EARLY CIVILIZATIONS

How do we study ancient creatures? Study their bones

and teeth Study artifacts-tools-clothing-art-weapons-toys

Hominid Human-like creatures that walk upright

Lucy One of the first

hominid skeletons found

So what?-she showed there had been creatures walking upright for nearly 3 million years

Human Development

Walked upright

hominid

Used tools

Homo habilis

Homo sapien

Modern humans

Stone Age-humans used stone tools Paleolithic- ancient

(2MYA-12,000years ago)

Mesolithic- middle (12,000-10,000years ago)

Neolithic- New (10,000-4,000years ago)

Hunter-gatherers Follow the food

supply Hunters follow the

herds of big game Gatherers foraged

until an area was picked-over

Do not raise animals or crops

Ice Age When glaciers cover a large part of the

Earth’s surface http://dsc.discovery.com/games/iceworld

/map/map.html

Neolithic Agricultural Revolution Neolithic=?

-New Agricultural=?

-Plants grown for food Revolution=?

-time of great change

Caused… Permanent

settlements Domestication of

Animals Specialization of

Labor Cities

Civilizations have… Large group of

people Surplus food Large towns

Government Division of labor

Earliest Civilizations

Why there? Agriculture and

livestock Irrigation

History begins when… people write it down.

Egypt

The Nile Egyptians Natural

Advantages?

Hieroglyphics Picture writing Stone tablets or

papyrus Rosetta stone

Dynasty A family of rulers 1st in Egypt- Menes (3200 BC)

Egyptian History Old Kingdom Middle Kingdom New Kingdom

Old Kingdom Sphinx and biggest pyramids Upper class= nobles, priests, and

scribes Lower class= peasants (built canals and

pyramids)

Middle Kingdom “golden age” of Egypt Hyksos (foreigners) came to Egypt and

ruled at the end of this period

New Kingdom Hatshepsut= only female pharaoh Amenhotep IV= monolithic religion King Tut

Egyptian Society Classes (rich vs. poor) Peasants worked the land Nobles ruled Trade= caravans sent goods to the east

Egyptian Religion

Egyptian Religion Polytheistic (many

gods) Belief in afterlife

Mummification Valuable objects in

tombs

King Tut Son of Akhenaten Became pharaoh

when a child Changed religion

back to polytheism Died in his late

teens

Tomb in near perfect condition

Decline of Egypt Internal strife (rich

vs. poor) Weakening of the

pharaohs

Mesopotamia

Tigris and Euphrates vs. Nile

Similarities Differences

Annual floods Great for agriculture

Tigris and Euphrates were more violent and prone to flooding

Empires (migration and conquest) Sumer- cuneiform Babylon- Hammurabi’s code Assyria- library at Nineveh Chaldea- hanging gardens Persia- largest empire of the time Phoenicia- trade and alphabet Lydia- money economy

Hammurabi’s Code System of written

laws Consequences for

breaking them

Why trade? Comparative

advantage Everyone wins

India

Indo-Europeans Originally nomadic Took over northern India

Culture Language=sanskrit Religious

text=Vedas

Dynasties Mauryan Gupta

Inventions and Discoveries Numbers 1-9 Quadratic Equations Seven planets

visible to the naked eye

Inoculation

Asoka United India with

war Converted to

Buddhism Societal reforms

China

Isolation

Isolation

Superiority Complex

Less Cultural Diffusion

Protection

Dynasties (First two) Xia- first rulers Shang-

-controlled the Huang-strong central government

Dynasties (Next three) Zhou--territories to royal families Qin-Great Wall started-China’s name Han--meritocracy- you get a job based on skill-Silk Road

“Mandate of Heaven” The idea that a ruler

gets his right to power from God

Inventions Early seismograph Paper Process of printing Sundial