The First Civilizations

THE FIRST CIVILIZATIONS

FOCUS QUESTIONS

·  Where did the Neolithic agricultural revolution occur & how did it affect the lives of men & women?

·  What are the characteristics of civilization & what are some explanations for why early civilizations emerged?

·  How are the chief characteristics of civilization evident in ancient Mesopotamia?

·  What are the basic features of the 3 major periods of Egyptian history? What elements of continuity are there in the 3 periods? What are their major differences?

·  What is the significance of Indo-European-speaking peoples?

·  ______rely primarily on ______to create their pictures of the past but no written records exist for the ______of humankind

·  The story of early ______depends on archaeological & biological ______

·  Anthropologists & Archaeologists use the information to formulate ______about our early past

·  Much of our understanding of early humans rely on ______(a proposition that is unproven but is thought to be ______has not been ______)

·  In the ______evidence actually supports ______

·  Big Bang Theory supposedly explains the ______of the ______& is supported by new scientific ______

o  It (in short) says there was a big ______the universe is moving farther out ______from the center

o  The earth was formed about ______billion years ago at the best guess of ______

·  The ______of humans is in 2 parts: ______, about the time when humans didn't know how to write, ______ when there were writers around

·  How do we know what Pre-historical people were like? We have information based on ______

o  A Fossil is the ______or ______of a life form, i.e. a leaf form or bone, etc. impressed on ______

o  How do you know when the fossil was ______?

§  See where the fossil was ______in the rock strata (layer) of the earth, the farther ______in the layers, the ______the fossil

§  ______tests with ______works because the sun is radioactive gives its rays to the plants on earth which are eaten by the animals as food (which are eaten by men, etc.) so when the animals ______, they stop eating & stop the radiation ______so the radiation starts draining away by which scientists know the rate Carbon becomes non-radioactive so they know how much is ______in the fossil & therefore when it was ______

§  There's a new potassium argon dating test for ______stuff

FIRST HUMANS

·  What was ______like?

o  Man ______in the same method as other animals so why is he ______? Or is he just a super animal?

o  ______in World History (Renaissance & Reformation) say we're different because we have a ______(there's ______scientific evidence to support or prove)

o  The ______used to be that man was different because he was the only ______that could ______

o  Other animals lived by ______& 50-60 years ago we found out that chimps could reason

§  There was a chimp named ______who had to figure out how to get ______from the top of its cage by stacking ______(so reasoning was not the difference)

§  Then the theory was that man was the only animal that made ______but Jane Goodall lived with some ______chimpanzees & found that they made a tool for ______for termites with a stripped tree branch that they would place in the termite hole & come up with a termite ______

·  ______can't prove anything other than we're Super Animals but we're ______

·  We've wiped out almost all the ______

o  We have a superior ______(the largest & most complex) we can learn ______remember ______than other animals therefore we can imagine the future & ______for it

o  We have a more advanced ______mechanism than others (tongue, teeth, larynx, soft palate) to make more complicated ______so we can pass on our culture to future generations

o  We have ______vision (so do chimps) so our eyes are taking ______different pictures (kind of a cross reference) but our brain is combining them to give ______perception (depth was very important to early man to figure out how far ______the tiger was)

o  We have ______stature which makes us ______to see over other animals, but it also frees up our front ______to carry things

o  We have an opposable ______(the ______finger works against the other fingers so we ______things better)

§  Ancient civilizations understood the value of the ______so they used to cut off the thumbs of ______turn them loose, thereby rendering them harmless as enemies because they couldn't hold ______

·  Hominids (Australopithecines) were the ______creatures that existed in Africa 3 to 4 million years ago

o  Flourished in East & South ______& were the 1st hominids to make ______stone ______

o  The first ______was Zinjanthropus ("East African man")

o  He was ______, didn't have ______, had crude tools & apparently lived by strangling turtles catfish but he was ______by animals & ______out

