Chapter 1The Beginnings of Civilization

Achievements Are Made in the Old Stone Age

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Prehistory

• Systems of writing and keeping records are only 5,000 or 6,000 years old, while the story of the human progress is much older

• The period of time before people kept written records.

The Study of Prehistory

Scientists study evidence of the human past

Archaeologists find and study artifacts.

Scientific techniques are used to find the age of artifacts.

• The period as a whole has been named the Stone Age because many of the objects left from the earliest part of prehistory are simple stone tools and weapons.

• Some of the evidence they find is in the form of artifacts – objects shaped by human being.

• Other evidence is provided by fossils – human or animal bones and teeth and other traces left in rocks by plants and animals.

• Archaeologists study places where prehistoric people lived, looking for the remains of homes, graves and towns and examining the artifacts there.

• Anthropologists study artifacts, bones, and other clues and try to determine what people looked like, what they ate, how long they lived, and other characteristics.

• Geologists analyze fossils and the rocks in which they are found.

• Chemists and physicists use special methods to estimate the ages of artifacts and other remains from the past.

• Botanists and zoologists also contribute their specialized knowledge about plants and animals.

• Archaeological dig is a site where ancient objects are deeply buried.

• The site are based on clues such as the shape of the ground surface and stories or traditions that indicate people once occupied the site.

Starting an excavation site

• Make a map of the site• Soil is carefully removed layer by layer• If a worker comes upon an artifact, he or she

uses a small, soft brush to remove the soil without damaging the object

• Loosened soil may be sifted so that even tiny objects are not lost

• Artifacts are photographed, labeled, cleaned, and then studied carefully to classify and identify them.

• Experts put together fragments of bone or artifacts.

• They make drawings to show what an object looks like before.

• Sample of clay, paint, and the like may be sent to chemical laboratories to be analyzed.

Carbon-14 Dating

• Made in 1948 by an American chemist, Williard Libby.

• Depends on the fact that all living organisms contain a certain amount of carbon-14. When the organism dies, the carbon-14 decrease at a fixed rate. By analyzing how much carbon is left, scientists can tell its approximate age.

Stone Age Hunters and Gatherers

Old Stone Age people hunt and gather food

Stone Age people make impressive achievements

Neanderthal people develop beliefs

The environment undergoes changes

Cro-Magnon people develop art

• The men and women of the Paleolithic age were nomads – people who have no permanent homes but wander from place to place.

• They made temporary homes in caves or in tents constructed of branches and animal skins.

• When the animals left the area or the food supply ran short, the people moved on.

• In the Paleolithic period, human beings made a variety of stone tools that had specific uses.

• Not all of the tools are made of stone. Sharpened wooden sticks, hardened in a fire, were used as spears. Later in the period, splinters of bone were used as needles and fishhooks.

• They learned to control and use fire, and they used spoken language.

Neanderthal• Lived from 10,000 to 40,000 years ago• Named after the valley in Germany where the

first remains were found• Had rituals they hoped would guarantee them

success in the hunt• Carefully buried their dead, placing tools,

ornaments, food, and bunches of wildflowers in the graves showing that they may had religious beliefs including the idea of life after death

• Most of the Cro-Magnon art has been found in Europe and Asia.

• It includes beads, necklaces, and bracelets carved from ivory, pebbles painted with colorful designs, and small female figurines.

• A flute carved from bone suggests that they played music.

• The first cave art was discovered almost by accident.

• Scholars believe that the cave paintings were made between 12,000 to 30,000 years ago.

• Late in the Old Stone Age, the earth’s weather and climate changed and grew cooler.

• The most recent Ice Age is thought to have reached its height about 20,000 years ago.

• The water level in the oceans dropped by several hundred feet. Land that today is far under water was exposed, sometimes forming land bridges between islands and continents. This event enabled people to move from one island to another.

The New Stone Age Brings Change

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The Neolithic Age (New Stone Age)

• Although people still made tools of stone, they learned to shape and polish them more carefully.

• People first developed farming, tamed wild animals, and established villages.

• They also learned to make pottery, weave cloth, and work with metals.

