Social Studies 2211 Unit Two Notes SCO 4.0: explain how innovations influence the human experience Unit 2 – Innovations & Ideas Terms to know:

1. artifact 2. Australopithecus 3. before present (BP) 4. Before the Common Era (BCE) 5. Common Era (CE) 6. Culture 7. Early Modern Human 8. Hominid 9. Homo erectus 10. Homo habilis 11. Homo sapiens 12. Homo sapiens sapiens 13. Innovation 14. Invention 15. Lithic 16. Paleolithic 17. pre-history 18. technology 19. Catal Huyuk 20. Domestication 21. Agriculture 22. Fertile Crescent

23. Granary 24. First Agricultural Revolution 25. Neolithic Era 26. Neolithic Revolution 27. Artisan 28. Before Common Era (BCE) 29. Bronze Age 30. city-state 31. civilization 32. Cuneiform 33. Irrigation 34. Mesopotamia 35. metal working 36. merchant 37. scribe 38. specialization 39. aqueduct 40. gauloi 41. printing-press 42. steam engine 43. stirrup infrastructure 44. vaccine

Before we look at how we’ve changed, let’s look at where we started…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrtCgaGSJlU&list=PLfPKzPoLH--fNB7U-jbCnlC3t894w9xVr&index=2

What is the difference between an innovation and an invention?

An innovation is when an existing object or method is changed so that they are more effective and/or efficient. An invention is when an entirely new object or method is introduced.

Complete “Thinking about Invention and Innovation” activity.

DETERMINING SIGNIFICANCE

Historians try to determine how significant historical events are. To do this they must consider the following

three criteria:

1. Magnitude: refers to the importance of the event or change 2. Scope: refers to how wide the effects spread 3. Duration: refers to how long the effects are experienced by society.

PERIODS IN HISTORY

In this unit, we will examine examples of invention and innovations throughout history. We will keep in mind

their significance and how they affected the lives of people.

What is prehistory?

Use the videos and your text to make notes on the following:

1. Define the Paleolithic and Neolithic Eras by noting the years and defining features (food, living arrangements, language/culture, etc.) of each

2. Identify some tactics Neolithic peoples used to make their lives better and more predictable/secure 3. Identify some challenges brought on by those tactics/innovations 4. Connect some aspect of Neolithic life to modern life

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsIvCdBS_aI&index=2&list=PLPK47OCLWGbOusISYEVyMW_1Qv7

WMiN-r (Paleo and Neo Stuff under 8 min)

2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yocja_N5s1I&list=PLPK47OCLWGbOusISYEVyMW_1Qv7WMiN-

r&index=3 (John Greene in his Crash Course History debut under 11 min)

3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8AN7n2sQOg&index=5&list=PLPK47OCLWGbOusISYEVyMW_1Q

v7WMiN-r (Hip Hughes on Neolithic Rev (10 min)

4.1 explain the significance of innovations during the Paleolithic Period (pre c. 10 000 BCE)

HUMAN ORIGINS in Africa

As you can see, humans are a relatively new addition to life on Earth. Prehistory refers to the period before

humans developed writing systems. Because there are no written records from prehistoric peoples,

discovering how they lived can be difficult.

How do we know what life was like for prehistoric peoples?

Archaeologists examine excavated sites for evidence:

• Bones can reveal physical appearance, height, diet, disease, and length of life.

• Artifacts (human-made objects) can reveal how people dressed, worshipped, or the types of work they

did.

Anthropologists study artifacts to learn about the culture of early humans. Culture refers to a people’s unique

way of life and involve shared ways of doing things in common. What components make up a people’s

culture?

How is culture learned?

Early Hominid Discovery

Mary Leakey lead the search for evidence of early human life in Laetoli (Tanzania) in East Africa. In 1978, they

discovered prehistoric human-like footprints preserved in volcanic ash. These were left by creatures called

australopithecines, a type of early hominid (creatures that walk upright). These footprints are believed to be

3,600,000 years old.

In 1974, anthropologist Donald Johanson discovered the complete skeleton of an early female hominid in

Ethiopia. She was nicknamed “Lucy” and lived around 3.5. million years ago.

