least 2 million B.C. to about 10,000 B.C.

New Stone Age or Neolithic Period refers to the time period from about 10,000 B.C. until the end of prehistory.

Old Stone Age (Paleolithic Period)

People were NOMADS (people who move from place to place to find food)

Survived by hunting and gathering food (men=hunt; women=gather)

Made tools and weapons out of the materials available: stone, bone, or wood

Built fires for cooking and used animal skins for clothing

Developed spoken language

Learned to travel across water (using rafts or canoes)

Evidence has been found that towards the end of the Old Stone Age a belief in a spiritual world existed

*Animism (spirits and forces that might reside in animals, objects, or dreams) and the creation of cave paintings

Burial of the dead

New Stone Age (Neolithic Period)

People learned to farm

Creating the first permanent villages

Developed new skills and technologies (domestication of plants and animals)

Dominance of family, economic, and political life by men

Warriors: gained prestige

Creation of societal classes (wealth)

Creation of the first calendars (measure how much seed for a period of time and measure when the best time was to plant and harvest)

Section 3: Beginnings of Civilization

The earliest civilizations to develop were all situated near major rivers

Rivers provided regular water supply and a means of travel, as well as a source of food (fishing and herds that came to drink)

Most importantly, floodwaters spread silt that renewed the soil and kept it fertile for farming

Civilizations Led To:

Surpluses of food which led to the expansion of populations

Development of cities, civilizations, and governments (governments oversight of large-scale projects. Ex: digging canals and carving out irrigation ditches)

Polytheistic religions (sun gods, river goddesses, controlled nature) people built temples and offered sacrifices (animals, crops, and people)

Job specialization (artisans: skilled craftspeople)

Development of social classes (ranked according to job)

Development of arts and architecture (showed the talents, beliefs, and values of the people who create them)

Invention of writing systems (pictographs) (more complex=scribes)

Expansion of some cities into city-states and empires (conquering other lands)

Cultural diffusion: spread of ideas, customs, and technologies from one people to another

Connections to Today

Cities Just as the first cities were built in

river valleys, many of today’s major cities were also built around water. St. Louis, Missouri; London, England; and Delhi, India lie along rivers. Other cities like New York, New York; Cape Town, South Africa; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and Lisbon, Portugal all sit alongside the open ocean. They were fantastic places to settle due to the ability to travel, ship goods, and as a natural resource.

Technology The introduction of farming during

the New Stone Age is considered the world’s first technological revolution. During the twentieth century, the computer changed our lives forever. In the early 1970’s they were huge machines today…all most every home has a computer in it! Even more amazing is what our cell phones can do!