Farming and herding begin in the Near East

Farmers settle in villages

Villagers develop special skills

Ideas of trade and private property develop

Çatal Hüyük provides information about Neolithic life

Artisans develop new skills

Artisans learn to work with metals

• People in the Americas began to grow corn, and herders in southwestern Asia tamed wild horses for riding.

• Farming became a way of life throughout Europe and Asia

• Farming gave people more dependable sources of food.

• Men continued to hunt animals while women and children tended crops.

• Farming people began to build permanent settlements or villages.

• They spent part or all of a year near areas where food was abundant

• In the Near East, villages were becoming common by 8,000 years ago.

• One of the earliest towns was the walled city of Jericho, built about 7,000 B.C.

• Some people devoted their time to non-farming tasks.

• Some people had time to make tools and weapons. Some made shelters or clothing from animals skins. Some learned to weave reeds into baskets. Some made pottery containers for cooking and for storing food and water.

• These workers became artisans – people with skills in specialized crafts.

• The demand for the products of expert artisans led to trade.

• The kind of trade in which a good is exchanged for another is called barter.

• Increased trade and village living allowed people to acquire more possessions.

• People also began to be concerned on protecting what they owned.

Çatal Hüyük

• Had between 3,000 to 6,000 inhabitants• The villagers built rectangular, flat-roofed

houses made of oak and bricks made of mud.• People decorated their buildings.• The main deity was a mother goddess who

was believed to control the harvest.• The dead were buried in their homes.

• Neolithic people developed new technology.• They learned to bake clay pottery and bricks to

make them more long-lasting.• With potter’s wheel, they could shape plates

or bowls quickly and precisely.• Toolmakers sharpened stone tools by grinding

them on rocks rather than chipping off flakes.• They developed the plow – pulled by an oxen.• People learned how to spin wool into thread.• Invented the wheel and the sail.

• Copper was probably the first metal used.• Soon, toolmakers discovered how to make

bronze by combining copper with a small amount of tin.

• The Bronze Age is the period when bronze replaced copper and stone as the main material used in tools and weapons.

Civilizations Emerge in Asia and Africa

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• People’s food supply became more reliable, the population increased, and trade expanded.

• Settlements became larger, and some grew into cities.

• Developments such as cities, organized government and religion, specialized occupations and advanced technology, and writing characterize early civilization.

The first civilizations are in river valleys

Governments are organized

Government and religion are closely connected

People in cities follow specialized occupations

Systems of writing and record-keeping develop

The first civilizations…

• The first civilizations emerged in four great river valleys in Asia and Africa.

• Mesopotamian civilization (between Tigris and Euphrates)

• Egyptian civilization (on the banks of the Nile river)

• Indian civilization (Indus river)• Chinese civilization (Yellow river)

Reasons why civilizations emerged near the river valleys

• Rivers are a source of food and fresh water• As agriculture developed, rivers supplied

water for growing crops and livestock.• Some rivers flooded each year and deposited

fertile soil on the fields.• Rivers encourage trade because travel on

water is easier than travel on land.

• The need to plan and direct irrigation and flood control was one reason why governments were organized.

• Such leaders in some villages became rulers.• Rulers organized armies for defense and

brought together large numbers of people to work on projects.

• Larger populations in cities also made organized government necessary.

• Laws were issued to keep order among the people.

• Neolithic people believed that there were gods who controlled the natural forces.

• People sought ways to win the gods’ help and approval.

• Religious rituals held an important place in daily life.

• Belief and rituals helped shaped the government.

• Rulers were seen either as gods or the chosen representatives of the gods.

• Laws were seen as the ruler’s way of carrying out commands from the gods.

• Priests held great power in the government.• People labored and paid taxes for the building

of huge temples.• From the offerings of people who wanted the

gods’ help, the temples became wealthy as well as powerful.

• The population of an ancient city included artisans, merchants, and government officials, as well as a large number of ordinary laborers, farmers, and fishermen.

• Working full-time at specialized jobs encouraged the growth of new skills and new knowledge.

• Some kind of record-keeping was developed.• Government officials needed to write down

what taxes were owed or how much grained was stored.

• Laws had to be written down.• Priests needed to keep track the passage of

time.• Merchants keep record of what they bought

and sold.• The beginning of civilization marked the

beginning of written history.