Paleolithic Period

• Period from about 2.5 million years ago to 8,000 BCE.

• Also known as the “Old Stone Age”

• Much of this period is referred to as the Ice Age, due to advancing and retreating glaciers.

• Characterized by the invention of tools, mastery of fire, development of language.

Hominid Development

Australopithecine

• Appeared 4 million years ago.

• Found in southern and east Africa

• First humanlike creatures.

• Could walk upright (helped with traveling great distances, carrying food, children, etc.

• Had developed the opposable thumb, making manipulation of small objects and tools easier.

Homo habilis

• 2.5 million years ago

• Found in East Africa

• Name means “man of skill”

• First to make stone tools from lava rock to cut meat and break bone.

Homo erectus

• 1.6 million years ago

• Found in Africa, Asia, and Europe. First hominids to migrate from Africa

• Name means “upright man”

• May have been a more intelligent species than homo habilis (spoken language)

• Developed technology (ways of applying knowledge, tools and inventions to meet needs)

• Became skillful hunters creating tools for digging, scraping, and cutting

• First to use fire

Modern Humans

Homo sapiens

• Homo erectus developed into Homo sapiens, which means “wise man”, which is the name for modern

humans.

• Physically similar to Homo erectus, but with larger brains

• Traditionally, there are two early classifications of Homo sapiens:

Neanderthals

• 200,000 to 30,000 BCE

• Found in Europe and Southwest Asia

• First to have ritual burials and religious beliefs

• Powerfully built (slanted brow, muscles, thick bone)

• Lived in caves or temporary shelters to survive harsh Ice Age conditions

Cro-Magnon

• 40,000BCE to 8,000 BCE

• Skeletal remains show they are identical to modern humans

• Migrated from North Africa to Europe and Asia

• Made specialized tools for planned hunts

• Studied animal habits and stalked prey

• Superior hunting made survival easier

• Continued development of language and cooperation, giving advantages over Neanderthals

• Created cave paintings, musical instruments, jewelry

• At one time Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons were through to be direct ancestors of modern humans,

but recent DNA testing indicates that Cro-Magnon and not Neanderthals became what we know to be

modern humans.

Hominid expansion

Think about it…

1. Which advance by a hominid group do you think was the most significant? Explain.

2. Which skill do you think gave hominids the most control of their environment – toolmaking, use of

fire, or language? Explain.

3. In your own words, write a paragraph that summarizes the significance of the Paleolithic Era in

human development.

4.2 explain the significance of innovations during the Neolithic Period (c. 10 000 BCE to between 4500

and 2000 BCE) Text: 15-20

Humans try to control nature

Human life underwent incredible changes near the end of the Paleolithic era due to technological innovations.

Tools for survival

• For much of the Paleolithic Age, humans were nomads - highly mobile people with no fixed home,

moving from place to place foraging and searching for food. In other words, they lived a hunter-

gatherer lifestyle.

• Stone, bone, and wood were used to create more than 100 different tools with specific purposes.

• e.g., Cro-Magnons increased their food supply by developing new, specialized tools to make hunting

more efficient (e.g., spears), knives, fish hooks and harpoons, bone needles, and chisels to make other

tools.

Artistic expression

Other aspects of prehistoric human life can be seen through their art:

• cave paintings, animal sculptures, rock engravings and paintings

• jewelry of sea shells, lion teeth, bear claws

• polished beads from mammoth tusks

11.2 The Neolithic revolution

Beginnings of Agriculture

C. 8000 BCE humans discovered that if they scattered seeds in some locations and returned the next season,

new crops would be growing there. This discovery – farming or agriculture – meant people could now produce

their own food rather than having to travel to gather it.

This new idea would lead to the Neolithic Revolution (sometimes called the first agricultural revolution) and is

one of the greatest breakthroughs in human history.

Causes of the First Agricultural Revolution

Though it is unclear exactly why people in many different regions began to develop agriculture around the

same time, a change in climate is thought to be a key factor.

• Increasing temperatures provided longer growing seasons and made soil more productive.