·  Homo Erectus (______Human Being) was the 2nd stage in early human ______that occurred around 1.5 million years ago

o  Used ______& more varied ______& was the 1st hominid to ______Africa & move into both Europe & ______

o  The next man was ______ found in an island in the ______(now part of Indonesia)

§  He had a thick ______& was ______

o  Next was ______ found in Peking, ______

§  He used ______

·  Homo Sapiens (______Human Being) was the ______stage in human development that occurred around ______years ago

o  By 100,000 B.C. ______groups of Homo Sapiens had developed

o  ______ (about 300,000 years ago) (first remains found in Neander Valley in Germany) relied on a variety of stone tools & were the 1st early people to ______their ______

§  When you think of a ______, that's him

§  He was about ______feet tall, stocky, thick ______with a smaller ______, a skilled flint worker who had ______, buried his dead & believed in ______after death

§  How do we know, you ask? He ______up his dead before ______to make sure the ______didn't come back to haunt him in his ______

§  He was ______& may not have stood fairly ______but he ______woodsy things to ______& his major weapon was a fist ______(piece of rock with a point on one end & round on the other-you run up hit people on the head with it)

o  He killed lots of cave ______to get caves for ______

o  ______saber tooth ______were alive at this time but ______had been dead for ______million years -----Despite what you have see in movies or cartoons (Flintstones) dinosaurs did not eat cavemen because dinosaurs were ___ alive

o  Homo Sapiens Sapiens (Wise ______Human Beings) appeared in Africa between 200,000 & 150,000 years ago & had ______the Neanderthals who had largely become ______

§  ______ (our direct ______), about 30,000 years ago & was the last of the ______

§  He came during the New ______& had better ______& ______

§  He stood ____ feet tall had a ______maybe larger than ours

§  Very ______& was the cave ______, painted animals in the guts of caves where people didn't live

§  He would ______the paintings to weaken the animals before ______(magic)

§  He invented ______, handles on points to make ______, a handle on the fist ax which made it a better weapon, the ______

§  By 10,000 B.C. they were found all over the ______& was the only ______species left

§  All ______today belong to the same subspecies of ______being

The Hunter-Gatherers Of The Old Stoneage

·  The ability to make ______is one of the ______distinguishing ______of human beings

·  The earliest tools were made of ______in the ______Age (Stone Age – 2,500 to 10,000 B.C.)

·  For hundreds of thousands of years humans relied on ______& ______for their daily food

o  Paleolithic people knew which animals to ______& which plants to ______

o  They did not know how to grow ______or raise ______

o  They gathered wild ______, berries, f______, wild grains & green ______

o  They hunted buffalo, ______, bison, wild goats, ______& along the coasts they caught ______

·  Paleolithic people lived in groups of 20-30 & were believed to be ______(moved from place to place) since they had no choice but to follow animal ______& ______cycles

·  Hunting depended on careful ______of animal ______& required a ______effort

·  ______became more refined & ______

o  The ______& later the bow & arrow made hunting ______

o  ______& fishhooks made of ______increased the catch of ______

·  Both men & women were responsible for finding ______(main ______of the Paleolithic people)

o  The women stayed close to camps due to the ______but acquired berries, nuts & ______

o  The men hunted the wild ______that sometimes took them far from the ______

·  Paleolithic people who lived in colder ______found shelter in ______as well as a simple structure of wood poles, mammal ______or sticks covered with animal ______

o  Around 500,000 years ago the use of ______made it possible for the caves & human-made structures to have a source of ______& ______

o  Fire enabled them to ______their food, making it ______better, last longer & easier to ______

·  The making of tools & fire were 2 important ______innovations of Paleolithic peoples that show the ability to ______was crucial to human ______

The Neolithic Revolution (10,000-4,000 B.C.)

