Pre-History and First Cities

Mr. Shepard Cities and Civilizations

Human Evolution (c. 4M years ago - c. 200,000 B.C.E.)

How do we study Pre-History

• Archeology/Anthropology• Biology

– Carbon dating– DNA

Australopithecines (c.4M -2M years ago)

• Discovered in East Africa in the early 1920’s

• Bi-pedal • Ate mostly fruit, vegetables,

tubers• Brain size roughly 35% of

homo sapiens• Typically 4 -4.5 ft tall• Simple Stone tools

Reconstruction of Australopithecus afarensis

09/08/11 NYT Story on Possible New Human Ancestor

New Fossils May Redraw Human Ancestry

Homo Habilis (c. 2M - 1M years ago)• Discovered in East Africa in

the 1960’s– Mary and Louis Leakey

• Brain size slightly less than half of modern humans.

• Simple stone tools found near remains.

• Meat and Vegetable diet• Thought to be earliest

specimen of the genus homo until…

Homo Gautengensis (c. 2M - 600K years ago)

• Discovery confirmed May 2010

• Found in Ethiopia• Spent most of the time

in trees • About 3 ft tall and 110

lbs. • Big teeth helped break

down plant fiber

Homo Erectus (c. 1.8M - 100K years ago)

• Originated in Africa and spread as far as China and Japan

• About 5 ft 10 in• Brain size close to homo

sapiens• Sophisticated tools• First to live in hunter-

gatherer communities• Controlled fire

Neaderthals (c. 130K - 30K B.C.E.)

• Discovered in Neander Valley in Germany

• Subspecies of homo sapien or separate human species

• Recent genetic evidence suggests interbreeding with homo sapiens

• Brain roughly the same size as homo sapiens

• Carnivorous• Numerous theories of extinction

Homo Sapiens (c. 200,000 B.C.E.)

• Paleolithic Age• Only living members of the homo genus• Highly developed brain• Lived in hunter-gatherer bands• Stone tools• Migration out of Africa c. 70,000 years ago

Agricultural Revolution (c. 10,000 B.C.E.)

• Mesolithic Period (c. 10,000 - 7,000)• Slow transition from hunter-gather to food producing

• Systematic Agriculture (c. 8,000 - 5,000)– Likely developed independently in the Near East,

Southern Asia, Africa, and Central America– ANE was home to barley and wheat, in addition to

pigs, cows, goats and sheep– Steady source of food and clothing

Jericho (c. 7000 B.C.E)

• Site first inhabited around 9000 BCE

•Earliest city near modern day Tell-Es-Sultan in the West Bank of the Palestinian Territories

• Lowest permanently inhabited site in the World.

• First excavated in the 1860’s.

•Tell-Es-Sultan excavated between 1907 - 1911

Walls at Jericho

Joshua fit the battle of JerichoJericho, Jericho

Joshua fit the battle of JerichoAnd the walls come tumbling down

American Gospel Song

Remains of a Dwelling at Tell-Es-Sultan

Çatal Hüyük (c. 7500 - 5700 B.C.E.)

• First excavated in 1958• Almost all domestic

dwellings of relatively equal size

• No streets or foot paths• Dead buried beneath

the floor of the house

Archeological Dig at Çatal Hüyük

Renderings of Çatal Hüyük