• Supplies of grain resulted in a population boom due to the steady supply of food it offered (compare

unpredictability of hunting).

Mapping the shift towards agriculture

Early Farming Methods

Slash-and-burn farming was used by some groups to increase farming yields.

• Vegetation was cut and burned to clear a field

• Ashes increased fertility of soil

• Crops were planted for 1-2 years then rotated to another piece of land

• After a few years they would return to the initial site and repeat process

Domestication involves the taming of animals like horses, dogs, goats and pigs.

• May have developed from driving herds of animals into natural enclosures (ravines or gorges)

• Man-made enclosures would make taming easier

• Provided steady source of protein

Agriculture Spreads

Jarmo, located near the Zagros Mountains in NE Iraq, is said to be the birthplace of agriculture

• Agricultural settlement from 9,000 years ago

• Wheat, barley, goats, pigs, sheep, horses

Within a few thousand years, people in many other regions, especially in fertile river valleys, turned to farming

Africa (Nile river) wheat, barley

China (Huang He River) millet, wild rice

Mexico and Central America corn, beans, squash

Catal Huyuk

This settlement, in what is now Turkey, is the best example of an early Neolithic village. Here a fully settled

agricultural existence was established.

• Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNZRzKChn84

• Complete Catal Huyuk sheet

4.3 explain how the Neolithic Revolution led to the rise of civilization Text 20-25

civilization

• Agriculture Causes Change

• People began dwelling in larger, more organized communities, such as farming villages and towns.

From some of these settlements, cities gradually emerged, forming the backdrop of a more complex

way of life—civilization.

• The change from a nomadic hunting-gathering way of life to settled village life took a long time.

Likewise, the change from village life to city life was a gradual process that spanned several

generations.

Effects of Agriculture

• Economic Changes

• Ancient people build irrigation systems to increase food production

• Food surpluses free some people to develop new skills and jobs

• Craftspeople make cloth, other objects; traders profit from exchange of goods

• Invention of wheel and sail enable traders to travel longer distances

Social Changes

• A more complex and prosperous economy affected the social structure of village life

• social classes with varying wealth, power, and influence began to emerge

• Religion becomes more organized

• Farming peoples worshiped the many gods and goddesses who they believed had power over the rain,

wind, and other forces of nature

Civilization Develops

Most historians believe that one of the first civilizations arose in Sumer, located in Mesopotamia, (part of

modern Iraq).

A civilization is often defined as a complex culture with five characteristics:

1. advanced cities 2. specialized workers 3. complex institutions 4. record keeping 5. advanced technology

Complete Civilization in Sumer Graphic Organizer and Case Study

Historical innovations

To understand the past it is often important to talk about our modern world.

What innovations come to mind for the following topics?

1. Transportation 2. Infrastructure 3. Warfare 4. Communications 5. Health Care

These five categories will form the basis of our next several classes as we explore some ancient, medieval,

and modern innovations which have greatly impacted the human experience.

Ancient innovations

Gauloi (Phoenician boats )

After 1100 B.C.E the Phoenicians

emerged to dominate trade in and

around the eastern Mediterranean (in what is now Syria, Lebanon, and northern Israel.

• Phoenicia was located in a great spot for trade because it lay along well-traveled routes between Egypt

and Asia.

• However, the Phoenicians did more than just trade with merchants who happened to pass through

their region.

• The Phoenicians became expert sailors and went looking for opportunities to make money.

• Reputation for being remarkable shipbuilders and seafarers

• They explored and colonized areas in around the Mediterranean sea, Strait of Gibraltar and even

Britain (according to some historians)

• Historians call them the “carriers of civilization” because they spread Middle East civilization around

the Mediterranean

• Trade spread products and ideas from one place to another

• The Phoenicians established a range of colonies or settlements around the Mediterranean

• They became known for finely crafted bronze and silver goods, as well as glass. These goods and

aspects of civilization spread throughout the southwestern Mediterranean as a result of their travel.

• The superior design of their sail boats made trade safer and more effective.

