First Civilizations

Civilization was a general phenomenon

-six major civilizations and some smaller manifestations

-scattered around the world

-developed after 3,500 B.C.E. 

One of the earliest civilizations emerged in Sumer (Southern Mesopotamia) 3,500 and 3,000 B.C.E. They were the first to develop a written language. There was an appearance of Egyptian civilization in Nile River Valley (north east Africa) and smaller Nubian civilization to its south at about the same time. Norte Chico (Central Coastal Peru) emerged between 3,000/1800 B.C.E. and consisted of 25 urban centers. It differed in several ways from Mesopotamia and Egypt and was unusually self-contained, as well as the only import being maize. Indus-Valley civilization in Indus and Saraswati river valleys of present day Pakistan arose between 3000 and 2000 B.C.E. Here, they had elaborately planned cities and standardized weights, measures, architectural styles, and brick sizes.  Unlike other civilizations, it generated no palaces, temples, elaborate graves, kings, or warrior classes. Environment degradation led to collapse of this civilization by about 1700 B.C.E., but several aspects of its culture shaped later Indian societies. 

Around 2200 B.C.E. a first civilization took shape in China. Then Xia, Shang, and Zhoo dynasties enlarged the Chinese state.

-ruler was the "Son of Heaven," an intermediary between heaven/earth

-China has maintained impressive cultural continuity into modern times 

The Olmec produced first civilization much later (1200 B.C.E.) on coast of gulf of Mexico.

-Cities arose from competing chiefdoms and produced elaborate ceremonial centers

-created first written language in the Americas by 900 B.C.E. 

-culture influenced later civilizations in MesoAmerica

Other civilizations also flourished, such as the Nubian civilization South of Egypt (distinctive and individual) 

Random facts...
-All first civilizations relied on highly productive agriculture

-had more surplus that they needed

-technological challenges

-need for social organization

-power/hierarchy

Documents

Considering the Evidence...History before writing..How do we know?
Sub-Saharan Africa was the original home of our species, Homo Sapiens. Archeologists have studied human fossil remains, tools, pottery, buildings, art, and more. They also studied their  culture and collecter their stories, myths, and oral traditions.

A Paleolithic Woman in the Twentieth Century...
They interviewed a fifty year old woman about her life "in the bush."

Life in the Bush...They are no village people, for they have no goats nor cattle. They lived with what they had and they were happy with it. "Some people gave and others stinged," and "if a person doesn't give something to me, I wont give anything to that person."

Marriage...
"A man is not something that kills you, he is someone who marries you, who becomes like your father or your older brother. He kills animals and gives you things to eat."

Loss...
Her husband Tashay died and Nisa blames God from taking him away from her. And now she is without the man she married. She believes that God is the one who destroys, not the people.

Lovers...
Besa was another guy whom Nisa liked. He wanted to have sex all the time, but Nisa wasnt sure she was very fond of the subject. However, Nisa still stayed with him and never left him after many years. "When you are  a woman, you dont just sit still and do nothing..you have lovers."

A Healing Ritual..Also known as N/um.

VISUAL SOURCES
Considering the Evidence...History before writing..how do we know?
-physical remains
-artistic representation

Lascaux
-appreciating graceful lines, use of color, and distinctive use of perspective and sometimes movement

"Mother goddess." art work...
Hodder believed that this piece revealed a close connection between ritual and daily function.

Otzi the Iceman..."His clothing consisted of a leather loincloth and leggings, a coat of stitched animal furs, and covering all of this, a cape of woven grass. All of this reveals that Otzi was living at the beginning age of metals.

Stonehenge...a place for the sick and injured of the Neolithic world.

Ways of the World. Chapter 1

There are three major eras on the way we produce things:

1.   Paleolithic Cyber 
2. Agricultural Revolution
3. Industrial Revolution

Paleolithic : We evolved as homo sapiens  (about 200,000 years ago-12,000 years ago)
In the paleolithic era, thirty percent of food was hunted, while the other seventy percent of food was gathered.  In this era, they lived in small groups that consisted of about twenty through twenty-five people. Due to a small amount people in a group, it created a whole society, participation from everyone, and kept the group alive. Also, since everyone worked together to provide for each other, it created more equal gender roles between men and women. They used basic/old stone tools and migrated out of Africa.

Agriculture:
Agriculture spread to adjacent areas, to almost all of the world's peoples. They expanded their foods and created a broad spectrum diet. Women were the innovators to deliberate farming, such as them collecting wild plants, while men lead in domesticating animals. Due to global warming, the end of the ice age, their advancement in agriculture, and technology, they settled down and established more permanent villages. Many believe that because the population increased drastically, the agricultural revolution began because they needed to provide for more people.

Variations

• They started to use digging stick/hoe. 
• Wheat, corn, rice, barely, sorghum supply more than half the calories that sustain human life. 
• The Fertile Crescent was the first to experience a full agricultural revolution.
• dry spell triggered revolution

The Globalization of Agriculture
 Triumph and resistance

Their interaction with the environment was seen through:

1. Setting fired as a way of replenishing soil
2. had so much land (they could move)
3. Cy-clinical (fertility)  point of view (world of cycles)  

Neolithic: Homo Sapiens adopted all other forms of genus homo