·  The Neolithic ______followed the end of the last ______age around 10,000 B.C.

o  A significant change in ______patterns that occurred in the “______Age”

·  The biggest change was the shift from ______animals & ______plants for sustenance to producing food by systematic ______(An Agricultural Revolution)

o  ______of grains & ______- provided a regular supply of ______

o  ______of animals such as goats, cattle, pigs, & sheep added a steady source of meat & _____

o  Fibers such as ______was used for ______

o  Growing crops & taming food-producing animals created a new relationship between ______& ______

·  The growing of ______on a regular basis gave rise to more permanent ______(Neolithic farming villages or towns)

·  Jericho, in Palestine near the ______Sea was one of the ______known agricultural villages

o  Existed by 8,000 B.C. & had a ______several feet thick that enclosed housed made of ______bricks

·  Catal Huyuk located in modern day ______was an even larger ______

o  Its wall enclosed ______acres & its population was around ______

o  People lived in ______houses so close together that they had to walk on the rooftops & enter the homes through a hole in the ______

o  They ______fruits, nuts & 3 types of wheat & had domesticated animals for ______& milk ______of the Neolithic Revolution

o  Once people ______in villages or towns they built houses for ______- & other structures for the ______of goods

o  As an o______community they stored food & accumulated material ______

o  They engaged in far greater ______than nomadic peoples did

o  People began to ______in certain ______& a division of ______developed

§  ______making, weaving, cloth from flax plants & the ______of stone tools

o  Changed the ______between men & women

§  ______were responsible for working ______& ______animals that often took them from ______

§  ______cared for the children, ______clothes, made cheese & performed job duties that allowed them to ______in one place

o  Between 4,000 & 3,000 B.C. significant ______developments began to transform the Neolithic ______

§  The invention of ______enabled ______to be kept

§  The use of ______marked a new level of human control over the ______& its resources

§  Metal-bearing rocks (copper was the 1st) could be ______to liquefy metals to be poured in molds to make ______& ______

§  After 4,000 B.B. ______in western Asia discovered that a combination of copper & tin produced bronze which was a much harder & ______metal

§  It’s widespread use led historians to call the period from 3,000 to 1,200 B.C. the ______

§  Bronze was then replaced by ______

o  Fixed dwellings, domesticated animals, regular farming, a division of labor, & men holding ______are all part of the human story as ______we still rely on the growing & storing of food

§  The Neolithic Revolution was truly a ______point in ______history

§  By the beginning of the Bronze Age the ______of larger numbers of people in the ______valleys of ______& Egypt was leading to a whole new pattern for human life

EMERGENCE OF CIVILIZATION

·  Early human beings formed small ______that developed a simple culture that enabled them to ______

·  As human societies grew & developed, a new form human existence called “______” began to form

·  A civilization is a ______culture in which ______numbers of human beings share a ______of ______elements

o  An urban focus – cities became ______of political, economic, social, cultural, & religious development

o  A distinct religious structure – ______were deemed crucial to the ______success

o  Political & Military structures – ______government arose to meet the administrative demands of the ______population & armies were used to gain land & ______

o  New economic social structure – social ______system (kings, priests, political leaders, warriors (farmers & craftsmen then the ______were at the ______)

o  Development of writing – used to keep ______

o  New forms of artistic & intellectual activity – monumental religious ______l structures (big churches)

·  The civilizations that developed in Mesopotamia & Egypt were the ______(one that precedes or a sign) of Western civilization

·  ______of Civilization

o  Why did civilizations develop ______in different parts of the ______

§  Theory of ______& ______maintains that challenges ______human beings to make efforts that resulted in the ______of civilizations (primitives won’t change unless they’re ______maybe by death or extinction)

§  Material Explanations or material forces such as the growth of ______surpluses made for specialized ______& development of large ______

§  Nonmaterial Forces, primarily ______, provided the sense of unity & purpose that made such ______activities possible

CIVILIZATION IN MESOPOTAMIA

·  Greeks spoke of the valley between the ______& ______Rivers as Mesopotamia “land between the rivers”