▪ The most sought after Phoenician trade good was a red-purple dye that became the standard

adornment of royalty from Mesopotamia, through Egypt, and up through the Roman Empire. It was

created from snails and was so expensive, only the wealthiest could afford it.

▪ Competition between the city-state, the skill of the sailors who transported the goods (and their well

made ships), and the high art attained by the craftsmen in manufacture of the goods made this

possible.

▪ As merchants, the Phoenicians needed a way of recording transactions clearly and quickly so they

developed a writing system that used symbols to represent sounds.

▪ The Phoenician system was phonetic—that is, one sign was used for one sound. In this sense, they

created the first alphabet.

▪ As they traveled around the Mediterranean, the Phoenicians introduced this writing system to their

trading partners.

▪ Video – History of the Phoenicians (first 5 minutes) - https://youtu.be/ojiOLBt7q_Y

Complete “The Phoenicians: Ancient Innovations in Transportation” worksheet

Roman Aqueducts

▪ What is the significance of water management in our society? (Think about issues we face, how would

our differ without adequate water supplies?)

▪ Water management was also a concern for the Ancient Romans.

▪ They used aqueducts as a means to transport water from one place to another.

▪ An aqueduct is a water supply or navigable channel constructed to convey water. The name comes

from the Latin for “water” (aqua) and “to lead” (ducere)

▪ In modern engineering, the term is used for any system of pipes, ditches, canals, tunnels, and other

structures used for this purpose. In a more restricted use, aqueduct (occasionally water bridge) applies

to any bridge or viaduct that transports water - instead of a path, road or railway - across a gap.

▪ Video - Engineering an Empire (https://youtu.be/jGN-KDH1A34)

What would Rome and the Roman Empire have been like without the aqueducts?

▪ The Romans could not have built cities as big as they did without aqueducts—and some of their cities

wouldn't have existed at all.

▪ With water from aqueducts, the Romans could have their baths, their fountains, and their drinking

water. Without imported water, their society would not have been a bath culture.

▪ The city would not been as clean without sewers—took aqueduct overflow and flushed the refuse into

the river, which damaged the river, but kept the city of Rome clean.

▪ With a population of 1 million at its peak, local rivers, wells, and springs would have become

contaminated very easily….all major cities need reliable sources of water to sustain their populations.

4.4 explain the significance of select innovations from the Ancient, Pre-Modern, and Modern Eras Text:

73-76, 47,181

Medieval innovations

The Stirrup

▪ A flat-based loop or ring hung from either side of a horse's saddle to support the rider's foot in

mounting and riding.

▪ Simple yet innovative and revolutionary.

▪ Prior to stirrups, horses had two primary functions in battle: pulling chariots, or serving as light cavalry

to chase down routing enemy soldiers. Many mounted warriors dismounted before battle, using

horses to help with travel and positioning.

▪ Riding without stirrups was exceedingly difficult requiring a extraordinarily skilled horseman to ride, let

alone shoot, throw, or strike effectively at the same time.

▪ Originating in central Asia around 1000 BCE, the stirrup innovation created the mounted horsemen,

which would dominate the battlefield for the next 2000 years.

▪ The stirrup allowed horsemen to travel faster over greater distances while carrying weapons such as

spears, swords, or shields.

▪ Later the horse soldiers from North of China, the Mongols, led by leaders such as Genghis Khan, would

conquered much of the known world relying on the advantages provided by the stirrup.

▪ Between 600 and 700 CE, steppe warriors from what is today Russia introduced the stirrup to Europe.

▪ Resisting Viking and mounted warriors from the East, the nobility of Europe began to fight on

horseback as medieval knights.

Combining the best ideas of the enemy with their own, they integrated mounted warriors, stirrups, saddles

and lances into a new fighting system that was co-dependent on the economic structure of the society.

The result was medieval mounted knights and feudalism.

• Feudalism was a social and political structure in which a vassal held land (and with it wealth)

from a king or great lord in exchange for military service. Ownership of land was necessary to

support numbers of horses to be used in battle.

• The stirrup gave mounted horse warriors greater effectiveness and importance in warfare,

which would be reflected in their social position.

Dr. Lynn White Jr. in his book Medieval Technology and Social Change states:

Few inventions have been so simple as the stirrup, but few have had so catalytic an influence on

history. The requirements of the new mode of warfare which it made possible found expression in a

new form of western European society dominated by an aristocracy of warriors endowed with land so

that they might fight in a new and highly specialized way…. The Man on Horseback, as we have known

him during the past millennium, was made possible by the stirrup….

The simple invention of the stirrup changed the social and political make up of Western Europe.

The Printing Press

• Prior to the invention of the printing press in 1450s, bookmaking entailed copying all the words and

illustrations by hand (hence the name manuscript).

• Often the copying had been done onto parchment, animal skin that had been scraped until it was

clean, smooth, and thin.

• The labour that went into creating them made each book very expensive (buying a book was like

buying a car in today’s money).

• When the German blacksmith Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in 1445, he forever

changed the lives of people in Europe and, eventually, all over the world.

• Because Gutenberg's press could produce books quickly and with relatively little effort, bookmaking

became much less expensive, allowing more people to buy reading material.

• Video (https://youtu.be/XZN_X6gPjEc)

• When the German blacksmith Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in 1445, he forever

changed the lives of people in Europe and, eventually, all over the world.

• Because Gutenberg's press could produce books quickly and with relatively little effort, bookmaking

became much less expensive, allowing more people to buy reading material.

• Video (https://youtu.be/XZN_X6gPjEc)

Changes in Society

• Printing makes information widely available

• Illiterate people benefit by having books read to them in their own language

• Published accounts of maps and charts lead to more discoveries

• Published legal proceedings and documents makes right clearer to people

• Increased literacy led to greater rates of education and the eventual challenging of the

established order and existing ideas

• Political structures and religious practices are questioned

Early modern innovations

Smallpox Vaccine

• Smallpox is a viral infection and highly contagious.

• It forms blisters on the human body. It is a disease that requires close human contact to replicate and

survive.

• The total incubation period lasts 12 days, at which point the patient will either have died or survived.

The mortality rate is alarming and survivors suffered horrible disfigurement.

• Due to animal domestication and living into close proximity to animals, many diseases cross over to

human hosts including smallpox.

Over time many humans exposed to smallpox developed immunity. The same was not true for Native

Americans who died in huge numbers after the introduction of Smallpox by Europeans.

Edward Jenner

• Edward Jenner was an English country doctor in the late 1700s. In his practice, smallpox was one of

the most common and worst problems he encountered.

• In 1788, a smallpox epidemic occurred where Jenner practiced medicine and he noticed that the cattle

farmers were not the ones dying from smallpox.

• Jenner theorized that cowpox (a much milder but similar disease to smallpox) was somehow

protecting the farmers.

• Jenner extracted cowpox fluid and exposed a local boy who developed cowpox. He then exposed the

boy to smallpox who remained healthy.

• Jenner achieved his goal of smallpox protection through observation, trial and error and without

knowledge of viruses.

• His breakthrough led to the advent of modern vaccinations.

• Once a global scourge and responsible for as many as 300-500 million deaths in the 20th century alone,

the last recorded death by smallpox was in 1978.

Steam Engine (Energy)

• Prior to the Industrial Revolution (See Unit 4), wind, water, tide and muscle - both animal and human -

provided sources of energy, which neither caused pollution nor depleted finite natural resources.

• The use of coal, which can be burned to create steam power, dramatically changed the nature of work.

It was 2-3 times more effective than burning wood.

• In the 1700s in Britain, vast coal deposits were known to exist, and new technology was being

developed to collect this resource. The steam engine was developed to help miners access coal deeper

in the ground.

• First located near coal mines, the steam engine would burn coal, which created great amounts of

pressure that drove the piston in the engine.

• James Watt created a more efficient steam engine that burned less coal. This was also first used in the

mining industry (making it cheaper to mine more coal), but others would use steam engines to power

factories, boats, and locomotives (trains).

• With improved designs, the engine would be able to work much harder than man, animal, or wood

fueled power.

This dramatically increased production in many areas (it helped automate machines in factories), as well as

greatly reduced travel times by land and sea.